Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Sleeping thru the night!!

So a little while ago I started to supplement Aaron with formula. As my other post said, it was a tough decision, but he always seemed to be hungry, so I feel it was the right decision. Ever since I started, he's been happy and has been sleeping better. It took about a week and he was sleeping from 8ish until 3ish. That was a HUGE blessing as that meant only ONE night waking for me because he'd then sleep until about 7ish in the morning. Ahhhhh. Well, now I've started giving him just a tiny bit of rice cereal...like I said, the little guy constantly thinks he's starving, and he's eating it pretty well, so why not?!?! He has been so content, in fact, that he's been taking 80% of his naps in his crib (previously it was in his swing). I say 80% because often he'll wake after an hour from his afternoon (his longest) nap and I'll put him into the swing and he'll sleep longer that way. Well last night I put him down around 8:30pm and I woke up at 5am and he was STILL sleeping. Of course, being a mommy, instead of being thrilled, I'm concerned. So I got up to check on him. While I was using the potty before going into his room, I heard him. So I would officially consider 8:30pm-5am sleeping through the night! Great Job, Aaron. He's 4 months, 1 week and 4 days old. Not too shabby.

Friday, October 22, 2010

My Baby Girl is 7!!

Happy birthday to my sweet little Abigail Mae! 7 years ago at this moment, I was sitting in the hospital, getting ready to have my water broken. It was 2 days before my actual due date, but given the fact that Jeremy had missed the birth of Savannah and was getting ready to go onto night shift at work and would be gone for a few days, 2.5 hours away, we decided to go for an early induction. It's very strange because I gave birth to Aaron 4 months ago in the same room I gave birth to Abby in...so the memory is so fresh in my mind. I was so excited to meet my baby girl, so nervous as to how Savannah would react as she was such a sensitive little girl...so nervous about having 2 babies, so close together (they're 17 months apart). My water was broken and no labor started. Around 1pm they started pitocin and she made her entrance into the world at 5:33pm. I still remember that sweet, fuzzy baby head--she had a lot of dark hair. I remember the look on Jeremy's face since this was the first birth he had seen. He gave her her first bath and would NOT put her down. One of the biggest things that stands out in my mind though was hearing her first cry. I remember thinking, "OH LORD, PLEASE don't let that be her cry!!!" She was so shrill, so loud. I couldn't help but to think, "Savannah will NOT like this!". Hahahaha. Well that was indeed her cry...and it still is. Abby is loud, boisterous, passionate, and impulsive. Everything she does, she does with her whole heart. She is also SO sweet, thoughtful and helpful. She is truly a blessing to our family and always keeps us on our toes. I know the Lord has special plans for this little girl, and I look forward to seeing them unfold as the years go by. My prayer is that the Lord would give me the wisdom to lead her in the right direction, to love her unconditionally and to understand her quirks and work with them to lead her to serve the Lord with her whole heart. She is definitely my more challenging child, but with great challenge, comes great reward. Abby is a blessing and I'm SO thankful that God saw fit to bless us with her 7 years ago today. Abby, today we celebrate YOU!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Leave it to Abby.

The other night Savannah was looking in Abby's mouth and noticed that she has a tooth growing through the roof of her mouth! We had wondered why Abby hadn't yet lost her second front top tooth...well, now we know! She goes to the dentist next week to see what, if anything needs to be done. I tell ya, if something out of the ordinary is going to happen, it'll probably happen to Abby!

Little note: The other night Luke was playing a game and I was holding Aaron...Luke stopped what he was doing, looked up at me and said, "Aaron is a blessing!". Awwwwhhhhh....Aaron IS a blessing....and so is Lukie!

A Very Tough Decision.

