one month

Can I have a pause button please?

RaeRae is already one month old

We're all in love. She is such a perfect little addition to our family.

Raelynn is growing so fast, and I have a feeling she may be a chubby baby! I'm very excited because I absolutely love baby chubs!

She is a very content little thing most of the time. She eats and sleeps really well.

After her bath the other day, I laid her on her stomach to lotion up her back. She pushed herself up with her hands and held her head up! Not long enough for me to grab my camera from across the room, but she is a strong girlie.

This was her first trip to the zoo

This was her first ride in the stroller 

Yup, we are all in love

a date

We went on a date. 

It started at a coffee shop near our house. 

He had hot chocolate and a chocolate muffin.

I had coffee and some of his muffin. 

It ended at Toys R Us buying presents for cousins. 

He is my sweet boy who is growing up so fast!

just can't get enough

I can't get enough of....

her sweet little mouth & content little self

the brotherly love

 the ruffled butts!

 the adoring daddy

the great shoes

Great Grandpa Ray and Great Grandma Dee came to visit Raelynn last Saturday.

Grandma Dee LOVES babies. 

let the sun shine

SUN!!!

Amazing. We saw some sun last week, and we took advantage - snotty noses, pink eye, and all. We went outside and played and got our much needed dose of vitamin d.

Isaiah practiced his name

this boy dressed himself. it just cracks me up the outfits he comes up with!

can't get enough riding in

zoo time

We rejoined the world for the first time in 2 weeks (because of sickness), and went to the zoo! It's so much fun hanging out with the cousins! I love how close in age they are, and I love how close we live to them to play! I'll be honest, it's totally chaotic because of 6 kiddos 4 and under, but it's so much fun!

cloth

The time has come to try my hand at cloth diapering. 

I wanted to start last week, but since being so sick, I decided to hold off until now. Just in time too because we only had a few (like 3) disposables left. 

The diapers are so darn cute, and so darn bulky. It just makes me laugh, but it's oh so adorable! 

Take a look at my little bubble butted baby!

Does it get any cuter?!!

raelynn

My mom made this for Raelynn. It's hanging on her bedroom wall.

Why we named her Raelynn Beverly.

Beverly is my Grams. She's the best. 

Grams is:

Strong

Supportive

Encouraging

Loyal

Full of God

Full of love

Generous

Beautiful

I want to raise my baby girl to be like my Grams. 

She taught me so much, and I pray that I can teach my daughter as much as my Grams taught me. No, she didn't sit me down and teach me life lessons every day. She lived her daily life, and I watched. I learned by example. Grams is an amazing woman. 

surrounded

I'm surrounded by laundry (think piles and piles spilling out of the hallway into the living room!), dusty shelves, toys galore, snotty faces, dirty floors, and well, the list goes on.

We were ALL sick this last week. 

This is the first day since 8 days ago that I feel somewhat normal (still have a man voice and still have pink eye). It was a rough one. Bryan and I took turns taking care of the kiddos and napping. My mom came up to help me when Bryan was well enough to go back to work. I'm not sure why I got the worst of it, but I was in bad shape.

Now? 

Well, I'm feeling surrounded by blessings. 

I just found my wedding video which I thought I packed up last year when we put the house on the market. So instead of cleaning, I chose to watch the video. LOVE it. It just reminded me that even though this life is completely chaotic at the moment, we're raising children to love the Lord. 


Our wedding vows were all about encouraging each other along our walks with the Lord. They were about having a home and family that would be pleasing to the Lord with Him in the center and focus.

I'm surrounded by toys from precious little boys who love so well. I'm surrounded by freshly washed pink clothes from the tiny blessing God gave us last month. I'm surrounded by blankets that need to be washed now that pink eye is diminishing. I'm surrounded by an almost well family of 5. 

And that is what I'll be focusing on today as I tackle my laundry piles and messy house. 

God is good.

Especially to remind me right now what a sweet blessing my responsibilities as a mom are.

two weeks

So my little beauty is about two and half weeks old. I took her to her two week appointment, and she was up to 8 pounds and 5 ounces and almost 21 inches long! She is growing like crazy already. 
Raelynn is very alert. She is already following the boys (as best as she can with how fast they move). She loves to lay on her back and stretch out and just be. She is so content! By far my easiest baby. I do realize that may change considering she is only two weeks old! 
Raelynn loves to be sleeping in her crib on her tummy, just like Elias. She is very restless when sleeping anywhere else (other than Bryan's arms - she is quite content there). 
The boys adore her. They might adore her a little too much - they are always in her face. Raelynn handles it great, though, and just soaks it all in. 
My friend Lisa took some pictures of her, so I could get some good ones for announcements. Here are a few of my favorites! Really, a blog about a baby is so boring without pictures, so enjoy! We sure do! 

