18 months and 23 weeks

Hank the Tank

Eating mama's spaghetti all by yourself :)

A year and a half? Already? You were just born, I just labored for 6 hours and birthed you into our world, our family.
-You are so busy. The only time you sit down is for breakfast, sometimes lunch, and dinner.
-You have gained inches but not many ounces.
-You eat all day long and wake up saying "KNAAACK"! You even like eggs now thanks to WaHo and Uncle Scott.
-You grab my hand to hold when walking outside sometimes and I melt.
-You hold hands with us when we pray over meals and say "may-men" at the end and sometimes prematurely if the prayer has a lot to pray about that day. I hope that you won't ever lose interest in talking to God.
-You love to be outside. All day long. You would ride to GA in your radio flyer if someone would pull you.
-You love Turner's chickens, ducks, and horses and could watch them for 30 minutes straight. You have no fear when it comes to animals. You fed a horse an apple slice last week (the wrong way) and kept your fingers. Sneaky little thing.
-Daddy took us to the Birmingham Zoo yesterday and stayed for 3 hours. You were completely engaged the entire time. You wanted all the birds to sit on your arm. You are very good at all of your animals noises especially the cat, bear (your dad's favorite to hear you do), chicken, lion, elephant, and dog.
-I don't want to type this because I don't want this to end but you have been sleeping so great for the last few weeks. 7-7:30pm till 6 or 7am. Usually only waking once in the night. I don't even mind the one time because I miss you at the point anyway.
-Your favorite books right now are "The Little Engine That Could", "I Love You, Stinky Face", "Fox in Socks", "Hop on Pop", and "Is Your Mama a Llama?". We usually read those plus a few others before bed every night.
-You separate all crackers and sandwiches. No one taught you. It's messy but whatever.
-You eat the peel off the apple first. If the apple is peeled you won't eat it. Daddy's boy.
-Two Sundays ago you were so mad I left you in the nursery you tried to bite Jaima and Kate. I don't even know what to say about that.


Hank,
  Some days you are so fun to be around. You are adventurous and love to run free outside. I love kissing your smooshy cheeks and your wet lips. Some days you wear me out. You are strong willed and discipline doesn't phase you when you have your mind set on something. I am reading "Bringing Up Boys" by Dr. James Dobson and it has been such a wonderful tool for me during this stage. He is helping me know what your future needs to look like and affirming what I'm doing right and helping me in areas where I struggle. I tell you that you have a brother in my belly a lot but you don't get it. I hope you love him from the start. You are such a joy. I love watching you run and play and think and laugh. I pray that you will really know Christ at a young age. That you will be a strong man unaffected by the culture around you that wants to dumb down your masculinity. I hope you will fight for what is right, no matter the cost. I love you baby.

23 Weeks

-No name still.
-Lots of movement, especially when we lay down at night. We can see and feel you now.
-Looking forward to your birth. We sang that song with the lyrics, "Christ Alone, Cornerstone, Weak made strong, In the Savior's Love" at church on Sunday. I just cried. Christ's strength in my weakness was more real than ever during Hank's birth and I just know that this time will be just as special.
-I need to buy a swing, bouncy seat, diaper bag and co sleeper for you. On my dream wish list is also: a tank top that I can wear you in and nurse you since this summer will be hot, more Bumgenius 4.0s for when you outgrow my newborn system, a minivan so we can fit 2 babies, a stroller, and groceries all at once! ha.
-I want to put another rod in the closet you and Hank will share and re-do the 2 bathrooms that are in desperate need of updating and lovin'. Dreamers can dream.
-When I have a quiet moment to myself I dream about what you will look like. Will you look like your brother? Or maybe your dad? You will be perfection, I know that.
-I read to you and Hank a lot. Perks of being #2!

