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!

Arriving at Motherhood

It's been fifteen months since I became a mother. Clearly this is a new adventure for me, yet I've logged enough days now that I feel much more settled in my newest role in life.

Motherhood has been an extraordinarily beautiful process for me--so pure and simple but also vastly complex all at once. As with anything in life, it has its highs and lows. But the highs are so utterly blissful and wondrous that it makes the lows seems almost non-existent for me.

I struggle with what I perceive to be a culture of negativity surrounding motherhood or parenthood today. It's exacerbated all the more by social media outlets. Part of this negativity--the pressures, the awful competitiveness, and comparisons between mothers--I didn't know existed prior to becoming a mother, and I'm so thankful I didn't. I think that without necessarily meaning to do so, our society somewhat discourages twenty and thirty-somethings from becoming parents.

So if I'm being perfectly honest with you, I held many negative expectations about what my life would be like as a mother before I arrived here. Part of it came from the oh-so-thoughtful comments we'd gotten during my pregnancy: "Sleep now, while you can!", "Your time is not your own anymore", or my favorite, "Do such and such now because you'll never be able to do that again!" Thanks to comments like that combined with other outside influences, I arrived at this idea that my identity as a mother would be a woman who was insanely sleep-deprived, unkempt and frumpy, wearing clothing covered in something disgusting, frazzled, grumpy, unorganized, and desperately trying to balance a million spinning plates as she keeps all her household duties and somehow contributes to the household income as well.

I'm still perplexed at how I came to believe these extremes. It certainly didn't come from the example of my own mother {whom I believe to be the epitome of the perfect mom}, and I grew up surrounded by classy women who were also the opposite of what I just described above. I'm sure I was influenced by a plethora of factors, some being my own fears. Yet I somehow can't help feeling that I'm not alone--that other women out there have had these exact same expectations of motherhood which lead to feelings of hesitancy in wanting to take the plunge and start families of their own.

It makes me really mad when I think about it. I'm mad because I feel that despite my own positive observations of mothers I know personally, society and the media still succeeded in planting seeds of doubt in my mind about whether or not it would be worth it to become a mother. And I'm angry because that image of motherhood I wrestled with is so very different from what I'm actually experiencing.

If I could, I would shout it from the rooftops that becoming a mother is beyond a shadow of a doubt one of the best things I have ever done in my life--one of the things that has brought me more joy and happiness than I could have ever imagined. I desperately wish my words could convey how much more deeply I enjoy life each day because I am a mother to our precious daughter.

And you know what? Life is quite different now than before we had Makenna. BUT... I sleep through the night. I shower every day and take time to look presentable even for a quick trip to the grocery store. I still have downtime for myself as well as quality time with my husband. I still have time for hobbies. I can still conquer housework and social obligations. I still have big dreams for myself outside of motherhood. And most importantly, I still feel like me, just a better version of myself because of all the lessons I've learned since becoming a mother. I'm still the same Deanne.

I know that if God grants us further children, life will get busier and feel much more of a challenge than does life with one child. It's taken me time to learn how to be a mother of one, but I now have confidence knowing that though it will also take time, I can learn how to be a mother of two.

I'm still learning, day by day, how to navigate this journey of being a mom. I love everything it encompasses, all the highs and lows. And I realize now that one of the best things I have done in my life was to listen to the little tug in my heart that was calling me to motherhood. I can't even begin to imagine missing out on all my life is now, all the love and joy that fills my heart in its purest form.

May Recap

May was a BIG month for our little family since Makenna's post-RSV quarantine officially ended! To say that it has been wonderful to bring Makenna out with us everywhere to meet all kinds of people is an enormous understatement.

Makenna loved bonding with family members. She's a charmer, this one!

Snuggling with Aunt Karen

Four generations of Perry's

Oh, how she loves her Papa!

Makenna already has a best friend, Melanie. Melanie is the daughter of our friends Aaron and Trisha in our small group. She is three months older than Makenna and they already love each other!

Of course, May means Mother's Day, and my very first Mother's Day couldn't have been any sweeter. It also was a big day for Makenna, as it was her Baby Dedication at church.

What a great honor it was to dedicate Makenna's life to the Lord.

Makenna and her wonderful Grandparents:

It was such a lovely Mother's Day: being with our Moms, going out for a delicious lunch after church, and then coming back to our house, where I made Nutella crepes for dessert.

Matt and Makenna treated me to these gorgeous flowers with minature roses in honor of our "Makenna Rose." I also got a certificate for a massage at a spa which was greatly needed after all the many hours I spend nursing!

And, {a few weeks back}, Makenna had her three month birthday:

Oh, dear me. How this little lady lights up our life! She is a sheer delight and more fun by the day as she grows ever more interactive. She's still one happy, contented baby and smiles all the time. Matt and I especially love it when we're holding her, then look away for a bit, then look back at her to find that she's been smiling at us even when we aren't looking.

