Blessed!

Sunday night. Sitting on the couch in the living room. Matt and Wesley are already in bed and I have some random football game on in the background. Christmas decorations are up. Tree is decorated and glowing behind me. All is well. Thanksgiving was great but I definitely missed having my sisters Laura and Caitlin (Alaska and Galveston) here. :( I'm so thankful they've been able to be here to see Wesley though! Caitlin was able to come up while we were in the hospital and Laura surprised me from Alaska the next weekend! I love that my sisters love him so much and don't want to put him down when they are near! I'm so thankful he's blessed with so many aunts that love him so much. I can't wait for him to have cousins to play with either... hint, hint ;)

Wesley is such a great baby. He'll sleep for hours at a time and sometimes up to 5 hours at night! He's so precious and I can't help but stare at him all the time. Matt nicknamed him "Buggy" and I call him "Peanut". I just didn't know that I could burst with so much love for another human. He is truly a blessing. All the pain and 4 hospital stays really IS worth it! He even slept through the entire service this morning - his first time at church! It's so nice to finally have a routine going so that I can get out and about! We even went to a Stars hockey game this weekend too! It was so nice cause Matt's dad had a client that let us use their suite! Here's a family pic of us at the game:

I just went back to check on my boys and look what I found... simply precious! :)

And, just for fun, here's a pic of him getting ready for church this morning - just after his shower!

Who goes to the hospital to be induced for labor and it doesn't work so they send you home? ME. I am so discouraged and tired. So many meds and contractions and discomfort for nothing. We went in Sunday evening with great anticipation: we're having a baby tomorrow! After a rough night of reactions to medication, oxygen, and pain, we awoke to the hope of it all ending soon. However, Monday proved to not be an ending but the beginning of more to come. By about 4:30pm, almost 24 hours, we were sent home. It was very bizarre coming home to a house full of awaiting baby stuff and no baby to use it. When you go in to be induced you expect you'll come home with a baby! It was a very strange feeling - like I had lost him. It was probably the exhaustion and disappointment combined, but I definitely lost it on my way to bed. God's timing has NEVER been my own - and He continually proves that I have to trust Him in HIS timing....

WOW - that was a painful contraction!

So, here's hoping for a healthy baby boy born in God's timing!

If it weren't for joy in the Lord...

Last week/weekend at a glance:

Tuesday - Decide to pay off the remainder of my car while we can and to free up income for next month. This is VERY exciting because I love this car still and I will have had it for 4 years come December. Early payoff=awesome! Plus, the final payment had to be a cashier's check... I work at a bank so those are free! I went to work for a few hours. When I was buying the check my fellow teller said "you know you're gonna get in a wreck tomorrow now, right?" Oh the optimism I work with.

Wednesday - Went to work. Forgot to mail the check. Silly me.

Thursday - My day off! Mailed the check - hooray! Had lunch with my high school choir director, Freeda Breed, at Mimi's Cafe - yummy and good conversation with an old friend and mentor. Then, went over to the Bigelow house to catch up with Kirsten and the kids - good times! Thursday night was our last baby class over breastfeeding... good stuff to know.

Friday - Work again. Can't remember anything to out of the ordinary this day...

Saturday - Work... again. This evening we went over to the Bigelow's to have dinner along with the Bepko's and Kirk and Ashleigh Challgren. Good times! However, we did get a knock at the door by the neighbor saying they had just backed into my newly paid off car... ugh. Thankfully he was really nice and only my door got a dent and the side mirror broke and got scratched up. I'm on the phone with their insurance right now...

Sunday - Went to the church fiesta and part of the concert. It was too packed so we had to sit in the cry room with the speaker that was too low to hear anything. So we left.

Monday - LABOR DAY! Matt and I both had this day off so we took full advantage of being home together at the same time and watched TV and movies all day. It was pretty great (of course I got nothing accomplished that I wanted to though...). This evening we went to get BBQ with mom and the Bepko's and then back to the Bepko's for strawberry pie. Good times again! However, when we got home Lincoln had diarrhea'd all in his kennel again. AGAIN. So, Matt carried him outside, cleaned off his kennel and we gave him an immodium. Thinking this would solve the problem, and anticipating rain, we put him back in his kennel and settled in for the night. At about 1:30am (on one of my many bathroom adventures) I smelled "the" smell and discovered Linc had made a mess... again. So, up we are at stupid-o-clock in the morning carrying Lincoln outside, cleaning the mess (that is now all over the floor and wall), and leaving our poor puppy outside to fend for himself in the rain.

If it weren't for joy in the Lord...

8 Weeks & Counting...

I'm sure one day I'll look back on having a pregnant body much like so many do: blissful with a belly. Not the case right now. I don't understand how people can have multiple children - do this over and over again! My 1st trimester I was nauseous all the time, the 2nd trimester I felt a lot better but birth seemed so far off, and now the 3rd trimester has brought on swelling, exhaustion, and being uncomfortable! I'm exhausted all the time, I have to get up 3-4 times a night to pee and usually by 6am to eat something (sometimes earlier...), my back hurts every time I lay down, Wesley is kicking and moving up a storm (this is fairly uncomfortable), I get swollen very easily, I've developed some sort of carpel tunnel in my wrists so they hurt like crazy when I wake up (my doc says this is common in pregnancy??), and clothes and shoes just DON'T fit. Yes, I'm ready to wear my old clothes, shoes (although I have a feeling I'm gonna need a new inventory of these), be able to bend at the waist, have energy so I can exercise and do all the daily tasks, DIET, and not have the fear that everything I'm doing is harming my unborn child. I'm sure I'll trade these fears for new ones once he's here, but I like to think it's going to be easier because I'll feel more normal.

On the UP side, it has been so much fun getting ready for Wesley. Besides the nerves of "How are we going to provide for this child?" and "Wait... this will be mine? What if I'm a terrible mother??" and "Give me the epidural - NOW!" We've set up the nursery furniture (after some deliberations on whether or not to do this - our house is on the market and I didn't want it to get scratched in a potential move. However, I don't think we're going to be able to sell this house anytime soon if at all). We have a crib, dresser/changing table and rocker. I can't wait to bring Wesley home and get to use it all! I can't wait to see him for the first time and hold him and love him forever! Oh, and did I mention get back in shape?

Wiggle Worm & Happy 4th!

What a comfort to know this little boy in me is alive and well - he won't let me forget! Wesley is so active - what in the world is he doing in there? I started to see my tummy actually move with his kicks this week! I cannot wait to meet him and have him here with us. Although, I clean enough as it is with a big, grown-up kid (Matt) and a puppy... I'm totally going to be outnumbered!

Speaking of our puppy, Lincoln got his first grooming this weekend! It has been so hot here, and lots of rain to make the yard extremely muddy, so Lincoln got a shave! Here is when we brought him home.He looks a little pathetic right now (kinda like those shaved cats) but it will grow out in a couple weeks and he'll enjoy the new "air conditioning" he's getting!

The 4th of July this year we went back to our favorite parking lot across the street from us. It has a perfect view of the Grapevine Lake fireworks! We got slushies at our new QT...

...parked, pulled out our lawn chairs...

...turned up the radio, and enjoyed the show! Plus, the added benefit of no hour long traffic getting out of the lake... I do miss the fun of the lake though. I think we may have to go next year with Wes!