I love you baby. I can't wait to hold you in my arms, nurse you, and wear you. You will adore your brother. You will think he is the best and you will probably walk a lot sooner so you can keep up with him and his adventures. I can't wait to see your daddy hold you and do laps around the house to get you to sleep. I can't wait to be alone with you for midnight feedings. Just the calm and you and me. Dr. J is the best. I am so thankful for his evidence based routine practices. One day you will thank him too, because birth matters! And he is devoted to us having a beautiful birth. I cry thinking about you because now I know what it feels like to hold a new baby that is mine. I already know how much I love you and will love you. It's amazing really. Praying for you, your growth, development, salvation. Praying for your birth, our nursing relationship, and your sleeping habits ;) Love you!

Hi, I'm Your Postpartum Doula

How can I pamper you?

At the age of 27 I have found one of the places I truly believe God wants me to be his hands and feet for the long haul. And let me tell you, this is a wonderful place to be. The place where you know he has had in mind all these years of wondering and wandering. Heartache and questioning. Trial and error. Classroom and real life. Freedom and responsibility. I am here. I still have other passions that I want to see him glorified through but I am so excited to be on this journey. I believe that is why we have passion; to give glory to him. To use it for the kingdom, to see hearts changed, to bring hope and shine light on the restoration that Christ brings.

I can now see that my obsession with Health Occupations in high school was not because I was supposed to be a nurse (like I thought when I was 17) but because I am a lover of the Creator of the human body. I am amazed at the way a woman's body nourishes a baby (or babies) in the womb, births that baby, and then gives that baby the perfect food for the first years of life. I love to see women empowered by tapping into the strength the Holy Spirit has to offer. I love to see what looks like sacrifice when women makes choices for their young. I love to see the mother inside awaken and move mountains. I love to see husbands look at their wives in amazement of her beauty, strength, intuition, and faith in the One who knitted her together.

I can now see that working for Holly Ross for those years in sunny San Diego were more valuable than I could ever know. I learned so much from her and a lot of the time it wasn't her words. It was her life, her day to day, her choices, the way she parented and mothered. She made me question the routineness of health care. She taught me that my mother's intuition can be trusted before a big pharma company. She taught me the value of nutrition and exercise. Those babies taught me that the days might be long but the love is huge and that we will make it and that a better day is around the corner. They taught me that babies don't have to cry, that they will show you as much trust and respect as you show them. Crazy, right? ;)

I can now see that not only did the Lord want me to show his love in San Diego and witness people being saved but he also wanted to show me excellent leadership. He wanted me to possess those same qualities. He gave me mentors to teach me.

This new journey of becoming a CAPPA certified postpartum doula gives me the same excitement that moving across the country to church plant Elevate gave me. With that excitement comes fear also just like it did with the cross country move. Do I have what it takes? Will I be enough? Have I bitten off more than I can chew? The word doula actually means servant. I LOVE that. I can't think of any better way for me to serve and be Jesus than to love on mamas, babies, and their families. A day spent helping a mama with breastfeeding, doing her dishes, playing with her older children, wearing her baby while she rests... this, this all sounds heavenly to me. And to get paid to pamper? Even better. I hope my children will learn the importance of mother infant bonding, of serving each other in all seasons of life and that my boys will be phenomenal fathers. They do have a pretty great earthly example. If the Lord gives me a daughter I hope she will be the one making choices about her body. Not a doctor she sees for 20 minutes once a month. I hope she trusts the Lord with her bank account, her body, her children, and her everything. I hope that I can be that example for her. Long way to go.... This is just the beginning and I should be completely certified by March of 2017 but hopefully sooner. I am just so thankful and blessed to be where he wants me to be. To have that passion and fire. My passion for postpartum doula work has already had a positive impact on my relationship with Will and Hank. I am so excited to be a member of an association that is dedicated to evidence based care and continuing to change their curriculum based on new discoveries.

Cheers to love, babies, pregnancy, the fourth trimester, changing the postpartum period for women in the USA, passion, journey, and knowing what I want to be when I grow up!!