Strawberry picking.

This morning we headed out with my dear friend Anna to pick some strawberries.  I was extremely excited because this is Leeland's 1st time picking. So exciting to see his reaction to new things, and seeing him get into so many more activities as he is growing up. And after I got home this afternoon and started thinking on it a bit, I'm pretty certain that this was my 1st time actually picking strawberries too. At least I can't recall ever picking before. Sad, huh?
Anywho, other than the fact that it rained yesterday and we got a little muddy, it was pretty perfect.  Leeland got into it, and had fun picking the berries off the vine and collecting them in his little red basket.  And of course the part he really liked was the fruit of his labor, literally. We were trying to take a few photos at the end, and he was munching away at the sweet berries before we headed out.  Of course picking the biggest berries in the box to eat. He's a smart one that kid!

 Now it's on to cleaning, chopping and storing all of these delicious strawberries! I do believe we have some tasty smoothies, and strawberry bread in our future! :)

Who knew?

Who knew that such a tiny person could take up so much space? We live in a quaint 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment.  We have about 900 square feet to ourselves and I'm pretty sure that calculation includes our balcony and closet spaces... the living space is much less.  We moved to this apartment when we were pregnant with Leeland in the Fall of 2009 from our 1 bedroom, 1 bath apartment.  Last year when we found out that we were expecting Hayden, and our lease was up in October, we couldn't afford to even look at upgrading to a 3 bedroom.  Apartment rates are through the roof currently-- I'm told that it's due to the high demand from foreclosures.  Not to mention, with Daniel's schooling and a toddler and me being pregnant, we weren't exactly sure we had the time or energy to even try to move. 

So we were expecting #2, no big deal! And another boy, even better, they could share a room.  We set up the Pack & Play in our room knowing that he would be in our room for at least a few months, and then we would transition him to share a room with Leeland.  Leeland would transition to a "big boy" (twin) bed and Hayden would get the crib.  I cleaned out and organized Leeland's current dresser and closet to contain Hayden's clothes as well, it was going to work out perfect! .... Right?

The walls are closing in around me!!! Literally.  Now that Hayden is here, we pulled the baby swing out of storage, we have a car seat coming in and out of the house, a baby bath tub taking up the counter in the 2nd bathroom, a bouncy chair, we moved the glider from Leeland's room into the living room...... and the list goes on. Oh and please let me add, the Pack & Play in our room next to the bed-- we already had furniture on all four walls, with the Pack & Play added to the mix, I literally have 8 inches to squeeze through to get to our bathroom. Ugh!!

I feel terrible and I feel SO incredibly selfish complaining about our space.  There are so many people who are making do with much smaller spaces and larger families.... and there are so many people that don't even have a space.  But we are out growing this place.  The walls are closing in around us.  Leeland doesn't have room to run and play, I don't have room to breathe.... it just doesn't make any sense that this tiny tiny person could push us out this place.

Happy Easter!

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Happy Easter dear friends from our family to yours!

 

Dying Easter Eggs

Yesterday, Leeland died Easter eggs for the 1st time! And come to think of it, it's Daniel and I's first time dying Easter eggs together as well.  We waited until close to bath time to do it because we knew there was a big chance it could get messy.  We also put a disposable diaper on him, and no other clothes (not risking dying one of my fancy cloth dipes. Haha!) And of course, we kept everything outdoors on our balcony.  Leeland had a lot of fun! He liked to dip the eggs in all of the colors, making some new interesting colors-- we thankfully only had 1 egg turn out brown. And he also insisted that the eggs, be in dye at ALL times, when Daniel and I would declare one finished and put it back in the carton, he would pick it back out and throw it in another color.  It was a lot of fun! See here:

What if?

It wasn't until I became a Mother did I ever worry about, "what if something happened to me?" I'm not talking about the after-life or what will happen to me, because I happen to believe in a wonderful Savior and I know there will be a party in Heaven.  What I am referring to, is what happens to those around me?  More importantly, my children.  You see, I'm kind of a control freak when it comes to my children-- I don't get away from them much and when I do, I definitely don't leave them for long.  It's not that I don't trust people, I just want things done my way and to ensure that, I do it myself. 

I find myself worrying often about who will raise the kids, what big events I will miss in their lives (graduations, weddings... etc.)  I do many of the household chores that involve the children such as washing their diapers and clothes.  At one point in time, I had even considered writing down exact instructions of how to wash and care for their diapers for Daniel just in case.

To many, this sort of anxiety may seem extremely unusual and really quite morbid, but for me it's very real.  My Mom passed away just before my 8th birthday.  She had breast cancer.  She missed many of the big events in my life, and sadly because I was so young when she passed, I really don't have a whole lot of memories of our time together.  Many of the times that I do remember are when she was sick. 

