The Year Winter Lasted a Day

Now that Ainsley is old enough to really enjoy the snow, we have been waiting for it to arrive.  Oh the irony of the warmest winter I can ever remember.  Then they started predicting snow for last night.  It was hard to believe it would really snow since the day before it was 60 degrees.  We didn't tell Ainsley about the possibility but prepared ourselves just in case. 

Well, we got a whooping inch of snow, but it was really sticky and wet snow, perfect for sledding and snowmen.  So we decided to make the best of it.  I called my neighbor, Marci, who has been giving me a hard time for not getting Ainsley out sledding the past couple years.  She agreed to meet me this morning to take Ainsley sledding. 

We bundled up and we were ready to go. 

 Even David had his snowman outfit on that included boots.  He's pumped.

Marci provided the sled and we were off.  We drove to the library where they have a hill that isn't too big but big enough.  It took one time down the hill and Ainsley was hooked.

She quickly graduated to getting pushed down the hill by herself.

And she squealed with glee on each trip.  At the bottom of the hill, she would say "Let's do it again" EVERY TIME!

I even got to get on the sled with her. 

It wasn't fast enough so we went back to pushing her down the hill.  Side note, only in NC can you wear jeans and a sweatshirt sledding and not be freezing!

And don't think for a second that I wasn't going to teach her that she has to bring her own sled up the hill.

The excitement was all just a little bit too much for David

When we got home we had to make a snowman.  Actually, we made 2.  A big sister snowman and a baby brother snowman.

And what caps off a snow day better than a cup of "Hot Chocolate Tea"?  (We may drink a lot of hot tea around here)

And now it's 12:00 and the snow is almost gone and it's supposed to be 54 tomorrow and 63 on Wednesday, we will look forward to winter again next year.

Sacrifices

When you get pregnant or even dream about getting pregnant, your dreams include things like baby smiles, cooing, sweet little sleeping babies.  Your visions of what life with the baby will be like are all roses and sleeping babies. 

Even though I have had a baby before, my mind blocked out all the hard stuff.  My brain went right to 6 months where Ainsley was smiling and sleeping well.  She was easy to put to bed.  She only woke up once a night and was up for 20 minutes at most. She was just generally a happy baby.

And now reality has hit. David wasn't home a week when he was diagnosed with thrush, which is a yeast infection.  The main symptoms are a white tongue, horrible diaper rash, and gas.  The white tongue we can deal with.  The diaper rash got better with some special diaper cream.  The gas on the other hand was miserable.  When he was awake, he was screaming.  It was down right miserable.  We had a couple nights when we slept only an hour or 2. We would just watch him pull his legs to his chest in pain. At his one week checkup the doctor told me that the best way to combat the yeast was to stop eating things that fed yeast.  Gluten and Dairy.  I told him thank you very much but that's impossible.  I explained that I was a vegetarian and cutting out gluten would leave me with nothing to eat.  I went home and listened to David scream for another week.  It was painful.

At his 2 week checkup the thrush had only gotten worse.  I was again faced with the decision of gluten and dairy free.  And this time, I embraced it.  I was going to try it for a week and see if it helped.  If it did, I would do it until the thrush cleared up.  And so this became my life.

And guess what, it worked.  He's happy most of the time.  There is still a good bit of gas (he cleared out a room yesterday but I think that's more genetics he gets from his namesakes), but for the most part, he's good.  And so I continue with the diet and I am figuring out how to keep myself full.

Sacrifices in life are worth it, especially when it comes to your children.

Boy Crazy

When we found out I was pregnant with David, I asked Ryan if we could wait and be surprised on the sex of this baby.  We had found out that Ainsley was a girl when I was pregnant and I told him that I wanted to try it the other way. 

Secretly, I didn't want to know if it was a boy.  People would ask me if I cared if it was a boy or a girl, and I would give the standard answer of "Just as long as it's healthy, I don't care".  Honestly, I cared.  I wanted a girl so badly. 

I was actually petrified of a boy.  Not only did I not know anything about the anatomy (I'm still asking Ryan questions about "it" regularly!), but I was also scared of boy activity.  Boys are rambunctious. Boys are crazy.  Boys are wild.  Boys are everything my little girl is not.  And if I love my little girl and everything about her just the way that she is, how can I love just the opposite.

