New Year, New Blog

You read that right! As much as I have loved blogging here, I decided I needed enough of an overhaul to warrant a major blog move.

To follow me from the here on out, please visit my new site, Ever So Delightful:

eversodelightful.com

Welcome to the Family, David

I've been too busy enjoying newborn snuggles {and fighting sleep deprivation!} to have updated my space here. It's far past time to introduce the newest love of our lives:

David Robert Perry
Born March 31, 2016
9:38 am
8 lbs 8 oz
20.5 inches

David, born at 39 weeks and 4 days

David came out in an awful hurry, and thankfully I delivered him in the natural birthing center in our hospital, but only just! That will be my next post, to share David's birth story.

Besides David's grand entrance to the world, the week of his arrival contained its fair share of drama. After keeping our family healthy all winter long, Makenna became sick with a fever on Tuesday {David was born on Thursday}. I also came down with a scratchy throat and cough on Tuesday evening. Makenna was diagnosed with croup and on Wednesday morning, Matt took Makenna to the ER for a breathing treatment since her breathing had become too labored. Matt explained to the doctors they saw about Makenna's illness coinciding with the impending arrival of our second born, and they all stressed the importance of Makenna staying away from her newborn brother until her symptoms subsided. I was extremely stressed by what was occuring! When I was at my weekly OB appointment on Tuesday, my membranes had been stripped in an effort to bring on labor, so I was very worried about the timing of all of this.

We basically needed Makenna out of our house. for the safety of our baby about to arrive. So, my mom was our hero and drove over four hours to our house Wednesday afternoon, picked up Makenna, and turned around and drove our sweet girl another four hours back to her home in Indianapolis.

The timing was perfect for Makenna to be taken away, as David was born about 18 hours after Makenna left with my mom. And by God's grace, my own symptoms were not getting worse--I mostly felt as if I had a mild cold.

In retrospect, we can see God's hand in how the week played out, with Makenna's sickness requiring her to be taken away. We had originally planned that Matt's dad would drive over to stay with Makenna once I went into labor. Matt's parents live just under 2 hours away, so we of course had local friends who were on stand-by as backup. However, with the way my labor played out, especially how quickly it went, we realized Matt's dad would not have made it in time to watch Makenna for us, and our local friends were also occupied those morning hours. Thus, we've concluded that because Matt would have needed to stay with Makenna, and David came out so quickly, that its highly likely Matt would have missed David's birth before someone arrived to watch Makenna for us. God works in mysterious ways! He was certainly watching out for us and we are so thankful.

David is such a special little guy! At 8 lbs 8 oz, David weighed almost 2.5 more than Makenna did at birth {6 lbs 2 oz}. He is stocky and super strong! Even his forearms have rolls, which makes him look a bit like Popeye. He has the best chubby cheeks that are oh-so-kissable. He LOVES to eat and in his first month of life gained nearly three pounds!

David is named after Matt's dad, Dave, and after my dad, Bob. It was a joy for me to give him the middle name Robert, especially since both my brother and sister have had sons whom they have also given the middle names Robert after my dad. So I was privileged to be given a son to complete this circle!

Makenna was well enough to meet David when he was three days old. And now, we are all adjusting really well to becoming a family of four! David has been a relatively easy-going baby and that is a huge part of it. Makenna also adores being a big sister. She just loves David and thinks he is the cutest thing ever. {We'll see how long that lasts, once he becomes mobile and starts touching all of her things!} But for now, she loves helping take care of him, kissing him, reading to him, and snuggling him. Be still my heart!

It truly feels as though David has helped to complete our little family. He has already filled our lives and hearts with more joy than we ever could have imagined! He's seven weeks old as of today and we can't believe how much he's grown and changed in these few weeks. He's mostly wearing 3 month clothing and we are about ready to move him up to size 2 diapers. He's started smiling now and is very responsive to interaction, giving us lots of coos and gurgles. We just can't get enough of this little man!

I'm so excited to watch his little personality develop. He's already such a sweetie pie and my mother's heart is just beaming with pride. Thank you, Jesus, for our incredible blessing!

39 Weeks

Happy Easter! Today I am 39 weeks pregnant with our second baby, our son.

Taken at 38.5 weeks

I really can hardly believe that we're at the end and ready to meet this little man already, although I must admit it feels like these last few weeks are creeping by slowly.

I feel quite badly that I haven't been sharing about this pregnancy regularly on this blog the way I did with Makenna. So the following is my attempt to play a bit of catch-up...

Second pregnancy remarks:

-As with Makenna, my scoliosis has provided me with a lot of pain during my second and third trimesters. However, I would say the pain has been even more severe this go around.

-I haven't struggled with acne this pregnancy the way I did with Makenna, which would be accurate with the old wives' tales concerning genders!

-I haven't struggled too much with heartburn the way many women do. I have had a bit of trouble with acid reflux at night when I sleep, but thankfully it hasn't been terrible, nor has it been a nightly occurance. 

