Spring Happenings

What a beautiful, blessed Spring it has been for our family.  We have been busy!  :)

The biggest bit of news, as most of you know, is that our sweet Julia Elise joined our family on March 9th.  She was born at 11:13 am, and came in at 7 lbs 6 1/2 oz, 21 3/4" long.  She was my smallest baby yet, but the longest of the three!

Meeting their baby sister for the first time.

Being a family of five has been an easier transition than what I anticipated, but it has also presented several challenges I had not.  By God's grace, I am learning!

Going home from the hospital as a family of FIVE!

Although it has taken everyone getting used to exercising a little more patience, the older kids have not shown an ounce of "sibling rivalry" but instead have been absolutely smitten with their new baby sister.  Olivia especially, has been so sweet to watch.  She has become so "grown up", and has been a good helper to me!  She regularly asks to hold Julia, and she has also helped with feedings.  :)

Be still, oh my beating heart!

I have been counseling myself to keep the little things the little things, and focus on REST.  I'm not sure why it has taken me three babies to figure this out, but I know myself as a Mama by now well enough to know, if I run myself into the ground, everyone else in the family will end up paying for it.  Naps are not just a luxury - they are a necessary part of healing after childbirth!  Those early days of living in newborn fog were much easier to navigate with an eternal perspective: in eternity, what will matter more?  That I was diligent with my dishwashing?  Or gentle with little hearts in the midst of my exhaustion?  And yet, through my (many) failings, God is always faithful.

First time in a carrier!  Close to Mommy's heartbeat.

So, we took it extra slow the first month or so, and Julia has woven herself down deep into all our hearts.

Nate:

Nate has been anticipating for some time now the end of his time at Verizon Business.  With the company consolidating his department, he has been waiting to receive word of his official "end date".  That finally came in a meeting at the end of March, so he will be staying with the company through the end of the year (God willing), and then moving on to something new!

In the meantime, he will be on standby, as it were, for a possible company strike out on the East coast.  Being properly prepared for the work should a strike occur, involves a week of training near Washington DC.  So there is a lot of travel he will be looking forward to!  

He had taken over my paper route (USA Today) for me full time after Julia was born, but the company recently downsized its carriers, so the paper route has completely gone away for good!  We are both excited about the fact that this means more sleep!!  We were in a different season when I accepted the position as a carrier, and our family has gone through lots of changes since then.  What began as a creative way for me to contribute to the family income was starting to feel like a burden.  We are thankful for God's mercy in making the decision to be done for us. 

Daddy's also getting pretty good at being a lap juggler.  ;)

Olivia Grace:

My big girl turned four the day we brought Julia home from the hospital.  She has matured so much in the last few months!  I am so thankful for her.

She still loves all things ballet, and she sleeps with her cherished bunnies, although they are starting to tag along less frequently throughout the day.  :)  She makes cozy beds for them to sleep in while she's playing.

She received a pair of "puddle boots" as she calls them, for her birthday, so we look forward to rainy days!  So far, there has only been one mishap with a face plant in the mud.  :)

She is starting to enjoy her role as "big sister" and takes it quite seriously.  She has taken to tutoring Levi in his letters, and she "reads" stories to him often.  It's neat to see their friendship blossoming!

Why are you taking my picture at breakfast??

She is quirky, and funny, and she loves to act silly.  She's still my sassafras - and she has plenty of sugar AND spice.  

She has an amazingly compassionate spirit for someone so young, and I can't wait to see how God develops that!

Levi Jeffrey:

Oh my.  Levi.  <3  My son is ALL BOY.  He is the definition of mischief.  He has no respect whatsoever for the laws of physics, he loves to make noise with whatever he can find, and he just has to know what is behind every door, cupboard, and other forbidden places.  ;)

The "whoops, I got caught" face.  Yes, that is cocoa powder.  :)

He is testing his independence, along with the boundaries that Mommy and Daddy have placed, which makes for lots of interesting confrontations.  Although, sometimes he tries to corner me with those dimples and long eyelashes.  ;)

Big boy haircut!

He is also one of the most joyful kids I know.  You can't help being around him without smiling.  I think perhaps God has a career path in theater planned out for him, because he loves to be exceptionally dramatic.  Usually when it involves something not going his way.

"I'm a BEEE-ear!" (Even though it's a lion costume! Ha!)

