Just About Three Weeks Ago...

We welcomed baby number 7, and boy number 6 to our family!  We're overjoyed to welcome Gideon Thomas!

My labor and delivery with him went well, but was rather long.  My sister had come into town to help out and be with me (as I was incredibly blessed to be with her two months earlier as my niece arrived into the world!), and on Monday (August 13, a week and a day before Gideon's due date) we decided to travel to Tennessee to visit the aquarium, as a fun outing for the kids.  It's a 2+ hour drive, but always fun, so well worth the drive.  That night, around midnight, Rachel woke up with a stomach bug, so I spent the night rocking her, cleaning up, doing several loads of laundry, and, go figure, after being on my feet all day, contractions started - real contractions, not Braxton-Hicks, accompanied by some spotting.  I was NOT excited at that point, to say the least!  I woke Michael up to let him know things were looking like they were starting... he took my place on "sick toddler" duty and let me go back to bed.  I took a quick shower, during which the contractions slowed some, and then went back to bed.  Contractions continued, but much more spaced out than before, so I was able to get some much needed rest.  (Oh, and thankfully, her stomach bug lasted less than 12 hours!)

All day Tuesday, the contractions remained continual, but never very consistent.  Sometimes they'd be 10 minutes apart, sometimes 30 minutes would go by without any.  Finally I gave up trying to track them and went about my day.  The problem with these contractions is that they were really strong!  Usually, I don't experience terribly painful, strong contractions until closer to transition, so I was really confused about what was going on.  I happened to have an appointment with my Midwife that afternoon, so I was eager to see if any progress was being made.  And, my hopes were quickly dashed when she said "no progress, we'll see you next week!"  Over 12 hours of painful contractions, and NOTHING?!  :(  I was so disappointed!  But, having been through false labor with Judah, I knew that even though progress wasn't being made, *something* was happening, anyway.  I just hoped it wouldn't go on for another week with the terrible contractions!

Throughout the night Tuesday and into the morning on Wednesday, the contractions continued.  Strong enough to wake me up every 10-20 minutes (with the occasional break for some longer rest here and there), but never really establishing a pattern.  Wednesday morning my sister and I decided to go for a nice, long walk.  We went to a local park with a 1.75 mile trail, and, slowly at times, made our way around the path.  During our walk, the contractions definitely picked up - 5-8 minutes apart.  But, once I got into the car to come back home, they again slowed down.  I had no idea what to think!  We went about the rest of our day, and made dinner together, and during dinner making, things definitely picked up again... now ranging from 3-5 minutes.  I was still really cautious about calling anyone, as I didn't want to give a false alarm.  Finally, though, Michael insisted, and I notified my homebirth "team" around 6:30 pm.

Everyone arrived by 8 pm - my midwife, her two assistants, and two of my dear friends.  Michael said he would have set up bleachers somewhere had he realized there were going to be 7 people attending the birth!  But having people close to me who I love and bring me joy is so helpful to me during labor.  We can laugh and chatter and enjoy the time together, which helps me to focus less on the pain!  And that's what we did!  I wanted to get into the pool, but still be unsure about how far along I actually was, I didn't want to get in too early.  During Rachel's homebirth, I was never checked for progress, but this time around, I needed some reassurance.  So my midwife checked me, and I was at a 7!  We got that pool filled ASAP and I got in - during those few minutes of waiting, the contractions really picked up in intensity, so things were moving pretty fast.

Once in the pool, it was immediate relief.  So relieving, in fact, that the contractions stopped briefly, which was such a nice break.  However, once they started again...!  They came on strong and LONG... the first one felt like it would never end, and at that point the baby gave a good kick, and my water broke.  The second one, I felt the baby come down, and all of the sudden, his head was out!  I had been kneeling at that point, but then I sat back a little and asked the midwives to help catch him... but my midwife calmly said, "Oh, you've got this!" and so I reached down and brought my little boy out into the world, up out of the water, and into my arms!  It was *incredible* to experience the delivery that way!  Really, I can't even describe how amazing it was.

