So This is Love

This was me at about 7 a.m. on Thursday, March 12.

This was Sabian, at about 9:30 a.m., waiting to head into the OR to meet our daughter.


And here we are, the three of us meeting for the first time.

I looked at the clock in the OR while I was waiting for it all to start. It was 10 a.m. At 10:21 I heard the first cries of my sweet girl and watched as they cleaned her up and wrapped her tightly so that Sabian could bring her over to me. I wanted so much to reach out and hold her, but there was still some business on my end that had to be taken care of. After a few moments of kissing and talking to Addie, Sabian left with her for the nursery and by 11 a.m. I was in recovery. They brought her to me for a few minutes while I was in the recovery room, then she and Sabian went away again and would meet back up with me in my hospital room. The whole time of dozing on and off I impatiently wondered how long it would be before I could see her again.

All in all, I couldn't have asked for things to run more smoothly. The staff at the hospital was great, Susie, our midwife, was right there to walk me through every step of the way, and Dr. Wolf was very reassuring the whole time. I feel pretty good and we just stayed two nights in the hospital before we were able to come home the Saturday after Addie was born. The pediatrician had good things to say about her and at Addie's doctor's appointment on Tuesday she had even gained some weight since leaving the hospital.

Most of all, we have our girl here at last.


Some things I love:
Sleep smiles
The way she stretches when we're changing her or when she wakes up for a nap
Sighing when she sleeps
The way it seems she recognizes our voices
Her long toes (just like her dad's)
Soft cheeks

Some things that tug at my heart:
Hiccups. The books say they don't bother babies, but they bother me
When she sticks her bottom lip out and pouts while sleeping (bad dream?!)
When she seems a little agitated

Yes, I check on her while she is sleeping to make sure she is still breathing. Yes, the sounds she makes while sleeping wake me up. I get in her face to make sure she can see me and hear me and I make up silly songs that she'll never remember. Every now and then I can't help but shed a tear and marvel at this incredible gift that God has given us. And yes, I feel completely vulnerable as a parent - and it is still a little strange to think of myself as a "parent!"

It's pretty obvious what I am thankful for these days. Our healthy Addie - we are so happy to have her here.

Her stats at birth: 7 lbs., 1.3 oz,. 20 inches long. Check out more photos here.

I'll leave you with Pirate Addie - "Arrr!"

Still Waiting

At 39 weeks, Addie is still comfortably "sitting" in the heads up position. More accurately, she is in a jack knife formation. Next Tuesday, March 10, is my due date and it is on that day when we will go back to the doctor to determine just what it is we want to do. That is, unless she decides to begin the process on her own before then. This would be my preference, but if she proves us otherwise, we'll figure it out then. In the meantime, she looks great, sounds great, and is overall very cozy where she is right now.

I am feeling good, just tired and a bit like a roly poly.

For the latest pictures, you can take a look at them here.

If you have an extra two minutes and care to see where she will be residing once she arrives, I do have photos of her room, so if I failed in my attempt to include everyone on that email let me know and I'll send them if you like.

I don't mean for this to be a narcissistic post, but updating the blog is one of the quickest ways to get the news out. Thanks for continuing to pray with us and think of us!

Men at Work

The title of my post reminds me of these guys.

I don't remember too much about them, and what I know is mostly concerning Colin Hay, one of the guys in the band who sang a song for the movie Garden State. However, the men I refer to really means these guys:

When we first moved here it took me a little while to get used to seeing these signs and the slow moving, white vans following the groups of men dressed in prison blues and bright orange vests right here in town. Before moving to Wewa I knew there was a prison nearby, but I didn't think too much about it until I started seeing prisoners working around town on a regular basis. In fact, it is a regular occurrence, even one that happened to occur in our front yard one day. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it upsets me or scares me, it is just simply something to get used to; another one of those Wewa things.

In the midst of wanting to share this, I found the website for the Gulf Correctional Institution, the facility that is nestled in the woods around here. Another interesting tidbit - you can search the current prison population and take a look at the stats of each prisioner including height, weight, distinguishing features, their offenses, and lengths of their sentences. I don't know about you but I thought this was, um, interesting.

There's nothing to really be lost or gained by my post (unless you count the two minutes or less it took to read it), but in the spirit of sharing all things Wewa, there you go.

Today I am thankful for productivity. My list is not completely empty, but it has been reduced.

The Corner Store

I have a friend here whose name is Libby. She gets me out of the house to go on walks around Wewa, where we meet many people and pop in and out of the library, where we don't even have to have our card to check out books. Well, we're supposed to, but because this is the place "where everybody knows your name," they certainly know where to find us if we breach library rules. We also hit up the Dollar General from time to time and a morning walk is never complete without Libby finding a penny on the ground - seriously. It's even starting to freak me out.

Last week we went to Panama City to visit a couple of our church members who are sick and we ran a couple of errands while we were "in town." We also managed to see a certain"darkish" movie at the stinky dollar theater. No worries, as time wore on, we didn't even notice the smell - hmm, not so comforting in hindsight...

As we were driving along and stopped at a traffic light Libby pointed out a certain sign for a store on the corner and I frantically dug through my purse to find my camera so that I could bring you this:


One day, I will step foot into this store.

Today, I am thankful for Libby!

Love, By Hand

Love shows itself in many different ways. When it comes to us and the little girl who is coming our way just about any day, our friends and family and even those we don't know very well have given and continue to give of themselves. We are humbled and grateful for the love and generosity people have shown us through our baby showers in Illinois and Florida, through the packages that have arrived at our door, the gifts left for us at church, and the promise of help in a variety of ways once the baby is here.

The photo above is just one of my favorite ways in which people have blessed us. We have received many great gifts which will prove to be useful and fun, and those pictured above are no exception. We have many awesome quilts and blankets to wrap Addie in and those in the photo are just a few of what we have received. Each one of these has been handmade for her by people who are special to us and who exhibit way more talent than I will ever have! What I love about these quilts is that I can look at each one and think of the person who lovingly made them for us and then pass that along to Addie. I just wanted to share them and the time and effort that went into making each one of them.

We have also received personalized burp cloths and blankets and handmade booties, as well as a whole host of other gifts for which we are extremely grateful. I can look at all of it and be thankful for those who have given them to us and are excitedly waiting with us to welcome Addie into our family and all of yours.

While I wish I had half the talent that many of you have to create handmade gifts, I am thankful for your talent and how you have chosen to use it!

March Madness

A quick baby update - it is March, the month of Addie's arrival. When will she be here? My due date, March 10, is a week from tomorrow, but as we all know babies have a tendency to arrive before, after, up, down, and around their predicted due dates. Last week she was still breech and we continue to pray that this is all in God's hands. As of right now I can still feel her head nestled comfortably at the top of my belly. We are headed back to the doctor on Wednesday and we'll know more after that as far as how we move ahead. Long story short, we really don't know what is in store for us this next week but we appreciate your thoughts and prayers during this exciting time. We had a plan in place but we've decided to switch gears. Either way, soon we will get to see her little face!

In the meantime, it is late. Everyone keeps telling me to get as much rest as possible this week, but instead I seem to be inadvertently gearing up in the opposite direction, by staying up. Time to get that rest.

I am thankful for family and friends who are continuing to encourage us.