Laura Stern - The Life of Love

Change is Good

2011-06-30T08:54:00.001-07:00

Changing over to a tumblr account. Come check me out.

(hope you still follow me!)

Almost 7 months...

2011-06-28T09:33:00.000-07:00

Lifehouse

2011-06-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

Lifehouse has been one of my favorite bands for the past 10 years or so... maybe more. I seriously love them. I love how they have stayed true to themselves (he used to be a worship leader) and their songs are so meaningful.

Anyway... Will and I were reminded of this song the other day and now we can't stop playing it. They mixed it again... so it sounds way better than the original. It was done by Will's all time favorite producer, Chris Lord-Alge. Seriously, I think Will fell in love when he heard this haha.

My New Fashion Loves

2011-06-21T11:44:00.000-07:00

I love fashion. I'm usually not one to follow the trends... I've never liked Abercrombie, American Eagle, Gap, etc. Not that anything is wrong with those stores... they are just not my personal style. Ever since pregnancy, I've been a little out of my fashion funk. I had to wear maternity clothes, and if you've ever been pregnant you know that there aren't a lot of options to pick from unless you're wanting to look like a grandma or like you're wearing a moo moo. Until I discovered that forever 21 and H&M (two of my favorite stores because of their variety) both have maternity clothes. YAY! So, I'm still not the weight I want to be. I'm not fat, but I still want to get to a certain weight. I still have about 15 pounds to go to my goal weight and I'm wanting to get there by 1 year postpartum. So, until then, I'm a little thrown off fashion wise. I've had to buy clothes just because they fit. Not because I necessarily like them. After you have a baby, things just don't fit correctly. I haven't been focusing at all on style... and that's fine, but I miss it. It's like art to me. I seriously don't care if anyone notices... I just have fun with it. Will and I are both that way.

Anyway, I love looking for clothes that I love and daydreaming about what I'll be able to wear once I'm in my ideal weight range. Eventually, I'd love to totally redo my wardrobe since my whole body is different... I have HIPS for the first time in my life (and other things...) :) haha. My size 2 jeans just aren't workin for me anymore... and I'm pretty sure they never will.

It's weird... although I love to look at outfits, I've found that ever since having a baby, I don't care as much about clothes or how I look. I would much rather spend time with my family and take care of them. It's awesome... I really love it.

My new FAVORITE look is the 70s fashion. I randomly just started loving it... the hairstyles, the clothes, everything. THEN, all of a sudden I see all these 70s styles in the magazines and noticed that it's the new thing I guess. So, I'm excited that some stores are selling it! I'm loving the vintage modern look right now!

Here are some of my favorite finds and inspirations....

These shoes make me drool.

I love Gwen Stefani's style... and I'm kinda goin for that hair :)

Bell bottoms, boy jeans... yessss!

Lovin this Farrah Fawcett type hair!

I love the new vintage swimsuit style that's in.

Isn't that red hair to die for?

Love the blonde hair and layers!

So 70s and it's great. Ahhhh!

Welcome To Our Home

2011-06-17T08:06:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our new rental house. Make yourself at home :)

We just signed the lease for it on Wednesday, and we move in on August 5th. So, time to get a move on packin up! Honestly, I just want to be settled. I'm tired of moving. I'm tired of not having a place to call mine. I'm excited to save up some money and move into our OWN house in a couple years. This house is totally going to make us feel so much more comfortable and settled for the time being. It is a newer house and I LOVE IT!! It's a 3 bdrm 2.5 bath. The kitchen is huge (compared to our little alley kitchen in our apartment). It's got a two car garage and lots of storage! The 3rd bedroom (Will's office) will be above the garage and it's in the corner upstairs so it will be away from all of the noise! The master bedroom is huge with a huge walk in closet. We get to let Gibson right out the door to go to the bathroom. Plus, the owner is keeping his huge flatscreen TV there because he is a missionary and doesn't want to keep it in storage while he's out of the country.

Anyway, it's awesome and we are so excited. Even though it won't be "ours" it will at least be more private than an apartment (and less noisy). It will be a good place for Cai to start growing up at least for the next year.

The day after we signed the lease, we found out that Will is probably going to have to be looking for new work. Kind of a bummer. Actually a BIG bummer. But, through all our moving across country, we did learn that God truly is the ONE provider. We can't help but be encouraged that God had us sign that lease the night before Will found that out. We felt complete peace about it, so we know God is in this.