Shes growing more active and vocal by the minute. She loves being sang to, getting kissed, looking at books, and being tickled. Makenna still hates tummy time but she's tolerating it for longer periods of time. And though she's growing more active, she's handling all of her outings like a pro, going to church, on shopping trips, and dining at restaurants, all the while staying quiet and behaving like a little lady.

Our Makenna Rose just makes life so sweet. We couldn't imagine life without her!

There are still so many family members and friends who have yet to meet Makenna, so these next several months are going to be extra-fun with all the first time introductions. Three cheers for being out of confinement and getting to finally discover the world!

Two Months, Baby

This little lady just turned two months old!

She checked out great at the doctor's office. She's still very small for her age at only 8 lbs 6 oz and 21.5 inches, but very healthy.

Makenna is still wearing newborn-size clothing, but she's nearly getting too long for her sleepers. Regular newborn outfits still fit very well. {In the photo above, her pants look too short, but they are just hiked up from all her rapid leg-kicking}.

My sister pointed out how it's so incredibly fun when babies are teeny-tiny, and since Makenna was born ultra-tiny, we get to enjoy her teeny-tiny stage all the longer. We've had many comments from her photos that she looks just like a "doll." She really is like the perfect little baby doll!

Makenna is very interactive now which is so fun! She smiles a lot and responds to us with all kinds of cooing. She's interested in toys and loves lights and music.

The other HUGE milestone she reached...and I still can't believe it...she is sleeping through the nights. I stopped waking her for a middle-of-the-night feeding after her Pediatrician told me to let her sleep as long as she would go at night, as long as she fed enough during the day. Makenna started doing eight hour stretches between feedings right after she turned five weeks old. Yup, five weeks old. I really thought it was a fluke at first, something that surely wouldn't last. But, for the past three weeks, she has slept like this consistently at night. I never expected her to sleep through the night at this age {what mom does?!} and of course I am just loving it. See how this girl spoils me??

Makenna will still remain mostly under "quarantine" because of the RSV until the end of April. Apparently there are still a few lingering cases of RSV and respiratory infections out there as we are exiting cold and flu season. We can venture out with Makenna at our discretion, but we still need to keep her protected. I was hoping to get the Pediatrician's "blessing" to start taking her anywhere and everywhere, but if our Pediatrician wants her protected a couple of weeks longer, of course we are going to listen!

In the meantime, I am wholeheartedly content to fill my days with loving on my baby girl. Soon, very soon, we can FINALLY take her out to see the world!

Newborn Photos

I don't have to tell you that Matt and I were crazy to move into our first home one month before our due date. And in all that craziness, one of the things that fell to the wayside was locating a photographer to do newborn photos after Makenna's arrival. I actually DID have it on my "to do" list in the days just before Makenna's due date, but she decided to show up a tad early, so there went that plan.

I also must tell you that I even debated on whether or not to get newborn photos done. They are really expensive, you know. And how could I even be sure I'd be happy with them? In light of all the money we've been spending on the house {and the baby!}, we weren't sure it'd be the smartest investment of our money.

And then, as you know well, I got sick immediately after delivery. And then Makenna got sick with RSV and we did the whole hospital-thing. By the time we got home {again} from all that, she was over two weeks old and I still didn't even have a clue what photographer to use.

Enter Bobbi of Bobbi Rattai Photography. She was recommended to us by our close friends. I was very impressed with her website and the newborn photos she posted. The biggest factor was that we were informed she would be willing to come to our house to do the photo session. This was of course essential since we can't bring Makenna out anywhere. And after contacting Bobbi, I learned that her son also contracted RSV {he was just eight weeks old}, so she could totally understand our circumstances. My other huge requirement--one many photographers don't offer--was a CD with a copy of all the images and the rights to print them and use them as we pleased. Bobbi had everything we were looking for.

I received the CD of photos two days ago, and after looking at the first few, my eyes filled with tears of joy! I really can't put into words how beyond pleased we are with these photos. They're better than I'd ever dreamed. Hands down, this was some of the best money we've ever spent!

Oh, and Bobbi? Well, I could sing her praises all day long. She drove nearly two hours to our house, and she was here for a full three hours. And...Makenna even pooped on her! {Bobbi kindly reassured me, in all my horror, that it happens to her all the time at newborn shoots}. You better believe we will be going back to Bobbi for more pictures in the future!

I'm not going to show all the photos, but without further ado, here are my favorites:

Couldn't. Be. Happier.

