Oh My Word.

Saturday evening we were about to have dinner and I told Lily she was going to need to wash her hands first. Justin was fixing her plate, and I was feeding Jude and she quietly slipped off to the restroom. I called out to her asking what she was doing (she can't reach the sink/water/soap by herself) and she came out and triumphantly announced, "I wash my hands in the potty!"

Lovely.

Props to Daddy...

I'd just like to take a second to give a word of praise about my husband. With Lily, Justin helped alot, but I still always felt like everything was my responsibility. Then when I had to go back to school he kept her by himself at home 3 days a week. I think he'd be okay with me saying that this was really intimidating to him at first...and then he grew to love it, he says.

Anyway, I don't know if it has something to do with Jude being the second baby and not as scary, or what, but Justin has been immensely helpful to me this time around. If Jude won't go back to sleep after that first night time feeding, Justin takes him so I can rest. He gives Lily her bath, brings me water in the middle of the night, prays for me when I'm a hormonal basket case...you get the picture.

I'm thankful for him...and wanted yall to know it too.

the little man

isn't he dreamy?

A better day...

After a better night's sleep (thank you, Lord!) and the weather clearing up yesterday, my attitude has also brightened. Sorry for the underlying tone of stress and frustration in my last series of posts.

I got the house cleaned (except for the bathroom because honestly, I don't feel like doing it yet), most of the laundry done, a nice hot shower, and quality time in a rocking chair on the front porch with my kiddos. Justin's aunt Jill and cousin Will came in town to visit, and brought us Mexican food which was especially yummy for some reason...

Anyway, thanks for prayers on our behalf...I think Lily is better and the rest of us seem to have avoided it thus far...

More to come...

Keeps on comin'...

Do me a favor? Pray health over my house! Lily is sicky - threw up last night and again this afternoon. I hate seeing her feel bad, and I am of course paranoid that the rest of us will get it...maybe this is our last issue before everything begins to fall into place?

Happenings...

Okay, since Jude officially turned 1 week old yesterday, I thought I'd tell the story of the craziness surrounding his arrival...along with a few pics.

Lets see...we headed into Houston on Tuesday of last week, knowing that we'd probably get checked into the hospital that day or the next. Lily was acting a little sleepy and seemed warm to me, but otherwise fine. At the appt, my doctor said she definitely wanted to induce the next morning given how far along my body was but still wasn't having any contractions. So, Wednesday was to be the big day! Meanwhile, after Lily woke up from her nap she had a fever of about 102...so we made a quick trip to the pediatrician to make sure all was well with her. Good times.

Wednesday morning bright and early Justin and I went to the hospital and got all checked in. I don't know why, but this time around I was such a nervous nellie about everything. They had a really hard time getting my IV in, I cried through my epidural because I was all anxious about it and having horrible contractions at the same time, etc. HOWEVER, Jude made his arrival pretty smoothly at about 1:25 that afternoon after only a 15-20 minute session as opposed to the 2 hours it took to get Lily here, so that was a huge blessing! Family visited and got to meet Jude - Lily wasn't quite sure what to think of him...and I was in shock about officially being a mother of two!


After a couple of days of recovery and lots of fun visits from friends and family, we headed to Katy to recuperate...which was a challenge with all the craziness of family in and out of the house since my grandmother's memorial service was coming up on saturday. All my siblings were in town, as well as people in and out bringing food, flowers, etc. Needless to say it was a bit wild. I was unable to go to the service since I had a 3 day old baby, which is a whole separate post, but then the excitement really kicked in when Lily had to go to the emergency room about 5 minutes after my family got home from the service. She was running to see my mom, tripped and hit her head on the coffee table...fortunately no stitches, just lots of stress for her parents!

Monday after a quick visit to the pediatrician for Jude (he's doing great!) we headed back to Brenham, and my mom came along to help for a couple of days which was HUGE. She mainly took care of Lily and then helped me during the night when Jude wouldn't go back to sleep quickly...just to allow me to try and catch up on a little sleep...she was wonderful!

Now, as I mentioned before I just have to figure out how to do life with 2 kids...get into some sort of routine...and begin to adjust to the fact that I live in Brenham now...lots of big changes all at once. Please continue to pray for a job for Justin, that the Lord would provide all we need...that would relieve a tremendous amount of stress from our adjusting...but you know who's not stressed? These two:

Short update to let you know we're alive...

Hey friends...all is well...a little bleary eyed and trying to figure out how to entertain a 2 year old while also paying adequate attention to a newborn...I'm wide open to suggestions from those of you who have been here, done this!

We're in Brenham, my mom has been here for two days and is headed back to Katy today so we'll officially be on our own...yikes! Please continue to pray for Justin's job search and all the things I've been mentioning in past posts...

I'll post some pics later today, I promise!

countdown

yeah, see that 9 on the baby countdown? scratch that and make it a 1. unless things happen on their own tonight, we'll be inducing tomorrow morning...say a prayer!

when it rains...

So, my Mimi died last night. And it's okay, it really is. She was ready and I know she's all better now...but I can't help but feel a little mad about it. And it's completely selfish and bratty on my part to feel that way. I was already a little stressed about this coming week - am I having a baby or am I not? Logistics, deductibles that we can't pay, anxieties about actually giving birth again, time lost on the job search front if I do have to check into the hospital on Tuesday, etc. And now, I'm wondering if I will be able to attend my grandmother's memorial service. And I just feel like, REALLY??? When is enough enough, Lord? See what I mean? Bratty.

Our pastor has been teaching on the psalms - and today he started a series of teachings on psalms of disorientation. Our passage was psalm 13 and I have never felt like a sermon was more directed at me than today's - go to the website to hear the podcast if you get time. www.christchurchbrenham.org

So that's life in the coming week for us...who knows what it will bring. A heartbreaking goodbye to my Mimi, and hopefully and joyful hello to our little boy as well.