Everyone told me that I would love a boy just as much as I would love a girl, but I just couldn't picture it.  How was a boy ever going to fit into our lives?  So I convinced Ryan to wait and not find out the sex of the baby.  I didn't want to dwell on the fact that this baby could be a boy for months.  I knew I would stress and worry like crazy if I knew ahead of time.

With each passing day of the pregnancy, I was more and more convinced that this baby was a boy.  My pregnancies were just so different.  Hardly anything was the same.  And so I started to settle in to the fact that this was more than likely a boy.

Then came birth day.  When he was born, I was privileged enough to "catch" him.  When I turned him over in the water, there "it" was.  His boyness was staring back at me.  And I have to say that I panicked.  When Ainsley was born, they put her on my chest and it was instant love.  My little girl.  But when they put David on my chest, I was kind of in denial.  This boy, and a big boy at that, was my baby? 

While I went through all the post birth things, Ryan held David "skin to skin" on his chest.  He bonded and enjoyed every second of that time.  And there I was just staring at both of them.  Confused of my feelings.  Where was the instant love?

I'm not going to tell you that it was instant after I started breast feeding or after I held him for a bit.  I don't actually know when it happened. But I have fallen so deeply in love with this little boy. 

And I can't wait for the soccer games, the dirt, the trucks, the tree climbing, the legos, and more.  Let the invasion of blue begin!

He's definitely a sweet little boy.  And he's definitely mine to love.

What's in a Name?

I always thought it would be so fun to name children.  In reality I have found it just the opposite.  I find it to be an impossible task and with both my kids I have had periods of doubt after they were born and named.  Don't get me wrong, I love their names but they are so permanent that the fear of making a mistake just gets to me. 

With this baby, we did not know whether it was a boy or a girl and therefore had to pick out 2 names.  The girl's name was set from day 1.  The boys name wasn't set until we actually met him.  I had a feeling his name would be what it was but we just weren't sure. 

David's name does have quite a bit of significance though and so I wanted to share it with you.  It's not a hidden fact in my life that my father and I have not always gotten along.  There was a period of time when we actually didn't like each other at all.  I actually wouldn't even stay at his house when I came home from college. 

BUT God's grace is bigger than either of our sinful hearts.  God healed both of our hearts and today my dad is one of the most important people in my life.  He is a friend, an advisor, and a father.  I couldn't ask for anything more. 

And so when we thought about a first name, my dad's name came to mind quickly:  David.  It doesn't hurt that the name also has such strong biblical significance - "a man after God's own heart".

When it came to a middle name, the choice was obvious.  How could we not name our son after his father?  Ryan is such an amazing dad that it seems fitting to name his son after him.  He's my rock and the leader of this family.  And his name's meaning is pretty gtood too - "Little Prince".

So my prayer for you little David Ryan is that you live up to your name.  Those are some pretty big shoes to grow into but we have faith in the man you will become.  God has big plans for you and we trust in Him to fulfill them.  And I am just so happy that the 3 most important men in my life are forever linked by their names. 

And So Begins a New Chapter

With the birth of David, we decided that it was time to start Ainsley in preschool.  She has been under MaryBeth's care for 3 years now (minus a small break when she had Toby).  Unfortunately, MaryBeth won't be watching Ainsley and David.  She and her family have moved closer to her husband's family.  While it's a good decision for them, it makes us sad.

Seeing that Ainsley wasn't going to get the stimulation of 2 rambunctious boys anymore, we decided that preschool would be a good outlet for her 2 days a week.  We chose one based on proximity and we also happen to know the educational director.

Today was her first day.  And since my last post was so wordy, I think this one should just be about the pictures.

Dressed and Ready to Go!

Excited about her New Backpack she got for Christmas

Just before getting in the Car

Checking In

A little nervous with her hands in her hair

 At the end of the day we got a great report from her teachers.  She adjusted well and had a great time. She even got to meet a hedgehog!



He's Going to be a Swimmer

Welcome to the world David Ryan.  If you don't want to read the full birth story, I would suggest you skip this entry.  I won't get too graphic but I do have to post one picture that is worth 1000 words.