So, here goes another fun adventure. Yikes!

Hello Stern Family

2011-06-13T07:47:00.000-07:00

We started a vlog.... because we are ridiculous like that.

If you're not up on the whole techie terms, vlog stands for video blog. Just FYI.

Both of us got rid of our Facebook accounts a while back and we were trying to think of a way to still keep our family and friends connected to us (somewhat). I have this blog, but as you can tell, I'm kinda slacking on it. We decided we would take our little camera with us everywhere we go and video our life. But don't worry... it won't be with us in the bathroom. That would be weird.

We'll just pull it out if we feel the need... er want. Whatever. We also want to do it to document our first days as parents and the craziness that is our life. It's really not that crazy... we are just crazy.

So, check it out.... and subscribe to our youtube and "like" our page so you can be updated when new videos show up.

OUR YOUTUBE

OUR FACEBOOK PAGE

6 Months

2011-06-09T07:26:00.001-07:00

My little handsome baby boy turned 6 months on the 4th. He got his driver's license and married a girl too. Just kidding, but he might as well have. I can't believe that this little munchkin has grown so darn much! He is so close to crawling. He gets up on his knees and rocks back and forth. He sits up but still doesn't understand that he can fly backwards and bang his head on the floor, so we don't leave him alone for too long like that. He is teething like a mad man. Poor thing just isn't acting like himself. He already has both bottom teeth in but apparently he's got more on their way. Poor fella needs a break! He is so curious about everything... always grabbing that one thing that he knows he shouldn't have. Tis the life of a boy! I'm proud of him though... it means that he is wanting to learn! He says mama... but for real. Not just as a random noise. He says it over and over when he wants to eat. So cute! As a matter of fact, I hear that now :)

So, without further ado (because I know you are all on the edge of your seats... lol) here are some cute pics....

Bath time

Hello citizens. Just here to save you....

Hello ladies. I know you want an autograph, but I'm too busy saving the world and looking cute...

Saving the world. One dirty diaper at a time...

Grandma Cheech brought 6 month presents for Cai. It was his 50% birthday or halfy birthday :)

Uh, mom, are you just gonna leave this drool on my face?

Can't you see I'm busy here?

Total Money Makeover

2011-06-07T07:38:00.001-07:00

Wow. I've really been a slacker in the blog world. Shame on me.

Anywho... have you guys read this book? Haha, as I was trying to find the image I noticed that one cover has him smiling and one has him smirking. Hmmm... not sure which one I have or which one I like better. I can just see the meeting now,

Dave: "UGH. I can't believe you put the picture of me smiling! I WANTED the serious eyes. What is wrong with you?"

Ha kidding. Will and I like to play through situations like that.

Back to the book. I just started reading it yesterday and it has already changed our life. Will and I have been trying to save and be really good with our money, and we've really wanted a system to follow so that we can be the most successful that we possibly can be with it. We started our marriage with zero debt, and it has stayed that way (minus a computer that we had to buy so that Will could work... but that's about $1000). God really blessed us. Neither of us had school loans, car payments, credit card debt... nothin. I married Will with a $3500 car to my name and probably $5 in the bank account but, hey, at least I didn't have debt! Thanks to my parents too for sacrificing so much to pay for me to go to a couple years of college! Anyway, we were splitting our money into categories... obviously we had our budget of our expenses every month and we even bought this budget program to help us know exactly what we were spending and where. We actually signed up for Dave Ramsey's trial budget program and got charged for it after a week and cancelled it. Then they sent us a free book and money system in the mail! How awesome is that? It's totally the Lord. Then we had our savings... our emergency fund, our retirement, gifts, saving for a house, and taxes (since Will is self employed). We would put our goal amount in each savings and then anything extra we could scrounge up we would put in. We were really doing well, but I didn't realize how much easier it could be. Seriously, I recommend you read this book if you haven't. He has a whole new way of looking at things money wise and you feel so much more excited and hopeful for the future. Rather than thinking of it like, ugh, we have to save AGAIN this month!

