The Past 48

The past few days have been crazy, to say the least. In the early hours of Monday morning, Jason and I were abruptly woken up to the sound of Lincoln puking. Yummy. Jason immediately sent me to the guest bedroom (aka: Adelynn's room) for the night and took care of Lincoln. He continued to throw up about 8-10 time sin a four hour time span - solidifying the stomach flu had invaded our house. The kid was a trooper though; he didn't cry once about it and made it to the toilet every time....half of the times on his own doing while Jason was asleep. Fantastic!
When this went through our house last year, it went through our entire house and was the most violent sickness any of us had ever experienced. So I laid in the guest room that night stricken with panic of what it would be like to be 10 days away from delivering Adelynn and violently puking. And when I googled "38 weeks and stomach flu" the panic worsened as I realized it could easily turn into an early hospital visit for me.
So the next morning, before Jason and Lincoln emerged from the bedroom, I snatched Noah and we headed to my mom's house indefinitely to try and avoid it.

In the midst of this, I got a call  from my little sis saying my older sister - who just gave birth to my nephew Ven last week - was in the ER with severe stomach pain and other abnormal symptoms. Amy was taking care of Ven in the hospital while the doctors were trying to figure out what was wrong with Kristen.

Ven's 1 week appointment happened to be that morning, so since Kristen was in the hospital, Amy went with Kristen's husband to take him for his check-up. While at his check-up, it was determined that Ven was jaundice and would also need to be hospitalized right away overnight.

Yes, this was all happening in one day.

The unfortunate part was that my sister and Ven were at two different hospitals!

Later that night, after getting the report that Lincoln had been symptom-free for the entire day (as well as Jason), Noah and I decided to head home for the night. Jason was a trooper. He cleaned and disinfected the ENTIRE house like a maniac all afternoon/evening before we came home trying to keep us from getting it. Through lots of prayer and cleaning - all of us, even Jason, were spared. :)

Other positive news as of late last night was that Ven improved 100% and was released from the hospital last night.

However, as of late last night, my sister was still in major pain and the doctors are still somewhat unclear as of what is exactly wrong with her. She is still in the hospital because her white blood cell count was too high indicating an infection somewhere...they just aren't sure where yet.

So keep her and family in your prayers! It's been a stressful transition for them to a family of three so far, and I think everyine is a little "hospital-ed out". I told Amy I'm totally fine if everyone wants to wait to meet Adelynn at home instead of in the hospital!

And one more prayer request...a sweet friend in Amy's community group went into pre-term labor yesterday and ended up having to deliver their sweet baby girl. She was alive when she was born but her heart was too underdeveloped and they were not able to save her. Just absolutely heartbreaking.

Like I said yesterday...heaviness.

I have a doctor's appointment today...and then only more next week before delivery. Curious to see if we are making progress. Amy asked me to please have an uneventful delivery. :) That is the prayer.

Heavy

"Don't long for the absence of problems in your life. This is an unrealistic goal, since 'in this world you will have troubles'. You have an eternity of problem-free living in Heaven. Rejoice in that inheritance...and do not seek your Heaven on earth..."
                                                                                                                       *Sarah Young, Jesus Calling (today)

A whole lot of things have happened in the last few days that have created a heaviness in my heart. A heaviness that, as we fastly approach the anticipation of having baby Adelynn in our arms, reminds me that God is in the World...that He provides joy and glimpses of Heaven throughout our short time here on Earth, but that our earthly bodies are frail, weak, and temporary. Our bodies merely temporarily house an eternal soul. So shouldn't we be working more on sanctifying that soul (which will last forever) than our body (which will crumble and rot)?
I loved waking up to my devotional this morning to read what I posted above...it was perfect. Praise the Lord God provides joy and Himself to us here on earth...but PRAISE THE LORD even more that an eternity of rejoicing in unison with our MAKER exists for those who love Him.

I LOVE this quote by C.S. Lewis:

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." (Problem of Pain)

And then I went ahead and posted some other favorites:

“God has not been trying an experiment on my faith or love in order to find out their quality. He knew it already. It was I who didn’t. In this trial He makes us occupy the dock, the witness box, and the bench all at once. He always knew that my temple was a house of cards. His only way of making me realize the fact was to knock it down.”

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." (Mere Christianity)


"It was when I was happiest that I longed most...The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing...to find the place where all the beauty came from." (Till We Have Faces)

"At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendours we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in."

“I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”
                                                                                                                                   *C.S. Lewis

Birthdays!

Today is Jason's 35th birthday!!! Kind of crazy because that seems a little old, don't you think? He said he actually remembers when his parents turned 35, and remembers thinking they were old - oh dear. I on the other hand, do not remember my parents hitting this milestone (which makes me still young, right?).
We actually have a lot of May birthdays in the family. My sister, Amy's birthday is tomorrow, obviously Ven was born last week and Adelynn is a few short 12 (twelve??!) days away...and Jason's Aunt Judy shares his same birthday, as well!

So in the past, we've done a joint-family party and after this year, we'll be adding the 2 babies to the mix. :)

Last night the whole family went to Amy and Nate's house to cookout, eat cake, play baseball, jump on the trampoline, relax by the fire, listen to Coldplay (Lincoln's request - yes, I trained him), talk about our sweet Tucker and what Heaven will be like, gawk at the "super-moon", and enjoy each other.

Sadly I got pictures of 2/3 birthday celebrities on my camera and the missing birthday boy (my husband) is on my mom's camera so his studly birthday pic will have to wait.

Sweet baby Ven...celebrating not even being a week old!