-I've enjoyed having the luxury of time to decorate our little guy's nursery, as opposed to the scramble to prepare Makenna's in the three weeks we had between moving into our first home and her birth date. {I'll be excited to share photos here soon!}

-I've had the fun of sharing this pregnancy with another sister! Last time it was my sister Erin and sister-in-law Jennie, and this time it's my sister-in-law, Hunter. Hunter and I are only 5 weeks apart!

- As I have always heard to be the case with second pregnancies, I have been overall much more physically uncomfortable with this pregnancy. My hips and ribs are hurting so much in these last weeks, in a way I never felt with Makenna!

-Matt and I have struggled to pin down a name for our son. We believe we are decided, but have a few back-up choices on hand for when he's born in case we feel the name we're planning on doesn't fit him.

-Beginning when I started my third trimester, I started experiencing lots of Braxton Hicks contractions. In fact, on one occasion several weeks ago {when I was 34 weeks}, they had become regular enough that they landed me in the hospital overnight. I was having contractions every 3-5 minutes for several hours. Although it wasn't considered actual labor because I wasn't dilating, they didn't want to send me home with such regular contractions, even if they were painless.

-Even with a pre-term delivery scare, I have made it to full term at 39 weeks! I'm currently dilated between 2-3 cm, although there's certainly no telling when baby will make his ultimate debut. 

-These last several weeks, I have been going crazy with nesting. I didn't have this luxury with Makenna since we had only just moved into our home, and weren't even fully unpacked by the time she arrived. This time, I have been tackling projects big and small, and cleaning and organizing every nook and cranny in our home. I'm afraid my OCD-tendencies are running a bit rampant, especially because I am currently unmedicated for my anxiety disorder.

-Mostly, I am aware that being a mother of two will be a whole different ball game than being a mother of one. I am completing my to-do list as best I can so that I can focus on our new baby boy with as little distractions as possible. I am keenly aware how fast time flies with babies, but most especially the newborn stage, and I am eager to soak up every moment I can. 

-I am experiencing the common mother emotion of a bit of mourning--mourning the time of just "Makenna and me" coming to an end. I have just delighted in having these past three years to make memories with my daughter and bond with her, just the two of us. I feel a bit as though it's the end of an era! I've been taking as much time as I can to do extra special things with her, and I will always treasure these mommy-daughter dates.

We feel so excited and ready to meet our son! It's an exciting time to know he could join us any day. I'm trying to find the balance between getting things done, resting, and spending great quality time with Matt and Makenna. However, we are all very ready to become a family of four! Makenna is so very excited and will be such a great big sister. I can't wait to see her take on this new role!

We feel very blessed this Easter Sunday to celebrate our Risen Savior. He has watched over this family so very well and provided us with the wonderful gift of a healthy and normal pregnancy. It's so wonderful to think about what next year's family Easter photo will look like!

Gender Announcement

We were so anxious to learn the gender of our little one on the way. Baby was really squirmy throughout the ultrasound, so the technician had a hard time being able to see the gender. Luckily, success!

We are thrilled to announce that:

I wasn't feeling a strong intuition from the get-go with this pregnancy like I did with Makenna, when I felt nearly certain she was a girl. My first initial thought was "boy," but at times I really also felt it was a girl. It wasn't until around sixteen weeks when I started feeling our baby move daily, and then steadily grow stronger and more active with each passing day, that I started to feel certain. Matt was even able to feel our baby kick at just under twenty weeks, so by that point I was truly expecting the gender to be "boy!"

We haven't settled on a name just yet, but once we do, we'll keep it a secret until he's born. And if you can believe it, I have just turned twenty four weeks along, so it's only a few more months until we get to meet our little guy!

We had fun sharing the gender news with my family over FaceTime and sharing the news in-person with Matt's family over Thanksgiving. I baked cupcakes with a gender-specific filling, so it was a funny and very messy moment for everyone to find out!

Praise the Lord, we learned our baby boy's anatomy looks "perfect" according to the recent ultrasound. They did, however, discover that I have a low placenta. The doctor fully expects for the placenta to move as my uterus grows, as is normally the case in this scenario. But until it does move, they will watch my placenta via ultrasound at my next appointments. {Therefore, bonus peeks at our little man!} I am really hoping and praying to be able to do a vaginal delivery with our son, so I would greatly appreciate your prayers that my placenta will move soon and no longer be of any concern. Thank you!

Autumn Adventures

It's now the eve of December first, and our home is already festive and decorated for Christmas. The rest of the world is also in Christmas-mode, but it is technically still the season of fall, so I wanted to make sure I took a moment to share some of the many magical moments we've experienced.

The weather this fall has been warm and balmy here in eastern Michigan, and we've spent endless afternoons enjoying some of the many wonderful parks with playgrounds.

This year we decided to re-visit the orchard and cider mill we first visited last year. We had absolutely perfect perfect weather this year! After feasting on cider and donuts, we headed to the petting zoo area, which was Makenna's favorite last year.

There is a large pen with medium-sized and baby goats where visitors can enter and pet to their hearts' content. Oh my, these sweet little goats sure didn't disappoint!

Makenna was enamored with these two little ones sleeping in the warm sunshine. She kept exclaiming, "Aww! Little baby twins!"

Our little adventurer loves visiting "the farm." She was fearless when it came to climbing the tire and hay "mountains."