In typical boy fashion, he is currently obsessed with anything that has wheels!  Trucks, trains, cars, oh yes, and airplanes.  They have landing gear that counts for wheels, right?  :)

He is extremely verbal for a little one his age - he can carry on full conversations!  Maybe we have his older sister to thank for that?  

He was telling me "It's my BIRF-DAAAAAY!"

He turned two the end of April, and for his birthday this year, we gave him his most favorite thing.  TRUCKS!  He had a truck cake, truck decorations, and even a truck banner that spelled out "Happy Birthday".  He was one pretty excited two year old.  :)

And his most favorite person in the whole wide world right now, is his Daddy.  :)  Although, I admit, I am a bit envious, it does my heart good to see his whole face light up when he hears his Daddy come home.  He's almost a celebrity!

Ah.  I love that kid.  <3

Our Springtime has been full - and the last few months have felt more like years in some ways.  We are learning and growing as a family, and God is molding and shaping.  Though it sometimes hurts to be held to the fire to be made more pliable, I am thankful that I can rest in knowing I am in the good hands of the Potter, who is fashioning me for his perfect purposes.

Grace and Peace,

Amanda

Snow Day!

There is nothing like a good snow day to renew my love of Winter.  Sitting inside with a cup of coffee, my crochet project, and a good sermon were an excellent way to spend this morning.

We have only had a few measurable snowfalls this Winter here in Iowa, but this one was absolutely perfect snowman building snow!  Olivia has been waiting all season for a chance to build "Olaf" the snowman.  :)  She was elated to wake up this morning to a fresh white wonderland.

I absolutely love being able to feel like I live inside a snow globe - especially when I don't have to go anywhere.  The only disappointment today was that the weather meant missing church, and then of course because it's Super Bowl Sunday, we aren't able to enjoy the company of friends this evening either.

Although Nate's work schedule dictates that he has to work the audit schedule on the first of the month - every month, regardless of holidays, weekends, etc - he is blessed to have the ability to work from home.  Today that was an extra gift!

He took a break for a while this morning to go out and shovel, and the kids went out with him for a few minutes.

This was Levi's first time tromping around in the snow himself, and he absolutely LOVED every minute!

Even after his little cheeks were bright red, and his ankles were all wet, he still cried when we brought him inside.

He kept sticking out his tongue as the snow was swirling through the air, and saying "taste it!"

Then he actually put his mitten in his mouth, and was apparently pretending to "bwush teeph!"

My silly boy.  <3

Olivia is a snow baby at heart.  She is her mother's daughter.  ;)

She just kept running around the yard giggling non-stop.  It was adorable.

Then she wanted to help Levi run with her.  They got a few steps in before he toppled over like a big, blue Weeble.

And of course, no snow day would be complete without Sadie the Wonder Dog . . . 

I think of all of us, she loves the snow the most.  :)  She was helping the neighbor clean up the fallen branches in his yard.

Although, this is her favorite thing to do in the snow.

She's like a big, snow-mole.  She tunnels face first, and then comes up snorting like she's laughing.

I love that dog.  She makes me giggle.

Daddy even came over for a minute to gather up some snow for snowball making.

As of right now, we have between 10-11 inches, and it's still snowing!  The wind is blowing pretty hard too, which makes shoveling an uphill battle.  Despite all that, we have been blessed with a wonderful day of family time.

I am so thankful that my children are able to appreciate the beauty in God's creation - as well as his majesty in the storm.  Olivia and I just recently read the story of Jesus calming the wind and waves out of her "Jesus Storybook Bible", and she was talking about how the wind listened to Jesus' voice, because He was the one who made it.  Precious lessons for a precious girl.

May you be safe and warm today, and if you are somewhere tropical and warm, try not to be jealous.  :)

Olivia's Birth Story

Maybe it's just because I'm preparing for the birth of my third child, but having babies has been on my mind a lot lately.  :)  It occurred to me that I had never written Olivia's birth story down anywhere, so I thought I'd share it here - for all you birth junkies out there.  haha  *Disclaimer*  This is a long post, and while not graphic, I am sharing the real life details of Olivia's birth, so read on with caution!  :)

I'd been having Braxton Hicks contractions for weeks, and at my last appointment my doctor had said I was dilated to 2 centimeters, and 90% effaced.  Since this was my first baby, she still wasn't convinced that labor would start soon.  In fact, since my Mom had been 10 days overdue with me, the doctor had informed me that late babies tend to be hereditary, and that there was a good possibly I would go late with this one too.  Since my official due date was March 12, we were hoping for a special "late" baby that would come on my Dad's birthday - March 16th.