His motto throughout the book is.... "If you live like no one else, later you can live like no one else." Basically meaning, if you sacrifice a time of your life to really saving and barely spending... you can live very comfortably later. This is totally against our culture obviously because you are even told that you need to have credit in order to buy something. Which is totally out of whack.... you shouldn't be telling people to get in debt in order to buy something. Ridiculous. So, he comes up with this plan so that you can live freely and fully on cash. Not thinking in the way of the world, but thinking in a mindset of "if I don't have money for it, I don't buy it." Will and I have made sure to have that be our way of thinking since the beginning. We know how dangerous debt can be and how quickly it can pile up!

So, a recap... he calls it the baby steps. You do them in this order...(after you get $1000 saved for emergencies)-- here's the website

First: Get out of debt. Do everything you can to get out. Take another job, have a garage sale, sell stuff on ebay... if it takes 2 months, 6 months, a couple years... whatever. It will be a sacrifice, but at least you won't be a slave to your lender anymore.

We are going to first and foremost, pay off our debt. We are going to take whatever we had in savings and pay off our computer right away instead of paying monthly for it. We are also going to pay cash for the $1200 or so of dental work we are getting done. So, there... no more debt whatsoever!

Second: Build an emergency fund. Your emergency fund should be 3-6 months worth of your total expenses. This is not a total of your income, but of what you would have to spend that month. If you're self employed and depend 100% on your own income, like we do, it would be wise for us to have a 5-6 month emergency fund. This is between $10,000-$30,000. We are going to aim for 10. It's a good baby step! We are even going to sell our SUV and get a cheap truck or something (since it sits most of the day anyway) so that we will have $4,000 or so to put towards the fund.

Third: Get a down payment for a house or make it your goal to pay off your house. We are renting right now, so our goal is to put a down payment down. Dave says to pretend like you don't even have an option for a 30 year mortgage and just opt for the 15 year mortgage. So, we did the math, and with the interest rates and everything, we would be looking at about a $30,000 down payment on a $180,000 house. He also mentions that your mortgage should not exceed 25% of your income... that's how you know if you're in over your head with your mortgage. So, you don't buy a house until you have that down payment in hand and in cash. THEN, once you start paying your mortgage, you pay over and beyond every month. For a $150,000 house, this can save you $100,000 in the long run! Just by paying $250 extra a month! Crazy. So, you do the math and plan to pay over and pay off your house quicker.

Fourth: Save for retirement. This should be 15% of your income every month. And he suggests investing it. We haven't gotten to this point yet because we are right now on step 2. So I will get back to you.

Basically, this whole plan leaves you in a much better place in the long run! Will and I have been talking about how we want to pay off a house as soon as possible. It's God's way, so we know that He will help us. It just means being wise and now getting in over our heads.

So, we decided to first get out of this apartment building. We are on the third floor (second floor really because there's a basement floor) and it's really inconvenient with a baby and bringing groceries in. Plus, it's expensive because we are also renting a garage for storage and it really isn't saving us any money. So, we are going to find a rental house that we will want to stay in for a couple years (until we get that $30,000), and something that is easier on me with a baby. Something we wouldn't mind sticking out for a while. Plus, we are hoping to cut out our rent by $200 or $300. Maybe even more! That way, all of that extra can go towards a house. We realize we will be sacrificing a lot... maybe not spending as much in certain areas. Not traveling, even though all of our family members are scattered across the country and we really want to see everyone. We have to do what's best for our family. Remember the motto, Laura: "If you live like no one else now, later you will live like no one else"

Keeping that in the noggin!

We are so excited to start our family on the right foot! We know that right now, while Cai is young, he is totally not even going to notice what house we have or what cars we drive. So this is a great time to do it. And, we really want that emergency fund buffer, just in case! We all know that the economy isn't looking any better these days.

Maybe congress can read Dave Ramsey's book. Think they'll get the hint? :)

Awkward...

2011-05-27T18:41:00.001-07:00

I don't know about you, but my face started feeling red for him!

Old Blog

2011-05-23T08:54:00.000-07:00

I found my old blog. It made me want to cry... a good kind of cry. It's amazing how much you can go through in just 3 short years and how much your life can change. Sheesh! God taught me SO much, that it's even hard to write it all out. Not even just natural things, that I'm now a wife, a mom, living in a state I wouldn't think I'd live in, going to a different church, etc BUT also spiritually. I was reading my old blog (that I had completely forgotten about, by the way) and just smiling with tears in my eyes.

Oh how often I forget... God is just plain GOOD!