One Month

Just a few days ago, our little Makenna turned one month old! {I'm useless at it for now, but I will eventually figure out this being-a-mommy-and-blogging-regularly thing.}

Makenna is truly over her RSV and doing brilliantly now. Let me tell you, this little girl is just such a delight! She's still adorably tiny; she weighed in at 7 lb 5 oz and measured 20 1/4 inches at her one month appointment and the doctor said she's gaining very well. I really, truly do know how lucky I am, because Makenna is a very easy and laid-back baby. Not that she doesn't ever fuss, but it's pretty minimal. She sure has made this transition into motherhood quite easy for me, God bless her!! And...{I feel that some other moms out there might hate me for sharing this}...she's an extremely good sleeper. She was already going five hour stretches between feedings at night as of late, and even then I had to wake her to eat. But then our pediatrician told me not to wake her, just let her wake up on her own to eat, and now she's going longer. The other night was six and a half hours between feedings! Again, I totally realize how very lucky I am!

Since her day of birth, everyone has always commented on how alert she is. She's a great sleeper, but when she's awake, she is uber-alert. She has the biggest, brightest eyes that take in everything around her. I'll always remember that when I first held her in my arms after she was born, her eyes were so wide awake, and she kept looking all around the room with wide eyes. I couldn't even get her to look at me--I kept saying, "Makenna, look at me! I'm your Mommy!" She focuses well on objects now and her eyes follow me and Matt around the room.

I also must update you on one other aspect of our lives for now with Makenna. It's related to her contracting RSV, and this is quite possibly the hardest part for us. The day we were being discharged from Makenna's RSV hospital-stay, our pediatrician advised us not to take her anywhere at all and limit the visitors to our home for the next EIGHT WEEKS. No church, no shopping trips, no going anywhere with her at all. This also means Matt and I have to run errands separately so someone can always stay home with Makenna. Most of all, it means that most of our friends and family won't get to meet Makenna until she's over ten weeks old. It's so very hard! Of course, we understand that Makenna is more susceptible right now to catching other viruses and because it's still the cold and flu season, we really have to protect her. If she got sick again soon, she'd likely end up back in the hospital and we'd do anything to prevent that! 

I am also basically house-bound with Makenna and I'm sure that it won't be long until I'm going stir-crazy. But I couldn't be more pleased to fill my days snuggling with my little one. Plus, there is more than plenty of work to keep me occupied here in our new home...online shopping for things we still need, the whole basement needs to be unpacked, painting, decorating, etc., etc. Remember, we only moved into this house exactly three weeks prior to Makenna's birth!

And on that note, I do plan to share pics of Makenna's nursery. It was mostly finished by the time she was born; it just lacked the finishing touches {wall decor, curtains, rug}. I have these items now and hopefully by next week, I'll be ready for a nursery-reveal!

Oh, and for those of you interested...the birth story is still forthcoming, so stay tuned!

It Is

It is. Everything they said it would be, and more.

I'm talking about becoming a mother. Everyone tells you how wonderful and life-changing it is. You know it will be. But you just can't know, you can't really know, until you have those moments.

That moment when you push your final push, and your child emerges fully from your womb. The earth stands still, all others fade away, and it is only you, your husband, and your baby in a noiseless void.

That moment when your baby is first placed in your arms. Here is the moment when you lock eyes with that little person who has been twisting and moving inside of you for nine months. You couldn't imagine her big, bright eyes, her thick (oh so thick!) and dark head of hair, those skinny arms and legs that are so very strong.

"There's nothing like it in the whole world," my mom said as she hugged me with big tears in her eyes. It was the night we told my parents we were pregnant, and my mom was talking about the moment when you hold your baby for the first time. I knew she was right, that I just couldn't understand until I experienced that moment for myself.

In the passing of these few moments, my whole world shifted.  My world was no longer about me, and I really couldn't understand how ready I was for that change until I met my little Makenna. My life's purpose seemed to transform in an instant. I was born to be the wife of Matthew Perry. God brought us together in His perfect way, to honor Him and create this beautiful human being. My life's purpose is to be Makenna's mother.

Motherhood is so very impossible to put into words. It's one of those things in life, like finding your lifelong love, that you just can't describe--you have to experience it for yourself to truly understand.

It is so many things encompassed into one. And with each passing day, I'm discovering new and wonderful things about motherhood. One of the wonderful things is how hard it is. It is hard work. But nothing in my life has ever seemed more worthwhile. And isn't true that in life, the very hardest things--the ones that stretch us and try us and help us to discover what we're truly made of--are also the most worthwhile things?

So, yes. When it's 3 am and I roll out of bed to nurse Makenna, I am exhausted and want to fall back into my pillow. But I wouldn't trade those 3 am feedings for anything in the world. Because they are sacred and beautiful; just me and my daughter, sitting quietly, snuggled warmly in the stillness. Because I know that these moments are precious. All too soon, Makenna will grow and be bigger and will sleep through the nights. As much as I can't wait for tomorrow, to discover more of who Makenna is as she grows and changes, I also want to live in each present moment with her and not ever take a single one for granted.

My dear friend Helena recently wrote to me, "You are a mommy now, welcome to the most wonderful club in the world!" I haven't even been in this club for three weeks now, but it's far more than enough to know that Helena's words are true.

Motherhood is what they say it is. Oh, it truly, truly is.