I've had to make a very difficult decision--yet again. With every one of my children I've had the goal to breast feed for a year. With Savannah I was successful, but she was really tiny, which I would not have expected for MY child. With Abby I started supplementing early to be sure she'd take a bottle, because Savannah would not. I ended up nursing for 6 months and had to quit due to supply issues. With Luke it was pretty much the same as with Abby. With Aaron, I was convinced that if I could take herbs and pump and nurse as much as possible, I'd be successful. Aaron was doing great (as all of my children for the first 2 months or so), but at his last appointment he didn't gain as much weight as one would expect. His doctor did not seem concerned, as long as he had gained, which he had. I kept taking my herbs and nursing every 2 hours or so...even throughout the night. I was tired, he always seemed hungry and although he certainly is not skinny, he was not sleeping well. I recently found out that I'm pregnant with #5 and I had to stop taking the herbs. I kept nursing all of the time, but the lack of napping and the frequent night wakings were really starting to get to me. If I was making enough milk, he wouldn't need to eat every 2 hours at nearly 4 months old, right? It was time to face the facts...under the best of circumstances my milk supply isn't the best. I always say, I'm made for making babies, not feeding them. It is a very, very difficult decision for me...it breaks my heart to stop nursing. Not only is it such a sweet experience, I know it's also best for his little growing body...but I need rest, he needs nourishment and this little bean growing inside of me needs everything I have to offer as well. So I'm gradually weaning him to the bottle. The first time I gave him 2oz of formula, I put him down for a nap and he slept for 3.5 hours--for the first time in weeks. The other night he woke up 3 times and after the 3rd time, I was so tired I could have cried...I had to decide that formula is going to keep him through the night better...and I desperately need rest. I can't help but to feel like an absolute failure...even if rationally I know that I'm not. I've done a good job--we made it to 4 months without supplements of any kind. He's happy, he's healthy and he's OHHHHH so loved! I know once is all said and done it will be fine, I'll be fine...it's this transition period that has always been a bit difficult for me. I do have to admit that there are a few things I'm looking forward to though--like tonight, Abby gave Aaron a bottle! She LOVED it, it helped me out and now others can have the bonding experience of feeding the little cherub. I can go to the store alone if I need/want to. I can go to doctor's appointments alone...AND, when the new baby arrives, I won't have to worry about how I'm going to deal with a baby who is entirely attached to me and me alone.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

I'm not fat, I'm pregnant!

Well, okay...maybe I'm just a tad bit fat too. What can I say, I'm still recovering from the birth of #4--it was ONLY 4 months ago, what in the world was I thinking?!?! Well, here's what I'm thinking. Children are a blessing from the Lord. The more Jeremy and I have been thinking about this, the more we are realizing the truth behind the verse:
Psalm 127:3-5
Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
children a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are sons born in one's youth.
Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their enemies in the gate.
Although we do not wholeheartedly subscribe to the Quiverfull mentality, we definitely believe in receiving the gifts that the Lord has for us--one at a time. I will not say that I'm going to blindly say, "We'll take as many as the Lord blesses us with", my faith is not yet that strong...especially now that I'm pregnant so quickly after giving birth, the thought of doing this again, and again frightens me to death! However, that said, we understand that one cannot take their fertility for granted. If we decided to have more children further down the road, there is no guarantee that we'd be able to. Just because it's never been an issue for us in the past does not mean that it never will be. So for now, we consider ourselves blessed, INCREDIBLY blessed. And going through this pregnancy with a little one in tow forces me to rely fully on Him for all of my strength, peace, patience, etc. and that, my friends, is a good place to be. We'll see what the future holds for us for other children, but for now we're praising God that He trusts us enough to give us another blessing to raise for His glory, and praying that He would give us the wisdom and patience to do so.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

TOO HOT!!

It has been in the mid '90's for the past couple of days...this summer was particularly mild, but man...it is D R A G G I N G on!!! Time for fall, please! Not winter, just fall!

Jesus is "Magic"

Today we were reading a story from our children's bible and Luke looked at me and asked, "Why did Jesus die on the cross?". I told him that we do bad things and because of that we can't go to heaven, so Jesus came and took our punishment so we can go to heaven--He died on the cross for us...BUT, God made Him alive again!" Luke looked at me and said, "WOW, that's like MAGIC!"

Saturday, October 9, 2010

3 Months, 3 Weeks and 3 Days.

That's how old Aaron is today. He is an absolute doll, so sweet, so smiley, so bright-eyed...such a blessing. He slept for 5 + hours straight last night...ahhhhh...it was fantastic! He woke at midnight and slept until 5:15am. It feels so good to get such a nice, long chunk of sleep.

Tonight the girls are with Jeremy at my brothers house because tomorrow they're all going to Great America. It will be a lot of fun, and I'm so glad I won't be there because I could NOT handle seeing my little Abby going on a scary roller coaster. I know she's so excited about it, but it FREAKS me out. Thankfully Savannah has some sense and doesn't want to go near them (that's my girl!). So tonight it's just me and Luke and Aaron. Luke had a bit of a hard time because he's gotten so used to sleeping with his girls that he doesn't like sleeping alone in his room anymore. Awwwhhhh. He asked me if he could sleep with me, but I know I wouldn't sleep at all if that happened, so I had to tell him no. Poor little guy. Oh well, it's just one night. We went to the park this evening and played a bit and then walked home and had baths, then Luke played quietly while I got Aaron to bed and I had some time playing blocks with Luke. It was nice to have that one on one time that we so rarely get. He's such a sweet little guy. I am truly blessed.