New Years Eve Ramblings...

Saying 'goodbye' to the old and 'hello' to the new!

As we close out the year of 2017 I can't help but marvel at all The Lord has done in my life and the lives of my boys. He has given us more than we deserve and I am eternally grateful for the amazing year of 2017. For some reason I feel like highlighting the most memorable events that happened in this year. So here I go! :) 

Let's start off with our fearless leader and provider, Justin.

The year started off with Justin thinking and praying about a career change. He felt the call to move from being a Carpenter at Wagenbach Builders Inc. where he worked for 7 years! Into IT at Samaritan Ministries Inc. where he has now been for 9 months. When he first brought up the idea I have to admit I wasn't super thrilled. I felt like everyone we knew worked there and I wasn't super excited for him to lose his individuality with being the only carpenter I knew. But as the Lord continued to lay it on Justin's heart I started to see all the amazing benefits we would be blessed with if Justin took this path in his career. Needless to say he has been there since March and neither one of us has regretted the choice! What a blessing SMI has been to us. :) Not to mention the fact that Justin has been kicking butt at his job and I am so proud of all he has learned and accomplished to put forth his best effort to that ministry. Of course Justin isn't perfect. duh. But he tries his best for this family and I'd say he did an amazing job of taking care of all our needs in 2017. Whether it was superficial, like things we wanted or practical, like things we needed to survive, he worked hard to make it all happen for us and I am eternally grateful to him. 

Next is my main man, Jaxon.

This kid. Sheesh. What a year it has been with him. First February of 2017 is when Jaxon finally started to sleep through the night! That is my favorite thing he has ever learned to do. ;D Second, finding out he was going to be a big brother then watching him grow up and fill his role perfectly as the protector and helpful oldest child was such a joyous thing to watch. Plus he turned the big 2 YEARS OLD this year! Crazy how fast time has flown with him. This year was the first time Jaxon has ever been to the OBX in NC! Now that was an awesome trip for all of us. The beach, family, and relaxation made for a wonderful vacation. :D I gotta say it has been pretty amazing to see my first born change and grow in ways I didn't even expect this year. He is such a good kid and is constantly melting my heart into puddles. Jaxon's vocabulary has utterly exploded this year! Which totally surprises me because I feel like he was so slow to start talking. He now speaks in 4+ word sentences and surprises us constantly with words and descriptions of his every day life that we had no idea he knew! He is quick to say "I love you, Mama/Daddy" and has excellent manners when it comes to saying please, thank you, and you're welcome. He knows the first two questions of the children's catechism, can count to 3, and is working on the names of colors and shapes. He is still the most introverted child I know and gets pretty overwhelmed in large groups of people. He is super shy, which is something we are working on. But at least you know he likes you if he will say your name and actually smile at you. Haha! ;) I am proud of this kid and all his accomplishments this year. :) 

Baby of the family, Zan the man! 

Finding out that Zander, or Naner as Jaxon calls him, was coming this year was the biggest change our family has gone through. But boy has it been the BEST one! Zander's pregnancy was fairly easy for me even though he gave us a little scare with being in the wrong position up until 36 weeks. But once he turned I can honestly say besides some hip and lower back pain throughout the 9 months, it was an absolute breeze. He gave me a pretty great gift by only take 3ish hours to be born and from there he has only kept on giving with being one of the sweetest, most chill, and cuddly little guys ever! He is now smiling, cooing, and *almost* laughing for us! He gets excited whenever Jaxon starts to play with him or do goofy things for him to see and that makes my heart melt into puddles. I can't wait to watch these two grow up together! Here I was so worried that I could never love another kid the way I do Jaxon, then along comes Zander. <3 Both my boys have filled my heart with so much love I can't believe it's even possible! Zander's life in 2017 has been short with only being born on November 5th but he has rocked our world's and made us all so so happy by his presence in our family of four. <3

Last but not least, me. :) 

Basically I feel like I've put myself and the year I have had into each of the boy's paragraphs above. My year has not been easy but it has been absolutely wonderful and I am thankful for how 2017 turned out. The Lord has been teaching me to lean on Him more and to put Him as the center of my life. Part of me would say my whole world revolves around my 3 guys. But really it revolves around the Lord and that has been something I have needed to be reminded of. To take delight in the things and people He has put in my life but to know that they are gifts from Him and not to put them above Him in my life. The Lord is and will always be my everything. <3

Soooo.... tomorrow is January 1st 2018!! I cannot wait to see what the Lord does in all of our lives this next year! Like I said up there^^ I have no idea why I felt like writing this blog post. But I'm glad I did! I pray that on December 31st of 2018 I have even more amazing and wonderful things about all the Lord has done in our lives to write about on here. 