Fast forward a few days ahead, to March 10th (my niece's birthday), and I had been having lots of Braxton Hicks contractions all day - but still nothing really unusual.  Nate and I decided to go to dinner that night, and on the way there, I called my niece.  After birthday wishes, she handed the phone to my sister, who joked "Am I going to get a phone call later tonight?" since she was planning to attend the birth (and lived 5 hours away).  I laughed, and assured her that this wasn't the beginning of labor.

After dinner, I thought I had an upset stomach from something I ate, and continued to ignore the more frequent, but still painless contractions.  Finally, around 9 pm, they started getting more "serious" and Nate decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea to start timing them.  "Just in case".  I had expected labor to feel so different - and painful.  This felt more like stomach pains.  I commented to Nate that I would feel better if we packed a bag (since we'd put that off with the false assumption that we had "plenty of time") for the hospital.

Nate suggested that I call my Mom, and let her know what was going on, since I'd wanted to have her present at the birth.  By this point it was getting late, and I knew she'd already be in bed - with a workday before her the next day.  I really wasn't convinced that this was labor, and I didn't want to be one of "those" moms who ended up in the hospital only to be sent home later.  I commented that we should wait a little longer, until we were sure.  After all, it was going to be a three and a half hour drive for her, and I didn't want it to be in vain.  "Well, would you be more sad if you called her for a false alarm, or because you waited too long to call, and she missed the birth?" my wise husband admonished me . . .

I decided to take a shower, since my lower back was bothering me, and I thought standing under the warm water would help.  By this point, Nate was following me around the house (in between throwing stuff, literally - into a suitcase) timing the contractions.  They were coming every 5 minutes, and getting more and more intense.  At around 11:30, I called the hospital with the "I think I might be in labor, but I'm not sure" speech.  The kind nurse was so helpful on the phone, and encouraged me to stay at home as long as I was comfortable.  She said that as long as I could still talk through contractions, it was probably okay for me to wait to come in, since this was my first.  Also, we live 5 minutes from the hospital, and we weren't anticipating much traffic at that time of night if we needed to make a dash for it.  ;)

At midnight, I called my Mom, and apologized profusely for waking her.  "I think I'm in labor, but we're still at home".  We had plenty of time, right?  This was my first baby, after all - I really wasn't feeling in a hurry.  Thankfully, she already had her bag packed, and in the car.  All she had to do was get dressed, and she was on her way.  I also called my sister, much to her amusement.  We had finished packing, and then I started, um, cleaning.  Haha!  I figured if we had called my Mom and Sister, even if this was a false alarm, they'll still be staying with us for a few days, and I wanted my bathroom to be clean!  By this point, it was taking effort to breathe through the contractions, and Nate was getting awfully nervous.  I remember leaning over the bathroom sink, encouraging him, "I can still talk!  It's okay, Honey!"  Looking back, this seems ridiculous, but I wanted to put a little make up on before we left for the hospital, because if this was true labor, I wanted to feel pretty.  So silly.

By the time I had cleaned, and put a little make-up on, my contractions were coming every two minutes, and Nate was really *strongly* suggesting that we head over to the hospital.  I finally agreed that yes, that sounded like a pretty good idea.  Unfortunately, by this point I was also starting to feel pretty nauseous, and the car ride to the hospital, short though it was, was pretty unpleasant.  By the time we got there, I had to lean on Nate for support and breathe through another contraction before we even entered the hospital.  It was close to 2 in the morning, and as it was in the wee hours of a Friday morning, both of us had been up since the weekday morning before - so we were running on sheer adrenaline.

By the time I had been checked in and settled into a room, they informed me that I was 6 cm dilated.  I was relieved that I really was in labor (I obviously wasn't thinking clearly anymore, haha!) and that I had labored so far on my own at home.  Things kept rolling along at a good clip, and soon I was in "transition."  The nurse had observed that I had a LOT of amniotic fluid, and that each time she checked me, my bag of waters would probably break.  It never did, so she offered to go ahead and do it to get me closer to pushing.  By that point, I wanted to do anything that would get the delivery there sooner!  Nate had been calling/texting my Mom updates the whole time, and she was starting to panic that she would miss it!  By the time she arrived, I was 8 1/2 cm dilated, and as she had never been to the hospital, she had actually parked near the ER entrance, and had to run, with all her heavy camera gear, across the hospital campus to the Labor and Delivery building for fear of missing the birth.  My Mom is a trooper!