These two have my heart!

As we neared the end of autumn's vibrant colors, Matt and I decided to take Makenna to Wolcott Mill State Park. Pre-Makenna, Matt and I used to love to come here to walk the trails in the woods and let Annbelle run to her heart's content. {We brought Annabelle along with us this time, as well, since it had been a few years since we've taken her here to frolic in the forest!}

Upon arrival, we discovered that the forest floor was covered in a beautiful blanket of golden leaves. Ever the little imagine-er, Makenna started singing, "We're off to see the wizard...!"

It was such such a lovely, picturesque day.

Then came Halloween, and our little movie-lover was delighted to dress up as "Dorothy." She was obsessed with any and all things Halloween this year. We try hard to keep Halloween very non-scary and more about enjoying fall and the chance to dress up. Of course there are lots of people who deck their yards out in scary and gruesome decor, and sadly it becomes impossible to shelter her from this. Thankfully Makenna learned the terms "scary" and "spooky" to describe such things, and she'd tell us certain things she saw were "too scary." Yet they never seemed to truly bother her or cause her alarm, and for that we are very thankful!

Matt's parents came to join us for Trick-or-Treating. They brought along their dog, Diesel, who came along to act as Makenna's "Toto."

Makenna loved being escorted by her "Nana" from house to house.

Here's a house with scary decor. Makenna paused when she saw it and said, "Oh dear." The girl was determined to get candy, however, so she approached the homeowner hand-in-hand with her Nana, while she uttered, "oh dear," a few more times.

Even November brought several unusually warm days. We took advantage of a couple more visits to the zoo and local parks, and one afternoon was even warm enough {in the 70's} that I let Makenna wear a pair of shorts outside!

Now it seems all at once, the last of autumn's leaves have fallen and a permanent chill has crept over the land. We have gathered with our loved ones for a cozy Thanksgiving full of laughter, feasting, and love, and we now are wholeheartedly ready to welcome in the Christmas season.

Stay tuned as I have one last especially splendid piece of news to share with you...we now know the gender of the little one growing inside of me! We were able to share this news with our families over Thanksgiving and I'll announce here shortly!

Pure Joy

It's time to share some joy here on my blog! Given that I haven't been doing well with updating my blog lately, and as the weeks are flying by, I am far overdue in sharing our big news that we are expecting our second child!

I actually made this announcement on Facebook almost four weeks ago, and I'm thrilled to share more details here. We couldn't be more excited!

Right now, I am over 17 weeks pregnant and as you can see from the photo above, our little peanut has a due date of April 3, 2016. However, if baby decides to come early {like big sister Makenna}, then we might have a March baby!

I have gotten so many questions over the past weeks as we've shared the news with friends and family, so I thought I'd answer these main questions here, too.

• How are you feeling? Well as of right now, and given that I'm over three weeks into my second trimester, I feel quite well overall. The first trimester did hold its fair share of unpleasant symptoms. I was feeling nauseous, but not anything too horrible. The nausea has been far less with this pregnancy. I never felt constantly nauseous and I've experienced far less food aversions. I dare say I've even been having stronger cravings this time around. I can certainly tell that my hormones are running rampant, so there hasn't been any surprises really with the symptoms I've had.
• Is Makenna excited? That's a bit hard to answer because we don't think Makenna truly grasps the concept of what's happening. We've met a few newborns recently and Makenna was quite excited and interested in them. However, lately when we've asked Makenna if "there's a baby in Mommy's tummy?" she'll answer, "No." Yet she is definitely noticing that my stomach is growing, although she looks down at her own belly and exclaims, "Look! My tummy's bigger!" We expect that she will be excited about a baby at our house, but also have some real struggles with not being the only child anymore.
• Will you find out the gender? Yes! As last time, we plan to find out the gender but keep the name a secret until our little one is born. {And at this time I can tell you that we aren't settled on any names for either gender as of yet.} We are set to find out the gender at our 20 week ultrasound, the week before Thanksgiving.
• What gender do you think it is/are you hoping for? We will be completely thrilled at whatever gender God has gifted us with, although Matt and I have always said we'd love to have one of either gender. I really don't have any maternal instincts about what gender this little one is. I felt really strongly that Makenna was a girl, but this time I haven't felt that way one way or another.
• How far apart in age with Makenna and her sibling be? We are quite pleased with how the age difference will turn out. Makenna will be three in mid-February and her brother or sister should arrive about six to seven weeks later. We were hoping for very close to a three year age gap between the these two, and I'm especially pleased that there should be a good many weeks after Makenna's birthdays pass by each year for me to tackle the planning and execution for the birthday party of her sibling!

I'm really blown away by how fast this pregnancy is flying by. I started feeling baby movements before I turned 16 weeks and I can now feel him/her every day! I can scarcely believe that in about two and a half weeks, I'll hit the halfway mark with this pregnancy. There's so much to do, like choosing a name and the huge process of converting our office/guest room into a nursery and moving the office to the family room in the basement.

This season of life has brought so much joy beyond our imagining and we can't wait to have another little one to cherish and fill our hearts with love.