With all of that said, I recently started journaling to the boys.  I have two leather journals- 1 for each of them.  I'm just filling the journals up with memories, and essentially letters to them.  I date each letter and end them with an "I love you."  My hope, is that when I am gone from the Earth, it can be a reminder to them of how much they mean to me.  It will be filled with the memories that they themselves may not remember for being too young, or too much time passing. I don't write in their journals everyday, but they do contain some milestones, and funny stories.  The hope is that when they are of age, I will be able to give them the journals myself, but if something happens, Daniel will pass them along and I hope that they will cherish each and every letter from the past.

The norovirus taught me.

If you read my germs post, it seems that we just can't catch a break around here.  What we thought was just a 24 hour bug that Leeland had, turned out to be norovirus.... And we all got it.  Here's a totally TMI list for your entertainment of what the norovirus has taught me.

1. If one person in the family gets it, we all get it.  We would like to think that little Hayden was spared from the virus, but honestly he spits up and poops all the time as it is so how would we know if he had it?
2. We need softer toilet paper.
3. A 3rd crib sheet would be a great investment for times like this when I'm constantly washing messy sheets.
4. I should chew my food more. (Yea, I went there.)
5. In reference to #2, Desitin is not just for babies and works well for adults as well.
6. Sleep is the best healer.
7. When Mom is out of commission, it takes a toddler approximately 15 minutes to completely demolish the living room.
8. You can mix Pedialyte with ANYTHING, including milk should your 2 year old scream and beg for it.
9. Pedialyte is not just for children.
10. Our house is due for a MAJOR disinfect of germs.

Germs.

2 1/2 weeks before Hayden was born, Leeland came down with a pretty terrible cold.  I happen to think that it was one of the worst ones he has had in his short (just under) 2 years.  It lingered around forever.  He passed it to me-- 2 weeks before Hayden's arrival, I was put on antibiotics for a sinus infection.  It was terrible.... Being sick and pregnant.  I can't even describe how miserable I was feeling.  It mostly cleared up in just enough time for Hayden to make his big entrance.  Leeland's cold however was still lingering and by this time, Daniel had caught it himself, and I had a lingering cough.  3 of us sick with a newborn.  It was inevitable for Hayden to get sick.  At 9 days of life, I rushed him to the ER because he was so congested and having a hard time breathing.  He was diagnosed with RSV.  I spent 2 nights in the hospital with him while he (his oxygen mostly) was being monitored.  Once we were released from the hospital, Leeland's cold started to get better. Now it was time for Daniel, Hayden and I to get over it.  Slowly Daniel and I started to get better.  Then Leeland came down with a stomach virus-- thankfully just a 24 hour bug, but there was lots of throwing up, and several loads of laundry done.  The next night (after Leeland was better) Daniel got the stomach bug-- only his was a little more than just throwing up. 

Now Leeland is better, I am all better, Daniel is getting over his stomach bug (but mostly better), and Hayden still has some lingering mucus from his RSV but is doing much better.... It's been hit after hit for a month and a half.  We have NEVER dealt with this many viruses/illnesses.  My only guess is that it has something to do with Leeland being much older and having lots of play dates, and subsequently he is at an age where he is actually playing WITH other children. I'm so exhausted and frustrated with all these germs we keep passing around.  All I have to say is....

Welcome Spring!

Please be kind to us!  

Happy St. Patrick's Day

From Saint Patrick's Breastplate...

Christ be with me
Christ before me
Christ behind me
Christ in me
Christ beneath me
Christ above me
Christ on my right
Christ on my left
Christ where I lie
... Christ where I sit
Christ where I arise
Christ in the heart of every man
who thinks of me
Christ in the mouth of every man
who speaks of me
Christ in every eye that sees me
Christ in every ear that hears me

Salvation is of the Lord.

 

 

Hayden's birth story.

I'm so happy to announce that our 2nd baby boy was born this past Sunday, February 19, 2012.  And I'm even more excited to share the story of his birth because it was just THAT awesome.  For real, it still gets my adrenaline pumping.  Last month I penned down Leeland's birth story for the first time-- if you've read his story, this one is going to be a little bit different. 

The goal of Hayden's birth was to have a natural (vaginal) non-medicated birth assisted by a midwife.  This post is by no means meant to bash doctors, epidurals or inductions because if you have read Leeland's birth story, you know I've been there. But this post is meant to let you know that there are other ways-- natural childbirth is possible, is real, and is WAY more rewarding and fun. 

Going into this past week, I was so incredibly excited and anxious about Hayden's upcoming arrival.  Those who know me personally know that I am absolutely terrible with surprises so I was driving myself a little mad wondering when he would be here.  You also may remember my 37 weeks post where I talked about things coming together for our water birth.  I had 2 lovely doulas ready for me to be in labor, the pool and all it entails, and my bags were packed.  Just anxiously awaiting the day that I could meet our boy. 