I had felt strongly all through this pregnancy that it would be a boy, so I wasn't surprised in the least when I took a peek and saw my suspicions confirmed!  We were overjoyed!  Gideon Thomas was born at 9:06 pm, almost 48 hours from the first start of contractions.  The "pushing" phase lasted all of 4 minutes, during which I actually did no pushing at all - he just made his way into the world.  It was beautiful!  But, I'll admit, I was very glad for it to be done, lol!  This is my favorite picture from the birth - it was taken with a phone camera, so it's not the highest quality, but it's still my favorite:

And now we're settling in to "life with a newborn and 6 other kids".  It's a wild ride!  Michael has been able to be at home with me for the past two weeks, which has been a huge blessing.  All the kids have adjusted well to having Gideon around, even Rachel, who I was a little nervous about!  Gideon himself is having a bit of a struggle adapting to life in the outside world - he's a little on the "high needs" side of things, and spends most of his time awake being rather unhappy about it.  But, I am thankful that I've gone through this before and have learned a few things - First, that babywearing, breastfeeding, and co-sleeping are lifesavers during this time, and second, that it will get better!  Otherwise, he's doing just fine - nursing well, gaining weight, and being super cute!

Here are a few more pictures:

All wrapped up next to me - his favorite spot!

Snoozing

One of the first I was able to catch him with his eyes open!

Waking up from a nap (1 week old)

What I wake up to every morning!

We thank God for the blessing of another wonderful little boy!

Wordless Wednesday - Halfway!

7 Quick Takes Friday - Volume 15

I've really missed blogging lately!  Can you believe this post took me almost 3 weeks to write?  True story!  That's just the way life has been lately! Here's a brief summary of what's new in our world...

At the end of January, Nathan turned 5!  He's already lost two teeth (our earliest tooth loser yet!).  He has started "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" and is doing really well, so far.  He was already reading a few Bob Books before then, so I am hoping the momentum gathers and reading is something that comes easily for him.  I find Nathan rather fascinating, because, in our houseful of playmates and noise... he's the introvert.  He is perfectly content playing by himself somewhere quietly while the rest of the gang are doing something else!  I had always heard one of the "pitfalls" of big families was that the children don't learn how to enjoy quiet or entertain themselves due to the constant presence of others, but Nathan proves that idea wrong!  He definitely has a knack for building complex things with legos - sometimes more complex than his older counterparts build.  I love watching him grow and can't wait to see what God has in store for him!

The little girl had her FIRST birthday and I hadn't even blogged about it yet!  How does that even happen? (Um, I'll tell you how it happened - it's called having 6 kids and being pregnant with the 7th!)  We didn't do anything big - I'm a lazy mama and don't do birthday parties until the child is actually old enough to remember them!  But it was an absolutely beautiful day, so we did celebrate by spending some time enjoying the outdoors.  She's getting so big - she's got 6 teeth, loves to climb on anything and everything, and is definitely teaching us a bit about what people mean when they say "girls are different".  There's a little more drama in the house than there used to be!  But going along with that is a lot more sunshine and sweetness, and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't marvel at the fact that we have a girl!  Yes, still!

On her first birthday!

I am now 16.5 weeks pregnant, and outgrowing regular clothes.  But, I'm also at the awkward inbetween stage where maternity clothes are sort of too big and look kind of frumpy!  So, please excuse my lack of fashion for the next few weeks, if you happen to know me.  Not that I'm the queen of fashion to begin with!  I can now feel the little one move for sure, which is such a nice blessing.  No matter how many times I've felt it, I'm always excited and thankful when it happens.  I haven't gained any weight yet, for which I am super thankful for, since I started this pregnancy out with an extra 15-20 pounds of weight still leftover from Rachel!  I don't tend to fret over my weight too much, but that small detail made me a little nervous.

We are planning another homebirth, for which I am super excited.  I was thrilled for the first one, because I had wanted to try it for so long and was finally able to, and I'm just as thrilled for this one, because now I know how wonderful of an experience it can be!

Our 20 week ultrasound is next month, and I am so looking forward to it.  We're not finding out the gender, of course, but we've decided to leave all the children with a friend and actually make it a "date night", of which we only do about 2-3 times a year!  Usually we bring the whole crew to the ultrasounds, but at this point we will no longer all fit into the ultrasound room!  And I think it will be fun not having to deal with squirmy toddlers and restless preschoolers.  And, of course, I am always excited to see the little one.  The miracle of pregnancy and growing a baby becomes more and more amazing to me with each pregnancy.

Here's my growing belly!

According to general statistics, I have approximately 23 weeks left of this pregnancy... and according to my schedule, I have approximately 21 weeks left of school.  Um, yikes!  Looks like after our maternity leave, we won't be starting out fresh with a new year as I had hoped... we'll be wrapping up the loose ends of this one!  Which is... OK... but the OCD organizer in me really, really wanted to get everything tied up in a nice neat complete package BEFORE baby came!  But there really is no way that I can see that happening.  So, we'll just keep plugging along and just see how things go.  That is so hard for me! I think it's good for me, too, though.