On Sunday January 8th, I went to bed and was starting to contract.  I was contracting pretty consistently at 6 minutes apart but they weren't gettting any stronger.  And then they stopped around 4 am.  I woke up in the morning and went to the bathroom.  My pants were a little wet and I figured I might be leaking a little fluid but since I was not contracting anymore, I let it go.  I went to work on January 9th and worked my full day until 2:30.  I came home and laid down on the couch and set Ainsley up with 2 Veggie Tales videos.  Everytime I got up I leaked a little more.  I knew at this point that my water was broken but I still wasn't contracting hard enough or consistent enough to be in active labor. 

I was super bummed.  This is exactly how my hell of a labor started with Ainsley and I knew the road.  It led to pitocin and an epidural and an epic long labor.  I was so disappointed.  I actually waited until 7:00 to call the midwives and they asked me to come in to check if indeed my water was broken. 

Ryan and I decided to send Ainsley and Tucker to Grandma's house and do a few things around the house.  We put 7 boxes together for our business and I took a shower.  The shower seemed to spur a few more contractions.  My doula, Mary, arrived around 9:00.  After evaluating the situation, we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood to see if we could get contractions moving.  It was a full moon and foggy outside.  It was so still and eerie.  I have to say that this walk changed my mood.  I was ready for whatever came my way.  We took a few minutes and prayed over what was to come.  What a gift to have a doula who loves the Lord like we do!

We left for the hospital around 10:30 and I finally got seen by the midwife at 11:30.  She quickly determined that yes indeed my water had broken.  But I was at 4 cm and so they were going to give me some time before putting me on pitocin.  She did strip my membranes though which apparently was the right thing to do at the right time.  I turned a corner and was in active labor.  We really wanted to have a water birth so I hurried Ryan into setting up the tub.

After an hour of contractions in labor and delivery my midwife, Virginia, checked me again and I was at 7.  I was beginning to shake and entering transition.  We moved positions and things got dramatically more intense.  My midwife asked if I wanted to be checked before getting in the tub.  I didn't.  I just said, let's get in there. 

For some reason I had it in my head that it was going to be much easier in the tub. Oops.  Not so much.  It was really hard but I knew there was no turning back.  There was going to be no epidural and this baby was going to be born in the water.

It was at this point that they wanted to get another heartrate check on the baby.  They used 4 different monitors and 3 different nurses and couldn't find it for 45 minutes.  While I just wanted them to go away and forget it, Ryan was freaking out.  I was in a bit of a different state of mind than he was.  Finally, 3 minutes before he was born, they found the heartrate and quickly got away.

And then the moment came when he entered the world.  He was born in the water and I grabbed him and flipped him over to realize he was a BOY!  You can actually see him under the water in this shot!

After 3 hours of active labor, baby David came into the world at 2:25am on January 10th, 2012.  He weighed 9lbs 2oz and was 20 inches long (which is a lot bigger than 7lb 10z Ainsley was).

I can't tell you how proud I am of myself for doing this naturally.  It was so hard but so worth it.  We are already so in love with this little boy.  I never pictured myself as a mother of a little boy but I must say that it is AWESOME!

Usually I'm an Inside Girl

I haven't written in forever.  I really wanted to sit on the last post and really let it sink in.  It was important to me.

But a new year has come and a lot is about to change at our house.  I didn't want to overlook a major thing that happened during the interim. 

I will be the first to admit, I'm an inside girl when it comes to my home.  We have spent time and money redoing our kitchen, buying furniture, and even making curtains.  These are all inside things.  And I love every one of them.  There isn't a day that goes by that I am not thankful for the work we have put into our house to make it a home. 

The outside of our house is a different story.  My philosophy is that if it doesn't grow or produce food for us to eat, then why pay attention to it. 

My father in law and I have often talked about the front of our house needing a face lift.  I knew he was right but I never really looked into it further.  This year for Christmas, he surprised us and had our front yard totally re-landscaped.  I have to admit that I wasn't overly excited about it to start with.  But then it was done and I am dumbfounded by how much I really enjoy it every day.  And it's the dead of winter.  We haven't even seen the extent of the beauty yet.  To say that I'm looking forward to spring is an understatement. 

My words can't do it justice so just take a look...

Before  

(just look at those overgrown bushes!)

During

(they ripped every bush out.  They said the root systems were feet deep!)

After

There are so many little touches that these pictures don't do justice but take my word for it.  You would be amazed!



Even though I am an inside girl and would never have done this for myself, I am SOOOOOO thankful that my father in law was so generous to do it for us.  I never thought I would like it so much.  I guess there is always room for a little growth in one's life.