On two separate occasions this past week, I had what we'll call "false starts."  And I'm not talking Braxton Hicks contractions-- I have been having Braxton Hicks contractions for a long while now.  I'm talking false starts in a sense that I had a few real contractions, mild in pain, and then they would stop.  It happened twice and it really irked me.  They started and I got myself all worked up and excited and they stopped.  I say all this to let you know that this past Sunday when the contractions started once again, I honestly was still upset about them stopping before and shrugged them off as another false start. 

I woke up with the contractions at first around 630am.  I continued to lay in bed and breath through them thinking in my mind that they would stop and I'd be back to sleep in no time.  Daniel woke up soon after that and was getting ready to go to the gym like he does every Sunday morning.  I told him that I had been having contractions, he asked how many and I replied 7.  He asked me how far apart they were and I told him I had no clue.  He started to waver about going to the gym.  My prior "false starts" were only about 4 or 5 contractions so to him, 7 was a lot.  I told him not to worry about it and go to the gym.  I insisted that this may not be real labor and that he was getting on my nerves asking too many questions. (Sorry honey, you can't blame me for things I say when I'm in labor.)  After Daniel left for the gym, I was still having contractions and was officially awake-- there was no going back to bed.  I decided to hop in the shower to distract myself.  I remember standing in the shower and feeling Hayden's little tush sticking out on my right side.  I rubbed my side and asked him aloud if today was really going to be the day.  It was a sweet little moment, and now I know that it was a moment that was shared between us on the last day he was in the womb. 

Once I got out of the shower, I continued to assume the contractions would cease soon and just decided I needed to distract myself and work through them.  I folded and put away laundry, I picked up around the house, cleaned the kitchen and even made french toast.  Finally at around 930am, it started to hit me that this could be the real thing.  I wanted to call my doula, but then I was kind of embarassed-- I knew she would ask me how far apart the contractions were and I literally had no idea because I had been playing mind games with myself all morning.  I called Daniel at the gym and told him he might want to come on home and that I needed his help to time the contractions.  He got home and was 1st amazed that I was standing in the kitchen cooking breakfast while in labor, and he was a little panicked and wanted to rush out to the hospital.  I told him we needed to time the contractions before we started to do anything.... and up until this point, Leeland was still asleep so we needed to think about where he was going. 

Daniel started to time the contractions which was very confusing to both of us.  I was having 1 hard contraction and then I would have 1 or 2 smaller ones and then another hard-- it was a pretty consistent pattern.  We assumed we needed to time them all which would've put them about 2 minutes apart, which made Daniel really want to go to the hospital.  I still wasn't convinced or ready and decided I wanted to talk to my doula Jessica first and see if she thought that I was ready.  I called her on the phone and told her very vaguely about the contractions-- Daniel and I had no clue what we were doing so I feel like she didn't have a lot of information to go on. She called my other doula Bridget who happened to be close by in the area.  So Bridget came by to check things out and see how I was doing.  She asked about the timing of my contractions and since I really had no idea we started timing them.  This time around we only timed the harder ones and skipped the milder ones in between.  The harder ones were consistently 5 minutes apart. 

She suggested I contact our midwife/OB office and let them know that my contractions were about 5 minutes apart and lasting about 20-30 seconds.  I called and the midwife on duty, Virginia, she said that it was up to how I was feeling about coming in.  She said that 5 minutes was really good and since this was my 2nd child, she felt that I would be able to discern when I was ready.  They were gaining intensity and I knew that if it were up to Daniel we would've been to the hospital a few hours prior, so I told Bridget, let's give it 20 minutes and head out.  She called Jessica who happened to be about 20-30 minutes away so we decided we would meet her there at the hospital.

During all of this my in-laws had dropped by on there way out of state, and some friends of ours came by to watch Leeland.  Daniel installed Leeland's car seat into their car, and I packed Leeland a "just in case" overnight bag, and packed the last of my toiletries into my suit case for the hospital.  We headed out-- the dreaded car ride.  Up to this point, I had taken all of my contractions standing, walking and swaying.  Sitting hurt and it was hard to cope sitting.  In the 11 minute car ride to the hospital, I had 4 hard contractions-- I had white knuckles from gripping the car door handle and I refused to wear a seat belt.  Once we got out of the car, I had to fill out some admissions paper work and due to the car ride, I had sort of lost my rythym working through each contraction.  Once I felt like I had caught back up, they whisked me away to be checked for admission.  Only 1 person could come back with me at this point so Daniel did.  Standard hospital procedure was to check for dilation, contractions, and listen to the baby's heart-- standard procedure to verify labor and then have the doctor or midwife decide whether or not to admit you.  All well and good standard procedure, except when it is very clear that a woman is in labor.  I was annoyed, I didn't want to sit, I didn't want to lay, I wanted to stand and sway and lean over the bed.  The poor nurse that was assigned to me for this part was very very kind and didn't seem bothered by me not being very compliant.  She set out to find Hayden's heart beat which took FOREVER, mostly because of the position I was standing in made it hard for her.  Then she had to unfortunately have me lay down to check for dilation for a minute-- she was very cooperative with me and waited for when I was ready and she checked so quickly that I'm not entirely sure she got a good estimate and she definitely didn't know how effaced I was.  She said I was 5cm and insisted I sit in a wheel chair to be taken to a delivery room.  I wanted to walk, but she said the wheel chair would be faster and she had noted my rythym and pattern of dealing with the contractions and mentioned that in the hall there was nothing to lean over to cope.  Just before I sat down in the wheel chair I felt a couple gushes of fluid.  I honestly thought I might had peed myself-- we now of course know that my water had broken.

