Friday, June 24, 2011

Ready? Um, Yes.

Wellllll I'm 41 1/2 weeks pregnant!  I really thought I'd be cuddling my new baby by now, but he is just not quite ready to leave his comfy little home :). I know a lot of you have been asking how I am and if we haven't gotten back to you all-- please forgive me!  We're all doing great.  Really :) 

My goal this entire pregnancy has been to have a completely different experience than we did with Westin.  We could not be more in love with our sweet 2-year-old, but it is probably no secret that I did not enjoy that pregnancy or delivery!  My pregnancy was a little on the stressful side-- Kreg & I had been married for 4 months when I took a positive pregnancy test... we were both in school full-time and working nearly full-time and had made plans for grad school and the like.  I was also a long way from my mama with NO idea what I was doing.  As excited as we were and as blessed as we felt, it was stressful!  I ended up with high blood pressure which I am convinced was a result of the fact that the last month of my pregnancy I was trying to take finals, graduate, and get ready to move to Colorado.  I was just slightly stressed :) We ended up being induced at 38 weeks which made for a difficult labor.  I was set on having a natural birth with no epidural-- which is difficult to do with drugs like pitocin and a body that is just not quite ready.  I'm very proud to say I did do all 22 hours with no epidural & pretty horrible back labor, but I wish the entire experience had been a little different! Let me just say again how in love I am with my son & how thankful I am that we all made it through safe & healthy.

All that being said, I was convinced this pregnancy would be different!  And it has! I'm so blessed to be a stay-at-home mommy this time around, to be settled in our home, our marriage, and our family, to have a little experience under my belt, and to have such great support from my husband, my mom, my fantastic midwife, and two very talented chiropractors.  I am content to wait for this little boy & my body to be ready to work together for an easier labor. I've said that all along and now I am just spending each day reminding myself of that fact :) I am content to wait.  My blood pressure has been perfect from day 1, even though I have carried this little boy over 3 weeks longer than Westin, I have gained 10 less pounds, which I think has contributed to my overall comfort, I have had very little, if any swelling, which I have been so thankful for!  

Everyone has been so great about keeping me busy over the past 9 days and helping me keep a positive focus.  I've really enjoyed the little treats Kreg brings home, the pedicures, shopping, and constant walking that my sisters put me through :), girls nights & movie nights and splurging on our eating out just so I don't have to cook in my hot kitchen.  I am so incredibly blessed and I have not forgotten that!  What is a couple extra weeks when I've been waiting so many months to meet our precious little Tucker Kreg?  

I have been delighted by this verse over the past few days: "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." Proverbs 16:9  I'm just thankful for the simple reminder that I am not in control, have never been in control, but I know who is and am 100% convinced that His timing is always more perfect than mine. 

All that being said, thank you all so much for your prayers, your thoughts, and your kindness!  I know we're getting closer every minute!  Specifically, please keep me in your prayers as I seem to be fighting a sinus infection... great timing, right? :) I'm taking all my vitamins and drinking my tea and hoping this will be the last day of feeling yucky!    

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

An Eventful May

As always, May has brought with it many reasons to celebrate!  I love how the vast majority of them serve as reminders to me of how blessed I am to have such a wonderful family.

We started with Mother's Day, of course, which was very nice!  It probably goes without saying that I just LOVE being a mommy.  Today started out with paying bills (ick!) and being thrown up on by my poor toddler who has a nasty cough... but I LOVE being a mommy!  Even when my day starts out like that, I really just cannot get enough of it.  Anyway, that's a side note.  I'm thankful that we set aside a day for mother's.  Not only does it give me a chance to be thankful for the wonderful mother I have, as well as my grandmothers and mother-in-law, but it reminds me how blessed I am!  I had no idea what I was in for when Westin came in to our lives :) 



A few days later, we celebrated Westin's 2nd birthday!  We had so much fun!  We had lots of our family over and Kreg made sub sandwiches and we had a "two-two train" party!  It was SO much fun to watch Westin this year.  He was able to get really excited for his party in the days leading up to it and we wrapped presents for him a couple days early and it was ALL he could do to wait... in fact, one of the presents mysteriously lost its ribbons and bow and the tape on top.  He reminds me so much of his daddy!  The morning of his party we all went to Wal-Mart to have his balloons blown up and he proudly carried them all the way out of the store :).  He was completely overwhelmed with gifts!  He got about halfway through and had to take a break and play with some before he could open any more.  We are so blessed and so very thankful for all our wonderful family who pitched in and spoiled our boy on his birthday! 


 As I mentioned earlier, the anticipation of the party was just nearly as much as Wes could handle... that goes for the cake as well.  I finished it the afternoon before his party and spent that evening and the next morning piecing it back together after he disassembled it :) Needless to say... it was not EXACTLY in as good of shape by the time the party came around, but my little boy loved it and that's what made me happy :)



After Westin's birthday, we celebrated my sister, Kortney's birthday and my mom's birthday, and my parents' anniversary.  Like I said... we pack a lot into May.  I am relieved that it is now June and Tucker will not be another May baby :) Although, after paying bills this morning, I'm still wondering what we were thinking when we decided that ANY TIME after May would be fine for our next baby... we should have given ourselves at least a couple of months of recovery :) Oh, well!  Obviously, I'm thankful that he will be here soon and that I don't have a couple more months to wait for him!

Kreg & I celebrated our 3rd anniversary yesterday! Most days it doesn't seem like we've already been married that long... but when I start thinking about all the major life changes that have occurred in our lives since then, it seems like SURELY it's been longer! We both feel so blessed in our life together and have had SO much fun with all of the things we've done in the past three years.  We can't wait to see what all our God has in store for our future!  We know it will NOT be dull.  Kreg & I went out over the weekend for lunch & a movie and left Westin with my sister.  It was a very nice time, just for us :)  Then, yesterday morning, we went to Chick-fil-A for breakfast because on the morning of our wedding Kreg surprised me with breakfast from Chick-fil-A so we thought it would be a good little tradition.  It may seem like a simple thing but it was special to us!  I really do believe that enjoying life is all about enjoying the simple things.  




June is here, and we are 38 weeks along!  We are ALMOST ready for Tucker to join our family!  I know the next few weeks will be very exciting as we anticipate his birthday and I attempt to get all of my last-minute things done.  Keep us in your prayers as we wait and anticipate!