Last year, I am sad to admit, we did not manage our finances as well as we should have.  After spending many years with no debt at all, we got ourselves into a bit of debt.  This year, after watching our tax refund go to paying that debt (instead of more useful things, like savings, or home repair, or any number of other things money is good for), we agreed that things had to change.  So we've gone back to a "cash only" lifestyle.  And, WOW!  What a difference that has made in just the two months we've been doing it.  It has definitely taken some adjustment - mostly a mindset adjustment - remembering that just because we think we "need it now" doesn't actually mean that we "need it now" - things can actually... wait!  But the savings has been tremendous!!  Several hundred dollars a month!!!  That's a big deal.  So even though it's been a little difficult, we're sticking with it, because it WORKS!

 

I love this boy!  This was how I found him the other day, during his nap.  Needless to say, that was not how I had put him to bed!  He is always a source of laughter in the house!

And no, those aren't the ones he was actually wearing at the time!

I think this has been the best winter I can remember. I think we had, maybe 10 days or less, total, of temperatures that were cold enough to make me uncomfortable (below 45 degrees or so). It has been wonderfully mild.  We have taken full advantage of this, and spent as much time as possible OUTside!  Yesterday was our first official nature walk of the season - and it was a wonderful 73 degrees by the time we finished at noon.  I love this kind of weather, and I'm especially excited about Daylight Savings Time starting!  Sunlight and I are friends :)  Here's some pictures of our nature walk!

Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the world!

7 Quick Takes Friday - Volume 14

I have some wonderfully exciting news!  See this adorable couple here?

That's my sister and her awesome husband.  They're celebrating their 2nd wedding anniversary this month, and they are expecting their first baby this summer!!  I am over the moon with joy and excitement for them!  Because of a few health struggles each of them has had, they actually didn't think pregnancy was at all possible... but the Lord had other plans!  It's such a neat feeling to watch my little sister go through the transformation into mommy.  I can't wait to meet my new niece or nephew!

We have hit birthday season at our house.  Last month, Isaac turned 11!  That's weird, to think he's only 2 years away from teen years!  *gulp*  Here was my sweet little boy back when he was little...

Here he is now!  He's exactly 5 feet tall now.  By next year, he might be my height!

Please excuse the lollipop stick hanging out of his mouth!

In the next two months, we have four more birthdays coming up!  Excitement abounds!

I've always heard stories of younger members of larger families learning to read on their own, basically through just absorbing what their siblings were being taught... and I am AH-MAZED to announce that Nathan (almost 5) is one of those examples!  We've been doing basic phonics work (Explode the Code Get Ready for the Code books), and he plays Reading Eggs once a day, but I have not done any formal "this is how you sound out words" type of instruction with him at all.  I almost cried when one day a few weeks ago he came to me while I was cooking dinner, asked me to sit on the floor with him, and read me a Bob Book... one that hasn't been read outloud to him, ever.  He sounded out each word, only needing help with "and".  Totally out of the blue! He then read me three more! I was so proud!  Of course, I still plan on doing formal instruction with him, but he's definitely got a head start and a good foundation.  I'm still in shock!

We passed another awesome milestone in our house - Judah is officially potty trained!  Phew!  I think I've expressed before how much I dread potty training.  It was surprisingly easy with Judah, though.  I had tried a few months ago and only got frustrated because he just wasn't getting it.  Waiting those few months made all the difference!  In the month that he's made the official switch to underwear (I don't use pullups), he's had maybe 6 accidents total?  It is SO nice having only one child in diapers!  And just because I adore this picture of him, here's the little man:

 

I have to recommend a wonderful book - it's called "Loving the Little Years" by Rachel Jankovic.  It has blessed me so much through it's encouragement and very practical helps for dealing with all of these little people God has placed in my charge.  I have been kind of burned out on Christian motherhood-themed books, because often they either aren't very helpful, or can almost be discouraging in the "picture perfect mother" ideal they present.  "Loving the Little Years" is none of those!  I walked away from it feeling refreshed and with new ideas and insights!  I can't recommend it enough!

To get a feel for her heart, and enjoy some wonderful encouragement, be sure to watch her series "Motherhood and Work" - there are 4 in total, all are less than 10 minutes long, and are chock-full of wisdom!

• The Vocation of Motherhood
• The Conservative Tendency to Over-Romanticize Motherhood (I love this one!)
• Cleaning House and Cleaning Hearts
• Too Many Straws in my Milkshake (I love her simple statement here: "Just pour!"  I have to admit, I had never, ever thought of it that way!)

I've posted a few of the pictures we had done as a family over Thanksgiving, but I'll go ahead and share a few more.  I love the ways these came out!