She was right about the wheel chair being fast.  We barreled down the hallway and collected Jessica and Bridget along the way.  We got into the room and everyone immediately started setting up our inflatable birth pool-- that's all that was on my mind as the contractions were getting more intense was how great the water was going to feel.  I had a nurse on my left asking me all kinds of preliminary questions about allergies and such and I felt a nurse around my waist trying again to find Hayden's heart beat.  I was standing hunched over the bed, and when contractions came, I would lean over the bed and sway a little.  They were harder and faster, I was sweating more than I ever had in my entire life.  Jessica was wiping my face with a cool cloth and both she and Bridget were blurting out little praises and encouragement.  I remember saying at least once, "I can't" and they assured me "Yes I can."  Someone got me a birthing ball and offered it to me to sit on.  All I could remember was the car ride and how sitting hurt so at first I was resistant, but then I sat down and it actually felt really nice.  I was still hunched over the bed at this point. 

It felt like literally just a moment later I felt a huge amount of pressure and knew that Hayden was coming. I blurted out, "He's coming!" and though I wasn't looking and had no idea what anyone was doing at this point behind me, there was a panic.  Daniel says that a nurse stuck her hand behind me at that point, and said, "Yes, the baby's coming!" and then everyone began to run.  I was assisted up onto the bed for fear that the baby was going to fall to the floor.  I wasn't trying to push but totally felt my body pushing him out on it's own as I was there on all 4's on the bed.  I was told that there was a flood of nurses at this point in the room trying to get the delivery table set up and everything prepared because he was coming so fast.  My midwife told me that she nearly took out 2 people running down the hallway.  All I heard was a voice say, "reach down and touch your baby" and a few moments later, "he's here, you can hold your baby!"  I think I may have only physically put in 2 pushes because my body was doing much of the work.  I rolled over onto my back and they placed Hayden on my tummy-- his cord was too short to go any higher. 

I was in shock and in awe at what had just happened.  We had literally just pulled up at the doors of the hospital an hour ago.... we had only been in the actual delivery room like 20 minutes.  The pool only had a couple inches of water in it.  It was SO crazy.  I was on a high-- Hayden was finally here, and what an incredible story of his labor.  I DID IT!  I had my baby completely naturally! 

What an incredible, incredible experience!!

Hayden was here!  He picked his own birthday, there was no induction, no needles, not even a standard IV because there was no time.  I surprisingly felt really good.  No tearing, and really only just a little swelling which is to be expected.  

Hayden latched to the breast right away and breast feeding has been pretty awesome and easy in the few days since which is not something that could've been said of my 1st son.

In a lot of ways, I'm still on a high and an adrenaline rush.

It was simply awesome!

Hayden Daniel Kroh

2-19-12    12:50PM

7 pounds, 9 ounces

19 inches long

And a very special thank you to my village who made this possible! 

Preparing for Hayden

I was beginning to wonder when the infamous "nesting" instinct would kick in. I've felt pretty sloth-like for the past month or so.  Kicking back and napping when I can squeeze one in.  I mean, absolutely no motivation to do anything.  The past 2 days though, I have really been checking things off of my list.  I'm not entirely sure that it's nesting, or if it's just trying to be productive to pass the time while Daniel is out of town-- either way, it's exciting to have a little extra energy, to feel accomplished, and to be a productive member of society. So without further ado, here are the things that I have accomplished:

• My car was inspected... and passed.
• Also, my leaky flat tire that I have continued to put air in about twice a week for the past month has now been patched.
• Made a few exchanges at Babies R Us, and picked up the last few things I feel like we need for Hayden.
• Put together our fancy new stroller-- our "sit-n-stand tandem stroller".  Exciting!
• Put away all of said baby items that were purchased and items from the baby shower which pretty much meant re-organizing Leeland's room entirely.  It took an hour and a half to find the proper homes for each thing, trying to make the room make sense and make the necessary items easily accessible. We live in a 2 bedroom apartment currently so the boys will technically be sharing a room.... or at least their stuff will share a room for now because Hayden will be in the pack and play in our room for a few months. 
• Washed all of the laundry in the house, including all of Hayden's new "itty bittys".  
• Washed, organized and put away all of Leeland's cloth diapers.  (Another area that needed re-organizing was the changing table to make room for Hayden's cloth diapers.)
• Packed the bag for the hospital! You know, THE bag.  Like my stuff, Hayden's things, change of clothes for Daniel.  All that's left is the last minute toiletries that I'm currently using.  
• Wrote out thank-you notes from the baby shower.  We were so incredibly blessed and I truly don't feel like a little note or just saying thank you is enough, but hopefully they appreciate it. 
• Visited the local Baby Boutique today and got the last of the diapers necessary for Hayden.  
• Washed and prepped all of Hayden's diapers.  Cloth diapers have to be washed 3-5 times before initial use-- it's cleaning the natural oils out of them, and fluffing them up, somehow making them absorbent.  
• Vacuumed out my car.
• Installed Hayden's car seat in the car.  Holy wow!  That's a wake up call, and quite a visual, seeing TWO car seats in my tiny car!
• Cleaned out the trunk.

All very exciting things!  Happy to have checked all of these things off of my list-- I can officially say that I am ready for this baby.  I'm not entirely sure why it took so much more time this pregnancy to get to that feeling of "ready," but I'm happy that we've gotten there.  I've moved away from that point of anxiety and fear of having two children.  There's peace now.  Now it's just waiting for him to decide when he wants to come.

Daniel's birthday.

Yesterday we celebrated Daniel's 26th birthday! I tried to make it special for him, I made some baked ziti for him and his whole family and also some cupcakes.  We had his parents, his brothers and their wives and our little niece.  It was a good time of just hanging out with the family-- I like moments like that. Here's the cupcakes I made for him-- I tried some new recipes.  We had peanut butter cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting.  I also piped some cute little chocolate decorations.

 The little chocolate decorations are the number 26 and hearts if you can't tell.  Last night a few people thought that they were butterflies, or upside down bows. Haha.

Leeland loved his peanut butter cupcake.... And made quite a mess with it!

Happy birthday Daniel! I truly hope that we made you feel special and I hope that you had a great time celebrating. We love you!

Leeland's Birth Story.

As the weeks continue to pass and we patiently wait for the time of Hayden's arrival into the world, I find myself reflecting on our sweet, handsome 1st born Leeland.  He will be 2 in April and I cannot believe how much he has grown over the past few months.  I am baffled each day by what he is doing and learning and saying.  Today I found myself clearing out my iPhone of photos, because it said that my memory was getting full and the other day refused to take a cute picture when I wanted it to-- many of the photos I found when I was going through the memories were of Leeland as a baby.  He was a baby at one point in time. And as I looked at those tiny little baby photos, wondering where the past 2 years went, I found myself thinking about his birth and what we have to look forward to with the birth of Hayden.  And then it dawned on me that I have never written out Leeland's birth story, so here it goes. 

Leeland's due date according to our doctor and the ultrasounds was April 11, 2010.  Honestly I was always weary of the date and never quite sure if it was right because my cycle had been so irregular.  They picked the date based off of his size in the first two ultrasounds that we had.  It was always very confusing to me though because at nearly every appointment in my last trimester, I was told that I was measuring too big.  In all actuality, the date is just a guess and technically he could come at anytime, but it was my first pregnancy and I was VERY attached to the date. 

I should also mention that I was very miserable the last few weeks, and I was SO SO SO anxious to meet my little boy.  In the last four weeks leading up to the due date, I was checked at each appointment to see if I was dilated or if there was softening of the cervix.  This is where things got to be VERY frustrating and VERY confusing.  When you go to a large OB practice, they rotate you through the various doctors because they want you to know each one, not knowing who will be on call for the delivery.  Each week I saw someone different, and each week I was told that I was progressing.  I went from 1cm, to 2cm, to even 3cm at one visit.  When they told me I was 3cm was when I had called in the last week and told them that I was feeling some unusual pain and had an increase in fluids and thought maybe I was leaking amniotic fluid.  They had me come in, checked me out and tested the fluid.  They said it was nothing and had me return home, but they must've felt sorry for me, or understood how ready I was to have the baby because they went ahead and set my induction for the following week.  The day before my due date, I went to the hospital and tried to be admitted-- I was having a few contractions here and there (nothing regular) and in my head, if I was at 3cm, then maybe, just maybe, they would decide to keep me.  I got in, undressed, was strapped to the monitors, and was checked..... I was then told I was only 1cm.  I tried to argue with the nurse at first explaining that just days before my OB told me I was a 3.  She played the "don't worry, he'll come when he's ready card."  I didn't like that, I was disappointed, I felt lame for embarrassing myself and coming in, I felt silly for getting my hopes up that they would keep me, I was ready to be done, I was uncomfortable, I wanted to meet my baby.... and I cried.... and I went home.

