Happy Father's Day!

My Handsome - 

I have so been looking forward to this day so that Little S and I can celebrate you! Where do I even begin? I want so badly to communicate everything you mean to us and I'm so afraid I won't do my feelings justice but I'll give it a shot: 

You are our hero, our knight in shining armor. Your day starts very early with you rolling out of bed to give Little S her pacifier when it's dropped out and she has woken up or with you holding and playing with her so that I can get a little more sleep. You then get ready for work and you drive all the way down to KY (at least 45 min) to a job that you don't particularly enjoy. You work all day, often putting in over-time and almost always exceeding the goals they give you even though it drains you. You do this because you firmly believe that whatever you do, do it with all your heart to please the Lord. You also do it so that I can stay home with our daughter and for that I am eternally grateful. After work you drive back home and although you're exhausted, you can barely contain yourself to see Little S. As soon as you see her, you tell her how beautiful she is and how much you love her and missed her while you were at work. She adores you - she may not be able to express it in words yet, but being with her all day I know the way she looks at you, the way she coos and kicks her legs like crazy for you, you are her first love and I am so thankful that she has a daddy that is determined to give her the verbal affirmation and all the hugs and kisses that she can handle so that, as you say, "when she gets older she won't need to go out looking to have that need met by boys" as so many young girls do. After you get your snuggle time in with Little S we usually sit down for dinner and you ask me how my day was and listen as I tell you about all of our highs and lows, the things I worry about and the cute things that Little S did and help me to process all of my crazy, post-pardom, hormonal feelings:) Then many nights you go get changed into your old housework clothes and paint, rip up flooring, or whatever else needs to get done in our house so that Little S and I have a safe, healthy home to spend our days in (currently you're working on, as you say, "getting me my kitchen", and you are doing such an amazing job!). Then you come up to bed, call me beautiful, tell me that you love me, pray for us, and kiss me goodnight. You serve and love our little family so well - I am so undeserving.

You, my Handsome, are a man with more character and integrity than I have ever seen. You pursue purity, having only eyes for me, and help other men to do the same in their own lives. What more could a wife ask for? You love Jesus and so badly want people all over the world to know and love the God you serve and to experience the freedom and joy that you have found in Him. I could not be more thankful for the man that you are and I still cannot believe the Lord allowed me to marry you (or that you wanted to marry me, even after I told you I'd never date you 3 times!). Thank you for fighting for me and for the way you continue to fight for our family. I am head-over-heals in love with you and I am so thankful that Little S has an earthly father that will so remind her of her Heavenly Father and how He loves us so unconditionally and fights to protect us.We are beyond blessed to have you. Thank you for all that you are, we love you more than you can imagine. Happy Father's Day!

Little S Enters the World!

Oh my word, has it really been SEVEN months since the last time I blogged?! For goodness sake, the whole reason I started blogging was because I wanted to document my journey into/through motherhood, and here I am with a 2 month old and nothing to show for it...bless my heart!

I guess I should start with her birth story. It’s been two months but I’ll do my best to remember all of the details:

I was due Thursday, March 31st and although K and I were ready (as well as my sweet parents who drove from Maryland and got in on Friday, April 1st), our little girl, was pretty comfortable and in no rush to leave her cozy spot. I went into the doctor for an appointment and so that they could run some tests to make sure she was doing fine, on Tuesday, April 5th. They did an ultrasound and saw that her movement was not what they were hoping to see and she ended up scoring a 2 out of 8 on her tests, so when the dr. came in the room she said, “Well, you failed!” I had no idea what she meant by that, until she followed it up with, “You’re going to have a baby today or tomorrow.”

I know I had 9 months to prepare and even a week AFTER my due date to get geared up to meet this sweet baby, but I guess nothing really prepares you for when it really happens! I was so thankful that my mom was with me because after that point I heard nothing. My face turned bright red, my heart started pounding and my ability to comprehend a word she said went out the window...along with how I’d always imagined it happening: you know, it’s 2 in the morning, my contractions start getting stronger as K is timing them (by the way, my sweet husband started wearing a watch which he never does, a few weeks before her due date and when I noticed and asked why, he said so that he’d be prepared when he needed to start timing my contractions! I love what a planner I married - I need him to balance me out:) but back to my vision...), we’d pack up our toiletries, take a quick “we’re going to the hospital!” picture, and we’d be off - me huffing and puffing trying to breath through my contractions, and K speeding down the highway and telling me, “we’re almost there!”. 

So sitting in a doctor’s office hearing that we needed to go next door to the hospital and that I’d have the baby sometime tonight or tomorrow, was not what I envisioned. They said since she was overdue and did so poorly on her tests, that they’d need to induce me and although I preferred not to be induced, when it came to her health and safety, I was more than fine with that! So I called K at work and waited 20 looong minutes for him to call me back (apparently since I didn’t leave a message he didn’t think it was too important, but of course I didn’t leave a message - what would I say, “Hey Babe, it’s me. Just wanted to let you know that we’ll be having that baby tonight or tomorrow. If you want to meet me at the hospital at some point today, I’ll see you there. Love you!”) 

So K left work and my parents and I went and got lunch at the Pancake House. I’ve never been there before but I figured, if this is my last meal for a while, I want some chocolate chip pancakes!! We met hubs over at the hospital after that and he and I went and signed in, where they told us that our “room wasn’t ready yet” and asked us to wait in the waiting room. We sat for an hour kind of in a daze, joking about how we felt like we were checking into a hotel, not waiting to have a baby! But they got us all settled in our room and around 4:30pm they gave me cervidil which needed to be in me for 12 hours before they gave me the pitocin to induce labor. So K and I hung out and watched TV and things felt perfectly normal until around midnight when the contractions started. They got stronger and stronger over the next 4 hours and around 4:30am they started the pitocin. At this point I think I was only a couple of centimeters dialated and they made it pretty clear that I couldn’t have the epidural until I was at least 4 or 5. Around 7am I asked again because they were so intense, and they reminded me but said they’d check how far along I was to be sure. Sure enough, I was at 5 centimeters so they called the anesthesiologist and she came in and made life WONDERFUL! Oh my word, I’m so proud of my friends who deliver their babies naturally but man, epidurals are seriously a beautiful thing! We spent the next few hours sleeping and talking about what was about to happen, trying to process it all. Then around 11:30 the nurse checked me and said I was ready to push. The doctor wasn’t even in there but she said she was finishing up a c-section and that she’d be here in a bit and that in the mean time I could just start pushing. So at 11:50 I started pushing, the doctor came in a few minutes later, and by 12:05pm we had a beautiful, healthy baby girl in our arms! I could not believe it, every moment was incredible! How could it have been this easy?! But as I sat there with tears streaming down my face staring into the eyes of our little girl - I was overwhelmed by how immeasurably more than all I could ask for or imagine this sweet gift from the Lord was!

Little S is our daily reminder of how good God is, and how much he blesses us far more than we deserve. She is such a little joy and we fall more and more in love with her every day!

2 become 3!