Yes, they had a portrait done by a disc golf basket.  Very appropriate!

All of us with my parents, and my sister and brother-in-law!  I love this picture!

A little while ago I was reading in Romans and a verse stuck out to me (I love how that happens).  I had to mull on it a bit before I shared my thoughts about it, but I think I've gotten them coherent enough now.

Romans 1 talks all about those people... you know, the lost ones.  The ones that have no excuse but still harden their hearts to God?  The one I used to be but am not anymore. (Thanks be to God and His merciful grace!) Right?  I always thought that, until verse 21 stuck out to me:

For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Wait, they knew God?  What was it that caused their heart to be darkened?  They did not honor Him as God, or give thanks.  That stopped me in my tracks!  How many times do I go through my day to day life, not only not giving thanks, but even grumbling about various minor inconveniences?! How many times to I allow my thoughts to give into worry, instead of honoring Him as God and trusting in His sovereignty?!  I know God.  I believe His word. There is no denying there is an all-powerful, mighty God!  Look at His creation, it gives amazing, beautiful evidence of Him!  Just like Romans says!  But, if I am not honoring Him as God, nor giving thanks to Him... is my heart becoming foolish and darkened?

These thoughts have given me a whole new perspective on the discipline of giving thanks, and of simple faith.  I'm not trying to get into anything deeply theological (I am hardly qualified!), but I did want to share how the Spirit worked in my heart through those verses.  Have you stopped and given thanks to Him today?  Are there ways that you are allowing fear to shove out faith, or even worse, anger to shove out His love?  It's worth a little bit of thought!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season and is off to a blessed new year!  Thanks for stopping by!

Wordless Wednesday - Us

Seven Quick Takes Friday - Volume 11

I didn't do any Quick Takes in August, so I have to start out with a little celebration!  Ezra turned 9 last month!  It was a very fun day, as Michael surprised him by taking the day off so they could spend some one-on-one Daddy/Son time.  He tries to fit in a special day with each of the boys on their birthdays, but usually it has to wait for the weekend.  It's a fun tradition that they all look forward to and makes their birthdays even more wonderful for them.  Here's the happy birthday boy!

His presents consisted of a new Disc Golf disc, and legos galore. He said it was the "best birthday EVER!" but I think he says that every year! 

And of course, in the last month, Rachel passed her 7 month marker!  She's starting to think about crawling - she can get to hands and knees pretty quickly, but is still figuring out what to do other than rock back and forth.  She'll be getting it soon, I can tell!  She wants to be on the go!  It also seems like she's getting a tooth in... there's been a lot of swelling, bubble blowing, and more nighttime wakings, so it seems like it is on the verge of popping out!  She's also started solids - she isn't all that interested, however, so I'm just taking it slow and letting her have fun with it.  She likes the spoon more than the food on the spoon!

Rachel's first time on the swing!

I wanted to share some beautiful handiwork made by my friend, Amy.  She hand makes custom picture frames, and they are goregous!  Here's the one she made for Rachel - I gave her free reign to do what she wanted, and it was absolutely perfect.  I'm still having trouble deciding what picture I want to use in it!

And here's one she did for Judah when he was born!

You can see more of her handiwork at her blog!  These make wonderful gifts, for all sorts of occasions!

Check out this super cool video!  It's really awesome, and convinces me ever more so that life was truly created with such intricacy and detail by an incredible creative and amazing God!

This week, we finally finished up the last of Sonlight's Core D!  We had finished it a little unevenly, as we got ahead of schedule in some areas and behind in others... but now everything is complete!  It was a great year, and I love Sonlight as much as I did when we first started, a little over a year ago.  We're going to take a week to get organized and then we move onto Core E!

I have to confess, my "getting up early and exercising" progress has fallen totally to the wayside.  A number of circumstances (including a loss of air conditioning for 2 weeks, followed by house guests for another week) really threw me off. So I'm a little nervous about getting back into my running plan and seeing how far behind I've fallen.  Will I have to start from scratch again?  I guess there's only one way to find out... and that's to just give it a go!  I'm mentally preparing myself to get on the ball starting next week.  I'll also admit that I'm not totally excited about it!  But I know that I always feel better when I'm making that time.

This weekend, our marriage will be hitting it's teenage years!  Sunday we will celebrate 13 years!  God has certainly brought us through many ups and downs, and we've (literally) grown up together as we've grown closer to Him.  I am thankful beyond what I can express for Michael and his love and leadership!

Here we are on that day!

And here we are at wedding, just last week:

(Michael was the best man in a cowboy-themed wedding, hence the hat!)

Boy, do the years fly by!