The next day was April 11th, a Sunday, we went to church.  We had been visiting some different churches at the time, trying to find our church home.  I remember being approached by several people in the congregation just introducing themselves and asking us how we heard about the church, what brought us there, etc.  I was pretty large at the time, so it would always come up, "when are you due" in which I would follow with, "today."  They always seemed so shocked, like I shouldn't be out of the house.  It was humorous, but what else did I have to do to pass the time?

As the few days before the induction came passed, I tried everything in my power to kick start labor.  I went on walks with our dog Lilly.  In fact, the Friday before his birth, I had walked 3 miles one afternoon at our local park. By myself, which probably wasn't too smart being so far along but in the end it did no good so it didn't matter.  I ate everything that the internet suggested, spicy food, eggplant, balsamic vinegar.  Nothing changed, and I didn't feel any different.  It was time to come to terms with the fact that I was being induced, and that I just needed to look forward to meeting our little guy in a few days.

The induction day came, we were to be admitted to the local Women's Hospital the evening of April 13th.  I think I was expecting to have him within a few hours that night, but that's not how it works.  We packed our bags, got checked into the hospital and settled into our labor and delivery room.  That night I was given Cervadil and was told that it would "kick start" labor, and also a sleeping pill to help me get some rest.  Not sure what I was expecting, but I didn't feel anything through the night.  The next morning the only change was that my cervix had softened some more-- apparently that's all that was supposed to happen with the Cervadil.  Around 8am I was hooked up to an IV of Pitocin and then sometime between 830 and 900, my doctor came in and broke my water with a large hook.  Immediately it was noted that my water was not clear, there was a large amount of meconium which essentially means that Leeland had pooped in the womb.  We had went over the dangers of meconium in our birthing class and I was a little worried by it, but my doctor and the nurse assured me that when it came time for delivery, Leeland would be suctioned and cleaned very thoroughly to ensure that he didn't inhale any of the meconium. 

As the day went on my family and Daniel's family were in and out of our room visiting and checking in.  My original goal was a "natural" childbirth.  In my head, I was still counting this as a natural childbirth because up to this point I hadn't had any pain medication.  In all actuality looking back, my natural childbirth was thrown out the window as soon as I accepted being induced. About 4 hours after my water broke, I began to get sick, as in throwing up.  We had been told in our birthing classes that this was fairly common, and I assumed I would be one of those lucky ones because I had been sick so much during the pregnancy.  Let me just say, that I can handle a lot of things.  I would consider myself at least somewhat tough, but when I get sick it is SO over.  I remember my morning sickness days early in pregnancy-- I'm talking about when I would curl up in the fetal position in the bathroom floor and cry for Daniel.  I'm a total sissy when it comes to sickness!  With all of that said, just because I was getting sick, didn't stop the contractions.  I had been able to stay on top of them and cope somewhat but suddenly, I found myself sitting up in the bed, hurling into a trash can and throwing in  the towel.  I remember saying the words, "I NEED and epidural."  Within 20 minutes the anesthesiologist was in to take care of it for me.  The rest of my labor, I layed in bed on Facebook  on my iPhone and watching TV.  The nurse came in every hour or so to check in on me and check my progress.  Just after 530pm it was time to push.

Pushing was a breeze.  I mean, I couldn't feel anything.  They had to tell me when to push because I had no idea when I was having a contraction.  The nurse was astonished by how well I was doing-- within 20 minutes, Leeland was almost out.  She had to halt me for us to wait on the doctor to come in.  The doctor arrived, I gave a few more steady pushes and out came Leeland around 610pm.

I'm not so happy that my original "natural childbirth" goal was thrown out the window and I'm really the only one to blame for it.  Sure I could point fingers at the doctors and their need to intervene and schedule things, but I was the one that didn't stand my ground.  I let a date get in the way, I was so focused on that date, and so focused on just getting it done.  As I look back, though I'm a little disappointed in myself, I know that it all worked out in the end.  In the end, I had a happy, healthy, handsome, 8 pound 6 ounce little boy in my arms.

Our Vows.

On January 3, 2009  I married the love of my life.  I truly believe that he was made for me and that the Lord put us together in His perfect timing.  I grow more and more in love with Daniel as the days pass, and I look forward to growing old with him.  I'd like to share some pictures from our special day and our vows to each other from our wedding here with you today.  We wrote our own vows, and encourage others to do the same because it was SO fun and SO special.