Just even a year ago I was in one of the worst situations that I have ever gone through in life, and God so encouraged me and talked to me through the whole thing and brought me out as soon as he could. Louisiana was one of the worst seasons of my life. Whether we made a mistake and didn't hear God correctly, or if God wanted us to move there for a reason... all I know now is that He TRULY does turn things around for good for those who love him. He is faithful!

Anyway, I will probably be posting some of my old posts because I really enjoyed learning from myself. Does that sound arrogant? Well, shoot, who cares! Ha. I loved reading what God was teaching be a couple years ago. How cool that I can look back and learn from what God did in me? It's crazy how quick my little human mind can forget the things He teaches me. Can't wait to get me a brand spankin new heavenly mind. Bring it on, Jesus!

If you want to check it out, you can. Read through all the craziness of my life pre-marriage haha. I even put the list up of what I wanted in a future husband and how Will fit that description perfectly. Pretty funny.
HERE

Momma's Boy

2011-05-19T20:13:00.000-07:00

5 Month Shots

2011-05-16T11:55:00.000-07:00

Little man is in his 5th month and I decided it was time to take some pictures. I am so bad about being online lately. Maybe that's a good thing? I can't find time to get on here as much and update or do my health blog or anything else for that matter. When I have an extra minute, I take a nap or do some cleaning. Ha.

Anyway, with the 3 minutes of spare time that I do have today, I am going to put up some pics I took today :) (the pictures look better than this. I hate what blogger does to pictures. Ugh!)

Click on the pics to make them bigger

Oh and if you haven't yet, check out our youtube channel for a bunch of new videos. I'm in the process of uploading more today.

First, some dada love...

Cai modeling the Abe Lincoln shirt we made for him yesterday...

Loves those toes...

Taking pictures are different now that he can get into things. He reached over and pulled off a flower from the plant (now knocked over to the left). He was picking a flower for mama, right? :)

Best smile...

Hammin' it up for the camera...

All he wanted to do was chew while I was taking pics. Here's me trying to take it away and he's got the death grip like, "mom... step away from the chew toy"

Chewing on the lens cap...

Sitting up all by himself, big boy!...

What? I'm not doing anything...

Loves that Johnny Jump Up...

Oh Please Help Us

2011-05-11T09:41:00.000-07:00

Our little boy is starting to get up in the middle of the night for his pacifier. He cries until one of us comes and puts it back in his mouth. Probably 3 times a night. We have continued to do it because, welp, it's just plain easier. Now it's biting us in the tush. I am in the process of getting rid of his pacifier for sleep time. I'm going cold turkey with it because I'm not one of those who can easily just do the whole wean for months thing. If we're getting rid of it, we're doing it now. Kinda stinks... for all of us. So, so far he has been crying non stop for his morning nap. Poor kid! Never does that. I have been going in every 5 minutes to pat his back, and not pick him up, but he continues to cry. He wants that dang paci!!! I'm realizing that he is old enough now to self soothe and, as much as I hate when he cries, it's kind of my first step at helping him overcome something that's tough as a parent. Tough for me and him (and Will and Gibson...). I know if I don't teach him how to do this, he will never learn on his own. And he'll be newly married and won't be able to fall asleep on his honeymoon without his wife sticking a pacifier in his mouth and patting his back. Ok, maybe it won't be that bad. But we need some sanity in this house!

All you veteran moms.... WHAT DO I DO? Any tips on how to get him to nap/ sleep at night without a paci?

Help!

Lotsa Updates

2011-05-09T07:50:00.000-07:00

So, I haven't updated in a while. Sheesh! I gotta catch up!

- This weekend : On Saturday we decided to venture out and take a trip to Stone Mountain, GA. It is apparently the biggest tourist attraction in the state so we had to check it out. It is the largest piece of exposed granite in the world. It was about a mile and a half hike up a mountain that was a half a mile high. It was pretty tough! And this comes from a girl that hiked a 13,000 ft mountain in Colorado while wearing a 40 pound pack. It was shorter than that, obviously, but it was steep! At the end you have to hold on to these railings because it's so steep. Poor Will has Cai strapped to his chest the whole time. But, getting to the top was awesome and such a cool sight. You could see everything... even the city in the distance. We rode the sky ride down... because Cai was miserable, and heck, we were exhausted! It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun. Besides the fact that I put sunblock on Cai for the first time and somehow it got in his eyes and for the rest of the day he was miserable. I am not kidding, I've never seen him like this. Barely smiled all day, didn't want to open his eyes much, eyes teary, crying.... ugh it was SO sad. If you know him, you know that he is allllways happy. Especially when we are out and about. Poor thing!! I felt awful. We have a lot of pictures with extra red and watery eyes. He feels better now. Here's some pics from the day...