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

Zander Riley's Birth Story

For those interested here is the amazing birth story of my second born son, Zander. All of this happened in the comfort of my own home and I couldn't be more thankful. <3

November 5, 2017

1:25am. I was rolling over in bed when I felt my water break. Being 42 weeks pregnant I was VERY excited thinking labor was going to start any minute! I tried to go back to sleep as best I could and got maybe a couple more hours here and there. I would wake up only to pray that labor would start soon so I wouldn't have to go to the hospital to have this baby. Around 6:30am Jaxon woke up so Justin went into his room to tell him to go back to sleep. When Justin got back in bed with me I was so excited I said, "How would you like to have a baby today?" He looked at me confused. "My water broke at 1:25 this morning!" I said. That made Justin become wide awake and get super excited which made me also get even more excited than I already was! After that we both knew we wouldn't be going back to sleep. I started bouncing on my birthing ball trying to get labor started while Justin took a shower. We both tried to relax knowing it could be awhile. But as the day went on and nothing was happening I started to get really worried. I was envisioning having to go to the hospital and be put on drugs to get labor started and I really didn't want that. :-/ We went on a long walk after breakfast, I went up and down the basement stairs so many times throughout the day, I bounced on my birthing ball, and we both just kept praying. Around lunch time my sister-in-law brought us castor oil and a electric breast pump hoping maybe those things would help get labor going. It kinda did... But as soon as I was stop pumping the contractions would stop. It was so frustrating. 

The day seemed to drag on until around 6-7:00pm when Brande and Malory (my brith team/midwife) came over to see if they could get things going for me. They made me drink tinctures, do more exercises, walk the stairs over and over again, take a long hot shower, and sit on my birthing ball. Finally with all of those things combined my contractions started! But even then I didn't think they were very intense. I definitely had to breathe through them after awhile but I didn't feel like I was in "the zone" yet. You know, the zone where you don't wanna talk, smile, or laugh in between contractions because you're so focused on what you're body is doing. ;) Brande checked me to see how dilated I was and we were both shocked to find out I was 4-5 centimeters already! Halfway there and I didn't even feel like my body was trying very hard. That was super exciting. :D 

After awhile my contractions finally started to pick up in intensity! I was so excited and told everyone with Jaxon's birth I dreading another contraction coming. But with Zander I was so excited and welcomed every contraction hoping they'd become more intense and praying they wouldn't stop! Even so, I was still able to talk in between contractions and didn't feel like I was close to delivery at all. I remember telling Justin sadly this could still be awhile. I kept trying to remind myself that pushing didn't have to take 2 hours (like with Jaxon's birth) so I could be closer than I thought even though I had no urge to push yet. After feeling pretty nauseous all the sudden and going to the bathroom Justin asked if I wanted to get in the birthing pool. I told him I really didn't want to cause we had worked so hard to get labor started and I was scared it would slow down my contractions and drag this whole birth out longer. I also didn't want to have to get in and out a bunch of times before the baby came. I seriously thought I still had hours ahead of me. At this point in the story I literally had maybe 10 more minutes before Zander was going to be in my arms. But there I was terrified that these contractions were not strong enough and I probably had all night to go still. Haha! Crazy! 

I got into the pool and had one normal contraction. Then all the sudden I had the most intense, strong, painfully crazy urge to push. Like my body was going to explode unless I pushed with all my might! I couldn't have stopped it even if I wanted to and believe me I wanted it to stop and give me a second to catch my breath. It hurt so bad. This was the toughest part for Justin to watch and he started to silently cry while he held my hand and kept telling me I could do this. He was, is, and will always be my rock! He gives me strength to get through with his encouraging words and his positive attitude. Continually telling me to relax, saying "you've got this", "you're doing great!", and many other awesome little things that kept me going. Makes me cry just thinking about the love that man has for me. I couldn't have gone through this birth without his encouragement and his support. I have been blessed beyond belief to have that man as my own. He makes the worlds best doula/birth partner any girl could ever ask for. Don't even get me started on how amazing he is as a father to our boys! It would take way too long to write out! <3

Anyways back to the birth. ;) Brande told me to reach down and see if I could feel the baby's head. Oh boy, I could feel it alright! His head was almost out with just the first push! When the next push came his head was out and I accidentally poked my little guy in the eye as I tried to get a good grip. One more push and Zander was out!! I caught him myself and brought him to my chest. In the commotion I didn't realize the cord was around his neck but thank goodness Brande fixed it as fast as lightening and Zander made his first sounds in this world. He had a full head of dark hair just like his big brother and he looked absolutely perfect. Justin put his hand on Zander's head and lifted up a silent prayer for him. The most special moment between father and son that I didn't know was even happening at the time but will never forget now. <3 Zander's face was pretty bruised by my body pushing his out so quickly. Poor baby... :( It cleared up within two days though and he is and always has been absolutely precious. 

Everything about this birth was different from my first experience. But I wouldn't change a thing about either story. The Lord orchestrated it all beautifully and He gave me two of the most precious boys I could ever ask for. I am so thankful He saw fit to make me Jaxon and Zander's Mama! <3

Just in case you were wondering, Jaxon absolutely adores his little brother! He is very gentle with Zander and is very affectionate with hugs, kisses, patting his back, and rubbing his head. When Jaxon met Zander for the first time he was all smiles and wanted to hold and kiss *his* baby. The sweetest moment for us as a family of four. <3 There has never been any jealousy or acting out towards the baby from Jaxon and for that we are so grateful to our little man. These two already have a special bond and I cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for them together.

Well, that's all! I mostly write this for myself to never forget this crazy amazing experience of bringing my son into the world. But I hope you enjoyed it as well. :) 

Until next time,

~Melinda