Daniel,
    I am so excited here today in front of all of our friends and family to marry my best friend.  God blessed our relationship from the beginning and put us together in His perfect timing.  This ceremony is more to me than simply professing our love to one another.  It's about my promise to you for eternity.  I am vowing today to always love you second because we will each love God first.  I promise to provide you with support and encouragement as I look to you to be my family leader.  I promise to always be by your side through the fun and games but also through trials and tribulations.  Neither of us know what the future holds but the part that I look forward to most is spending it with you.  I hope to serve with you, pray with you, laugh with you and cry with you.  Together, focused on Christ nothing can pull us down.  Today I choose you to be my husband Daniel, and I to be your wife.

Dana,
    My vow, my promise from this moment on is a simple yet abused and overused word. Love.  Dana, I vow to unconditionally love you forever.  Like God made Eve for Adam, I know He made you for me.  There is no question that our love is divine and meant to be.  I promise to put you second and God first always and to this I will hold us accountable.  I will do this because I know that our marriage is just a significant, yet small part of God's purpose and plan for us in His amazing story.  I promise to choose to love you day in and day out for the rest of my life.  In doing this I will be forever patient, forever kind and forever understanding.  I will not envy, I will not boast and I will not keep record of wrong doings.  Dana, you are my best friend and my life long accountability partner and I can't wait to see the adventures God has in store for us and our life together.  So my vow, my promise is that I will  always love you as God does His church, unconditonally.  I love you and will choose to love in all that I do.  Dana, love is my forever vow to you.

 Happy happy anniversary to us!  I only pray that we live to see many many more!

Birthday Festivities.

I turned 25 yesterday! It doesn't sound like I'm that old but I am half way to 50.  I feel so much older than my actual age to be honest-- probably because I'm married and I'm a Mom.  Many people that I went to High School with are just now getting engaged (or some are still single), and here I am married with a toddler and another baby on the way.  I absolutely adore my boys though and wouldn't change a thing!

As far as birthdays go, my birthday is always pretty low key.  I think having a Holiday birthday kind of makes it that way-- not to mention one that falls amongst the chaos of other Holidays.  Yesterday we attended church, and then came home for lunch.  I was exhausted from New Year's Eve so I took a nap when Leeland took his regular afternoon nap.  Oh, I forgot to mention, I stayed up till 2am New Year's Eve!  I have to say that I'm pretty proud of that.  Last year I didn't make it to midnight-- I think Saturday was the latest I've stayed up since Leeland was a newborn.... and staying up when he was a baby wasn't by choice. So needless to say, this pregnant Momma enjoyed a birthday nap!  Once we got up from our nap, it was time to head to my parent's house.  My sister's birthday is December 28th and so we always get together as a family on New Year's and celebrate both.  We have the traditional southern New Year's dinner of turnip greens, pintos, some sort of pork, and cornbread.  It is absolutely delicious!  Each item has a meaning but I forget what's what-- health, wealth and luck for the New Year.  We also had a yummy ice cream cake! (pictured at the top).

Nothing beats relaxation and food as a way to celebrate your birthday-- especially when you're pregnant. 

The festivities didn't end there-- Daniel and I also enjoyed a nice date night tonight.  Tonight's date was kind of a combination of celebrating Christmas, my birthday, and our anniversary.  And to be quite honest, it had been far too long since we have went on a date so really any reason is fine by me.  We started the evening dropping Leeland off with Daniel's parents and then we headed out to Ulta for me to splurge a little with my birthday money.  You know it's love when your man is willing to wonder around the beauty store with you. I purchased a skincare set by Philosophy and some new make-up by Smashbox, both I hope to write a bit about once I have used them at least a week.  After that we debated about where to go eat and settled on Kabuto, a Japanese restaurant where they cook on a grill at the table.  It definitely hit the spot!

Happy 25th birthday to me and Happy New Year to all of you guys!  Hope you enjoyed your Holiday weekend as much as I enjoyed mine.

2011 comes to an end.

WOW! I mean.... seriously, WOW!  Can you believe that today is December 31, 2011??  If this is how fast time flies when you have one child, what am I in for when 2012 comes? 

With all of that being said, 2011 has brought so many blessings that I am reminded about today.  I am so incredibly thankful to have spent another year with Daniel and Leeland.  Some fun things about 2011:

--Getting my job (though I later left) at the Pregnancy Care Center.  Truly a blessing to work there, and absolutely adore the ministry.  They will always have my heart and prayers and I look forward to volunteering some there in the future.
--Leeland turning 1, having an awesome dinosaur party and enjoying cake for the very 1st time.
--Daniel getting his new job with the Police Department.  He's still in the academy and we look forward to graduation in 2012.  But what a great opportunity, and even better that I now get to stay at home with my little guys.
--Finding out we were expecting baby #2... and another boy! And so blessed to have had a healthy pregnancy so far.
--Finished up my 1st semester of MOPS (Mothers of Pre Schoolers), getting to know some other Moms, enjoying adult conversation, and allowing Leeland a place to play with other kids for a couple hours. That was a lot of fun!
--Leeland has grown and changed and developed SO much in the past year that I could write a book, but one of the more fun things has been watching his imagination develop.  He is very in to pretending and it is absolutely adorable to see what his little mind comes up with. 
--And just to brag a little bit.... I have been pretty darn good at winning giveaways in 2011. (Hehe!)  I can only hope that 2012 brings even more freebies.
--Daniel winning in his powerlifting competition this year, with a medal and a fancy trophy to show for it.  I couldn't be more proud of him and look forward to cheering him on at more competitions once he is finished with the academy.