Nate was the perfect coach through the whole thing.  He never left my side, even to use the bathroom.  We had taken one of those "labor prep" classes, so he knew all sorts of different massage techniques, and then I didn't even want to be touched.  We had prepared some music to listen to during the birth, but then when it came to it, I decided I wanted absolute quiet.  I had always known I wanted to at least attempt labor with no pain meds, but I underestimated the amount of concentration I would need to focus on getting through the contractions without them.

Also, I think I was far too worried about my surroundings.  I was too afraid of what the nurse would think of me if I groaned, etc.  Speaking of nurses, ours were absolutely amazing.  We were assigned one labor/delivery nurse for the duration of her shift, and she was incredible.  She was cheerful, encouraging, and pretty much stayed out of the way unless I asked for her, or something needed to be checked, etc.  She informed us that she used to be a truck driver (I know, right?) and she'd seen pretty much everything.  She kept reassuring me that she was so thankful for a nice, normal couple!  ha!  I couldn't have asked for a better nurse.  She really was more like a doula.

Finally around 6:30, I was dilated enough that they told me I could start pushing.  This part, for me, was the worst.  By this point, I was just so exhausted, and my pushing wasn't very effective.  Again, first time, and I had no idea what I was doing.  Also, I know that for a lot of Mamas, pushing actually makes them feel better.  For me, with every push, it increased the pressure, and therefore pain.  I was never one of those Moms who felt the "urge" to push.  My sister finally arrived around this point too, and the poor thing had the same parking/running snafu that my Mom did!  The only difference was, she was 6 months pregnant herself!  I think she came into the room while I was in the middle of a contraction/pushing, and she was a little bit terrified.  ;)

The nurses changed shifts at 7 am, but ours was kind enough to come back in, because she knew I was so close, and had been with me all night.  She said she wanted to see the baby!  Also, my doctor was part of a large practice, so when you are admitted to the hospital, you usually just have whoever is on call.  God in his kindness that night had arranged for MY doctor to be there!  It just so happened that her shift ended at 7 am also.  Do you know, she was so awesome that she actually stayed late, to be there for the delivery?  :)

Finally, I got to that point where I felt like a total failure - my pushing wasn't very effective, I was exhausted, and so discouraged; in spite of the fact that Nate, my Mom, and the nurses were so encouraging!  I just felt like I couldn't do it anymore . . . and four minutes later:

My beautiful, perfect, sweet and sassy Olivia Grace was finally here!

She was so tiny, and so absolutely perfect.  And do you know, I felt AMAZING.  I just didn't want to let go.  It was so different from any feeling I'd ever had before.

They put her on my chest, and Nate and I prayed over her, and thanked God for giving her to us.

At last, she was finally here.  All those months of waiting and anticipation, of praying that her heart would beat strong, and her bones would be straight, and now here she was: in my arms.

They left her on my chest for a long time, and also helped me to try to nurse her right away.  Have I mentioned how amazing the staff were?  At last, it was time for her to get her big "welcome to the world" once over.

Daddy stayed with her the entire time.  She didn't have any trouble letting everyone in the room know she was NOT pleased with being poked and carted around!

When Nate stood by the incubator and talked to her, stroking her hair, she stopped crying.  I couldn't stop, though.  ;)

Much as they might try, no one can ever describe for you, or prepare you for what happens to your heart when you become a mother.

Nothing can prepare you for the moment when you look into the eyes of the perfect miracle that is your child.

Though I'm writing this nearly four years later (how has it been that long already?!?), the emotions are still fresh.  The memories vivid.

God has taught me to hold my children loosely.  He holds their hearts, and their lives, and I have the privilege of stewarding them for a time.  Yet - there is not a day that goes by that I don't thank him for this precious gift.  This awesome responsibility of shepherding little souls, and watching his beautiful creations grow.

There is something so profound about labor and delivery: sacrificing my comfort, and my body - being willing to lay down my life for another - and knowing that God is using me as a vessel, however weak and frail, to bring forth new life.  Birthing Olivia was not an easy road, but I am so thankful for the privilege I had to travel it.

All photos are by Today Everlasting Photography