This was my dress that I wore for my dedication! So glad my mom keeps things like this! 

Yes, that was a lot of pictures. But I just couldn't decide which ones to post! They are all too cute! 

let's just say he loves her

Bryan is adorable with Raelynn. ADORABLE. 

Seriously, he just swoons over her, and my heart goes crazy watching. 

My little girl has the best daddy!

some funny words

The boys have said some really funny things since Raelynn has entered our world. Here are a few just for giggles and for me to remember for always.

*I just finished feeding Raelynn for the first time in front of Isaiah at the hospital (with a nursing cover). Once I finished he came over and said, "where's the bottle? where'd it go? I don't see it". To which I responded by distracting him. I had no idea how to explain me feeding Raelynn without something outrageous coming out of his mouth in front of someone later. So, I distracted him and never answered him.


*Isaiah and Elias were watching me change Raelynn's diaper and Isaiah said, "how does she go potty?"


*Elias patted my still large belly and talked to Raelynn in there. I had to remind him that Raelynn was born and that she wasn't in my belly anymore. I was ready to hit the treadmill that second even though my baby was only 3 days old!


*While giving Raelynn her first bath at home, the boys were so stinking cute. They were very worried about her belly button. They kept saying, "be careful not to hurt her belly button, mommy".
They were also very concerned about her getting water in her eyes. Isaiah said, "Mommy, don't let her roll her eyes in the water! She won't like that!"


*After Raelynn's first bath, her little belly button got caught on the towel and came off a bit too early. I know, I know, bad mom. Does it make me a better mom that I cried when I realized what had happened? Anyway, Isaiah told me that he'd pray for her belly button at bedtime. And he did that night and several nights after. 

the birth

Okay, so the birth story. 

It all started on Easter Sunday. I started having "real" contractions. You know, the ones that actually hurt? They were about 15-20 minutes apart from about 8pm to about midnight. I could have gone on a walk and walked that baby out of me, but I was tired. I didn't want to be up all night, so I went to bed hoping to get some sleep. 

Yeah right. I was so stinking tired that I fell asleep, but woke up every 15 minutes with my contractions. They were only about 30-60 seconds long, so I fell right back to sleep after. Then about 2am I gave up. I got up, and started playing with Easter pictures on my computer. I was trying to distract myself from my getting closer contractions. 

Around 4am, I decided it was time to shower and wake Bryan up to go for a walk before going to the hospital (my contractions were about 10 minutes apart). Then Elias woke up - puking. 

I snatched him out of bed and over the toilet, woke Bryan up, yelling something about contractions hurting and child puking. Bryan got up and cleaned up the boys' bedroom and I changed and cuddled with Elias. Meanwhile, my contractions were getting stronger and closer. 

I asked Bryan to set up the treadmill since it was pouring buckets outside. I wanted to make sure I was really in labor. He was so sweet and put on a movie in the garage to distract me while I walked. Welp, I walked maybe half a mile and realized it was time to go to the hospital. My contractions were 5 minutes apart. So, I took a shower and called the birthing center to tell them we were on our way. I had 3 contractions on the 10 minute drive to the hospital. We arrived at 6:15am.

I kept telling Bryan that I felt like such a wuss. I seriously must have said that a million times through tears. My contractions HURT. The nurse asked if I was thinking of pain management - I said, "I'm ready for an epidural now". She just laughed and said she'd let the labor nurse know I was interested in one. She had no idea I was actually in real labor and real pain. My contractions moved to my lower back. Holy banana. Back labor is AWFUL.

I got my own room and hooked up to an IV and was given a drug to "take the edge off" aka a drug to make you high out of your mind. So instead of just being in pain, I was spinning around my room smiling about being in pain. 

I got an epidural about 8:45 (I had to wait for the pain man to get out of a c section). My nurse told me to let her know when I felt pressure. As she turned to walk out of the room, I said, "Um, that's pressure". She smiled and said, "it's probably a contraction you're feeling. hopefully you can get some rest before you deliver". I said, "are you sure? that's pressure".

Anyway, I was dilated at 5 right after the epidural. And went to a 10 in a mere 5 minutes. My nurse called me a freak of nature and rushed like mad to set up the room for a baby to enter the world. I had Raelynn at 9:25am. That is 35 minutes after the lovely, just in time epidural entered my back. 

And now, I have this beautiful little girl who was worth every contraction!