Maybe my preggo/Mommy brain is failing me, but that's all that I can think of right now.  I hope you all have enjoyed your 2011 and cheers to 2012!

31 weeks

I had Daniel take a few photos of Leeland and I before the Christmas Eve church service this weekend. I wanted to get a decent belly shot so that Hayden knows that he was here at Christmas loved and thought about. 

We had a midwife appointment this morning which was extra exciting because it was the 1st appointment that Daniel had been able to attend with me because of his work schedule.  I'm measuring right on point and Hayden's heart beat makes a beautiful sound.  There are some concerns about my thyroid levels being low so I had additional blood drawn today, but I'm not worried.  Other than some back pain, which is probably brought on not only by the pregnancy but also by chasing and lifting a toddler, I am feeling pretty great! Only 9 weeks left to go and my is time just flying by!

Christmas Festivities:

We were unable to go to Michigan this year for Christmas (much of Daniel's family lives there) because Daniel didn't get enough time off work.  He only got Saturday through Tuesday and since we typically drive, 2 days are spent traveling there and back. (About 13 hours in the car one way.) It was nice to celebrate and enjoy my family's typical traditions that they do here, but I really did miss getting away.  Looking at the calendar prior to Christmas weekend, I was feeling a little overwhelmed and like we had overextended ourselves.  It's so easy to get caught up in all the festivities, and subsequently not truly be able to worship and celebrate.  Here's what our weekend looked like.....

Friday December 23rd

 Praise God that my Brother-In-Law is home safely from Iraq!  We were so excited to have him back on this side of the pond, AND home to celebrate Christmas!  Friday night was spent at my in-laws celebrating his return.  While he was in Iraq, he missed his birthday and Thanksgiving so we had a Thanksgiving dinner re-do with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato pie... And I baked him a birthday cake.  Of course we also had to celebrate Christmas in there, so Leeland and his little cousin got to open all of their Christmas presents.  My in-laws left the next morning for Michigan which is why the babies got to open their gifts a bit early.

Saturday, December 24th

Christmas Eve morning we had another couple over that is friends of ours for breakfast.  They of course brought Leeland a gift-- cute little track suit pictured below.  And they even got Daniel and I a little something which was unexpected and super sweet of them.  I made breakfast, I made this breakfast casserole and this french toast recipe.  Both of them SUPER easy, I prepped both ahead Friday night and baked them in the oven that morning. 

Saturday evening we went to church.  The Christmas Eve service was PACKED!  It was such a sweet service though, with what seemed like lots of extra singing which was totally fine by me-- the band at church is always wonderful and singing Christmas carols with a packed house is just magical.  After the service, we went to my Granny's house for some yummy food and for Leeland to yet again open some more Christmas presents.  

After my Granny's house we were headed home to play Santa, or just simply put the gifts that had been wrapped and hidden in our room for several weeks now under the tree.  

Sunday, December 25th-- CHRISTMAS!

Christmas morning we woke up and got Leeland up to open gifts.  We had a minor issue with my fancy camera and all of our Christmas morning photos had to be taken on my iPhone.  I was quite bummed!  We left the camera out in the car on accident the night before-- when Daniel walked the dog, he brought it in.  It was pretty chilly out that morning and when he brought it in the lens got all fogged up.  I wiped and wiped and it kept fogging, it took about an hour to "defrost" and of course Leeland was not waiting to open his presents. 

After we opened up our gifts and our stockings, it was time to head to my parents house.  Their tradition is a big Christmas morning breakfast-- bacon, sausage, biscuits, gravy, pancakes, eggs.... MMMM, I'm starting to drool just thinking about it. And of course there was more presents.


Once we were done there, we were free to celebrate as a family.  We came home and took naps with new PJ's on and then got up and had some dinner.  And cake.  Our new tradition this year is a "Happy birthday Jesus" cake-- an excellent way to teach the boys a bit more about the meaning of Christmas. 

And that my friends is our Christmas in a nut shell with some photos.  The past 2 days since Christmas have been all about family time (taking advantage of Daniel's time off work), cleaning, organizing and trying to figure out what to do with all these presents!  Our little man really racked up and got far more than he could ever need or want.... kind of makes me nervous about next year with 2.  Hope you and your families had a great Christmas!