Velvet Shoes

Velvet Shoes

by Elinor Wylie

Let us walk in the white snow

In a soundless space;

With footsteps quiet and slow,

At a tranquil pace,

Under veils of white lace.

I shall go shod in silk,

And you in wool,

White as white cow's milk,

More beautiful

Than the breast of a gull.

We shall walk through the still town

In a windless peace;

We shall step upon white down,

Upon silver fleece,

Upon softer than these.

We shall walk in velvet shoes:

Wherever we go

Silence will fall like dews

On white silence below.

We shall walk in the snow.

Caption Contest!

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Pictures of Abigail

Baby Update: 37-ish Weeks

Well, here I am at 37 weeks. Taras and I had a picnic in the park after I got my great new haircut! This photo doesn't show the haircut very well because it was so breezy. The breeze and sunshine definitely made for a beautiful time in the park!

I went for my 37-week prenatal appointment on Monday afternoon (technically 37 weeks and 3 days). I am now 2 cm dilated and 75% effaced! Abigail seems to want to be a June baby, but we'll see! As long as she waits until her grandparents get back from Russia on Saturday, I don't mind if she comes a bit early.

I think the midwife who checked me yesterday thought she was being really encouraging when she said it could be "any day now" (she isn't my primary midwife, so she didn't know about my parents being out of the country!). She gave me all sorts of great advice about how to speed things up—I didn't mention to her that I'm trying to avoid going into labor this week if I can help it! On the other hand, I did tuck away her suggestions in case we're still waiting 2 weeks from now!

At this point I'm still feeling pretty well. Abigail seems to be doing great—just growing and wiggling a lot, and getting ready to make her appearance. Here's another picture that shows how much she's grown!

We're trying to be as ready as we can! On Sunday we cleaned out our van and installed Abigail's car seat. We've almost washed all her clothes and other stuff, and her room is certainly inhabitable and cute, if not completely organized. We still have some assembling, organizing, and washing to do—and lots of thank-you notes to write! Everyone has been so generous and kind to us, and we feel so very blessed!

What is the next thing on our to-do list? Start packing for the hospital! It's hard to believe, but we're getting close and we want to be prepared! We're praying we won't need that little duffle bag until sometime after Sunday, but you never know...

Emmeline Renee Krebs

My precious little niece, Emmie, was born May 7 at 2:58pm at Vanderbilt Hospital. She weighs 7 lbs. 13 oz. and is 20 1/4 inches long. We are praising God that Emmie and Katie are both healthy! Katie, Emmie, and Josh are all doing well and recovering from a long, exciting day! Here are some photos from yesterday (some of them I "stole" from other family members' Facebook pages; the others are from the time Taras and I got to spend with them yesterday evening). Enjoy!

Daddy with Emmie, not long after she was born. He's so happy to be a grandfather! He'll be such a wonderful one, too! I believe he'll be called "Pop."

Emmie getting cleaned up and swaddled while her daddy, Josh, watches. She didn't seem to like the sponge bath, except when they washed her hair.

Emmie has cute blondish fuzz right now! She apparently likes having her head/hair gently rubbed. :o)

Here's Emmie with her Uncle Taras. He loved holding her, and would hardly let me have her! She seemed to like him, too. :o)

This was Taras' first time to hold a newborn, and he did GREAT! He enjoyed it, too...which is good, since he'll have his own baby girl to hold before long! He's gonna be such a wonderful Daddy!

Finally Aunt Kelly got a turn! Isn't Emmie cute? It's hard to believe I'll be holding my own little Abigail in about 8 weeks!

This has got to be one of the sweetest photos ever! Josh was rubbing noses with his baby girl (aka "giving Eskimo kisses") and talking to her as she started waking up. She was happy and content until he started changing her diaper. :o) He was so gentle with her and is already turning out to be a great Daddy!

Last, but not least, here's a sweet shot of Emmie with her Mommy, Katie. Aren't they beautiful (albeit rather tired)? I'm pretty sure Katie's mom took this with her cell phone very late last night (she posted it on Facebook via Twitter after 1am). We're so thankful Katie's mom, Renee, was able to fly in from Houston last night—in the last available seat on the last plane to Nashville!

Well, that's it for now! I'm sure there will be plenty more photos coming in the days and weeks ahead!

F is for Friday, Family, Food, and...Fotos?

Here's our first "family portrait," taken by my sweet sister Bethany on Easter Sunday. We had just finished a wonderful Easter lunch with my family at my parents' home in Spring Hill. We couldn't stay long, but it was a good little visit. We're looking forward to the end of the Spring semester at MTSU, when we will finally have a chance to catch up on time with family and friends!

We had a good Easter weekend, despite the close call with a tornado on Friday (that's a story for a future post), and the fact that Taras was buried in work for much of the weekend. The Good Friday and Easter services at GCC were a great blessing, and it was fun to have a little time with family. The bit of sunshine on Sunday was also nice, and it gave us a chance to get a couple of good photos of the three Mikhailiuks.


This was a few days into my 29th week. Abigail is growing fast, as you can probably see from the photo. Of course, how much she shows herself depends on what I'm wearing, and the dress doesn't show off my expanding belly quite as much perhaps. Nevertheless, little Abigail is on her way to being a big baby girl—my midwife told me after my last ultrasound (about a month ago) that Abigail's arms and legs were longer than average (although her overall size at the time was normal). It wouldn't surprise me too much if she turned out to be a big baby, given my family history—after all, her Aunt Alyssa was over 10 lbs. and 2 feet long when she was born (and now she's 6 feet tall!). :o)

Thankfully, my "growth" (i.e. weight gain) has stayed on track so far. I'm not sure I can take much credit for it—I feel like I'm eating all the time these days. However, I'm a little more aware of what I'm taking in now that I'm eating for both of us, so maybe that helps. And I haven't had any really weird cravings...unless you count my almost unsatiable appetite for fruit in any form, as well as peanut butter, mashed potatoes, chocolate soymilk, and coffee ice cream (not together, though—that would indeed be weird!).

Speaking of eating, it's time for lunch. I feel like going outside to eat since it's nice and sunny—and Friday, too, which makes it even better. Tomorrow I'm going to register for baby stuff with my mom and sisters, so I'll try to post something about our adventures soon!

P.S. By the way, the dress I'm wearing in the photo is one of my favorite bargain finds ever! I got it for $5.40 off the maternity clearance rack at Kohl's! I think I need to do a fun post sometime soon about all the great bargains I've randomly found when I wasn't even looking...