Amen

HAD to repost this from my friend's blog: marthametzler.com.

Where It All Started

Last weekend, our little family went to one of my favorite places in the world....Windy Gap. It was gorgeous as usual and we got the opportunity to take a family picture on the bench where we got engaged. Very cool. Since we go there so often, I had the idea to take a picture in that spot every year of our growing family. I got some other great pics of Ava over the weekend too.

Make a JOYFUL noise to the Lord

Ava has brought us indescribable joy in these short 3 1/2 months. I am so thankful that God has given us the privilege to be her parents. Trying to slow the clock down already....

The Learning Curve of Motherhood

As a new mother, there are some things I've learned that I wish other moms would have told me ahead of time. So here they are in no particular order for all you expectant first time mothers:

1. Having a baby is really hard and will not allow you to be selfish anymore.

2. Babies can shoot poop out of their butts at a distance of atleast 3 feet, causing it to hit the wall and run down towards the carpet.

3. Your baby will wake up within 3 minutes of you falling asleep.

4. a. Breastfeeding hurts and will cause you to swear more than you ever have in your life ("OWW, @$*&%$%^^&*$!!!"). This will cause your husband some concern.

b. Your husband will allow the baby to latch on to his nipple and will say that it "tickles". This will make you want to punch him in the face.

5. Even after you lose all of your pregnancy weight, your old clothes still won't fit because your body is shaped differently now. This will cause you mounds of frustration.

6. Babies eyes sometimes roll all around and go crossed. Don't worry, they won't stay that way.

7. It's okay to cry after you come home from the hospital and not know why. This is normal.

8. You may want to return your baby to the hospital. DON'T DO IT. This feeling will pass. But it may come back in a few days. It will pass again.

9. If you have to have a c-section, they will strap your arms down out to the side like you are being nailed to a cross.

10. It's okay to have strong words with the nurses at the hospital (make your husband do this).


That's it for now. If this list stresses you out, just look at the below picture and remember that it's all worth it.

Daddy's Girl

In honor of Father's Day, here are some pictures of Ava and her daddy.

These Are The Days of Our Lives

I still haven't found the time to sit down and write about my true experiences and feelings so far as a mother. It will come though. Today Ava is 1 month old. Time TRULY does fly. Tom and I were sitting on the front porch the other night and I stated how I couldn't believe she would already be a month old today (Ava had been asleep for a little while and literally the second we got into bed, she woke up. HOW DO THEY DO THAT?!) We both commented that it will feel like we just blinked our eyes and we'll be out on the porch saying, "I can't believe she's gonna be 1 year old today". She has changed so much already. Here are some sweet pictures from the past few days.

A Different World

I wonder if I can watch A Different World on Hulu?....that might be nice to watch while I'm awake at 3am with my baby who won't sleep. More on that later. For now, here are some pics from the first 2 weeks.

Ava's first birthday party at the park.


1 week old.




First bath.

Overshadowed

Today I got slapped in the face by the Lord. Not really. But as Tom and I sat in the doctor's office this morning, I was swiftly reminded that MY plans are not necessarily HIS plans. And even though I can't see the big picture, and I can make some pretty good plans....I know that His plans are better. I've also been reminded of something else as evidenced by this conversation with my mom yesterday:

Mom: Well even if you don't have the baby by Friday (the due date), Dad and I would still like to come down and take you and Tom out to eat.
Me: That's really nice, but why would you guys drive all the way here, only to have to drive back in a few days when the baby comes?
Mom: Because Friday is your birthday.

I forgot that it was my birthday on Friday.

Make-do "Nesting"

I have been having the urge to get things ready and "nest" if you will, which is hard to do in our current situation. We are still trying to sell our house, so we haven't set up a nursery or anything. We have the crib put up in the office, with some baby stuff sitting in bags in the crib, and the rest of our stuff is in the attic. The other day, I decided to make-do with what I had and just organized the clothes by size and then put them back in the bag in the crib. That'll have to do for now. Even though it can't come to fruition yet, I have been thinking a lot about how I want the nursery to look. My creative vibes have been somewhat struggling. One thing I would LOVE to do is put up John 3:16 somehow, but personalized.....i.e. "For God so loved Ava, that he gave his only begotten son...". Any suggestions?

The Time is Drawing Near...

6 weeks to go. But I'm betting she comes earlier than that. Time has flown by and I am getting so excited. We got the crib this week, which makes me feel much more prepared (along with having some diapers). We have been very blessed to receive some gifts from family and friends, including most of the crib bedding, so we (aka Tom) put it all together and it looks marvelous! Every time I walk by that room I just want to go in a sit for awhile. Wouldn't you? I mean look at this precious stuff:








In preparation for the big day and beyond, I've been reading What To Expect When You're Expecting, Your Pregnancy & Birth, Baby Wise, The Bradley Method, and Supernatural Childbirth. I'm ready people!! The last two are for a natural childbirth plan. A friend just asked me today about my birthing plan and I told her I would like to try and do it naturally. She said, "Are you crazy? Why are you gonna do that to yourself?". I seem to get this response a lot.

It's Pat!

Things are moving along here. I'm now 27 weeks into this pregnancy and everything has been good for the most part. Yesterday however, I spent 3 hours in the hospital. I was out of the office on a home visit when my back started hurting. It was on and off for the hour I was there, but when I got in the car and started driving, it got much worse. I was to the point where I thought I might have to pull over when I called the doctor. After explaining what was going on, they said they wanted me to go to the hospital to make sure everything was okay. So they checked me out on the maternity ward and hooked me up to a heartrate and contraction monitor. The doctor on duty was one I knew from my practice so that was nice. The baby was fine but I was having some small contractions. First they were concerned that I might have a kidney infection, which the doctor said would be "really bad", but the tests came back clear. He did say that my back was really tight and spazing and that I should see a chiropractor or massage therapist. In the midst of this, nurse Pat got on my case about not drinking enough water. She also got mad when I ate something (we were there for 3 hours) even though nobody told me I wasn't supposed to eat anything! Bottom line is that I'm supposed to get lots of rest, drink tons of water, and take the next 2 days off of work. BLAH. I'm very thankful it wasn't anything more than that though because I did not want Ava to make a dramatic entrance yesterday! Here is a pic from last Friday, at 26 weeks:

Another stinker

So stinkin' sweet

This video, more than anything else, has made us super excited to have a little girl. Enjoy the sweetness.