Me and my sis (the only picture we were able to get where Lincoln wasn't crashing the photo in the background):

And then I had to share the following. When you ask Lincoln to show you his "happy heart" you get this freakish, creepy smile from him that always cracks us up. Amy decided to show her happy heart, too.

Next up?? Adelynn's birthday!!!!!! :)

37 Weeks and New Baby Nephew!!

First off, Kristen had her baby last night and we added another nephew/cousin to the family! His name is Ven Sterling and everyone is doing great!

Yesterday was a rough day for me pregnancy-wise. I literally had contractions all day long...some didn't hurt and others were just a constant cramping in my lower back and front. Couple that with a chronic headache and nausea and I had a pretty "fantastic" day to say the least. I've never actually gone into labor so I'm unsure how it feels except for a few contractions I felt with Lincoln the night before we were induced (which felt like my kidney stones were starting to flare up again).

Anyway, after the constant of this throughout the day, my doctor wanted to check me this morning just to make sure since I have a 30 minute hospital drive. I had an appointment Friday anyway, so we just moved it to this morning.

And all is well! I'm barely progressed (which I was thankful for), but they said I'm definitely having more contractions than they would prefer being a few days shy of 37 weeks. So I was told to take it easy and rest when I felt them for the next week, and then I could resume working out/activity most likely after that and welcome progression/labor.

She is still moving like a maniac, is in good position, and has a strong heartbeat!

So here's my lastest lovely photo and I'll have more of our sweet baby nephew soon!!! :)

2 Blessings This Morning

1. The above mini-sermon (Driscoll) on fear: It's only 7-ish minutes. Worth the listen. My few favorite pieces are:
      - "Fear is an attempt at sovereignty, saying 'I see and know ALL, and I'm freaked out.'"
      - "Our lives are not tribulation-free, but they are tribulation-proof."
      - FEAR NOT! is the #1 command in the Bible, stated about 150 times...and is almost always       followed by, "For I am with you."

Anyway, listen to it if you can...super short and I found it very helpful in my own journey to overcome fear and worry as Jesus commands us.

2. My sister's recent blog post. A beautiful portrait of how much God loves us and how what He states repeatedly through Scripture is TRUE: "Fear not, for I am with you always."

"Never be afraid to trust and unknown future to an all-knowing GOD."     - Corrie ten Boom



"Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine...It's your FAITH, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of His victory."                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                          - 1 Peter 7:6-7 (msg)


"God does many things which we do not understand...A true faith must rest solidly on God's character and His Word, not on our particular conceptions of what He ought to do."  
                                                                                                                        - Elizabeth Elliot

My Funny Today

(this will be short)

So night #2 of them sleeping together:

Went to bed perfectly, we never even heard one peep once we closed the door (seriously??!), and I woke up at 8:00 to a quiet house with both of them still sleeping! I was amazed and feeling foolish for not making this transition sooner. :)

About 8:15, Lincoln woke up and came out super quiet telling me that Noah was still sleeping and we needed to be quiet.

I wanted a peek to see him all cute and snuggled in his big boy bed, so I crept in and
HE WAS NOT THERE!!!!!

I semi-freaked out for a second and my mind scattered everywhere as to where he could be/what happened!!!

Then I re-looked at the scene and found one of his 2 sleeping blankets:

And then I moved the blanket back a bit:

Are you serious??!! So I have no idea how long he slept there (and mind you, we have boxes and such stored under there too, and he managed to drag his blanket under there with him!), but they slept great - as great as one can sleep under a bed, I guess!

Silly boy.

The Big Transition

The plan all along has been for Noah and Lincoln to eventually share a room...once baby #3 arrived. 9 months ago when we knew she was growing inside me, I thought for sure our little Noah would be ready by this summer to transition to a big boy bed (the other twin bed in Lincoln's room).
But as the months have progressed, and summer is ever so approaching, I slowly began to realize that Noah LOVES his crib. He has not once tried to climb out (he is 27 months old - Lincoln was doing this at about 18mo.). And even more crazy, the past few mornings/naps I've gone in there to wake him up, he is already wide awake, just lounging with both hands behind his head, and he has told me (in verbatim - yes the complete sentence): "Mommy, I just wanna sleep some more, okay? Okay mommy?"
So this has recently had me a little stressed.
Yes I could just move him and work through the transition, but do I wanna mess up Noah's sleeping patterns which are glorious for having a newborn in the house (3 hour naps/sleeps in until 9:30)?
Sounds like bad timing to me.
Not to mention the few times we've tried to let him sleep in a regular bed in hotels has been an utter disaster! He's an all-time chatter box and squirrel once you unbridled him from a cage crib.

But his room is going to be Adelynn's nursery, and I'm not giving up the toy room, which leaves the only logical option. Transition him.

So last night, it was bedtime, and out of the blue (I had not planned this - maybe the "nesting" realization of a new baby coming is hitting me), I told Noah to go to Lincoln's room and get in the other bed instead of his crib.

Lincoln was confused; Noah was excited - nuclear excited.

We did our routine, said our prayers, I closed the door and hoped for the best.

Silence for ten minutes.

I was in shock...no way was it always going to be that easy.

And it wasn't. After ten minutes I heard chatter box Noah start going strong with his never ending stories. And then heard Lincoln go "Lincoln, it's time to go at sleep!"

Soon after, Lincoln must have fallen asleep, but we heard Noah continue chatting for the next hour...yes.

At one point he was singing "Jesus Paid it All" over and over and over again.

But he never got out of bed, and eventually (around 11:20ish), we heard complete silence.

And so it was all night! Lincoln woke up a little before 8:00, and Noah never budged. He stayed asleep until I went and got him!

So night #1, somewhat successful. We'll see what is in store for tonight. :)