Those poor little eyes...

Here I am at the top....

At the top...

This was about halfway up...

There's a smile...

When we first got there...

- Mother's Day : I woke up to breakfast in bed at 7:30 am by my sweet husband. He is the best. He then took care of Cai the entire church service for me. We went to Moe's, of course, where I enjoyed a free meal (and our friends Kevin and Rachel happened to be there so we ate with them). Then, I came home and napped while Will watched Cai. Then, when I got up, he surprised me and told me that the babysitter was here (our friend Amanda). I looked around the apartment and saw that it was spotless. He had cleaned the whole thing, including putting all the laundry away, while I was asleep. He took me to a movie and I didn't know what it was until it started. We saw Soul Surfer (which was really good, by the way. Highly recommend). I am SOOOO incredibly appreciative of William. Love him.

- Micaiah : This little man has grown up in the past 2 weeks. He is rolling... a lot. From back to stomach and from stomach to back. He's pushing up on his hands with his arms fully extended. So cute. He just started sitting up a little bit last week. He can sit up for about 3 minutes by himself and then after that he needs a little help. He is talking up a storm and responding to what we say. If I say, "where's dada?" he looks around and smiles when he sees Will. He has been teething the past couple months and it finally broke through. There were a rough couple of weeks for all of us. Poor guy couldn't sleep... it was sad. He officially has one tooth through the gum line and another is coming in, so we will start the process over :) I got a Johnny Jump Up from Goodwill a couple weeks for him and he is in love. He is just now learning how to use his legs to jump. For a while he just tapped one foot on the ground. It was funny. We took him to the doctor for his 4 month checkup, which was really his 5 month because I forgot to take him, and he is 73rd percentile in height, 41st in weight, and 63rd in head circ. Basically, pretty normal.... just like me and Will. Don't know where he got the height from?? Maybe some of his uncles :) We also started introducing some foods to him. He's not too interested yet... but he's getting there. Here's some recent pics of my boy...

In Need Of Some New Dance Moves?

2011-05-06T20:05:00.000-07:00

Well, you're in luck...

Prayer for my mom

2011-05-06T07:46:00.000-07:00

Please be praying for my mom. She has been in and out of the hospital the past few days for extreme pain under her left shoulder blade. Oftentimes, that can be a sign for bigger problems. They have done tests and xrays, but still haven't found the answer. If you know my mom, she is such a strong woman and always serving others.... but right now, she is really having a hard time just coping with the pain for normal things.

She is going back to the hospital today because the pain is so bad. Just pray for the pain to subside and for God's hands to be on the medical staff.

Sheri, Gavin and Garrett

2011-05-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

It's May 5th... 2 years from when our friend and her two young boys were murdered. Sheri worked with Will and we went to church with her. She was the sweetest person. Seriously, when I picture the definition of happiness, I picture her. She ALWAYS had a smile on, and, from the outside you would never guess that anything could ever be wrong. She loved the Lord and missions and loved her kids.

They concluded, after a 7 day trial, that her husband Chris is guilty of murdering all of them. This is such a relief to so many people. After seeing so many of my friends deal with deep hurts over this for the past 2 years because they were so close to Sheri, it is nice to finally have an answer.

I don't even want to talk about the evil that happened or the details anymore. The only way that anything like that can happen is through pure demonic evil, and it doesn't even deserved to be talked about. Sheri, Gavin, and Garrett are now with Jesus and satan didn't win.

There are so many, "I wish I noticed this..." or "I wish I knew that..." running through my mind. There's thoughts in my mind like when I talked to her for the last time a couple days before her death. She looked really sad... that was the only time I've ever seen her sad. She talked about her "knee surgery"... which really wasn't knee surgery. The fact that Chris and Sheri both attended our wedding and reception just a short 6 months before. I can't help but think about those things. I remember the day that it happened... Will called me while I was at school and I was crying all day long. I couldn't even go 5 more minutes at school, I had to leave. I could barely drive home.

I can't dwell on the sadness. I am glad that they have found him to be guilty. On none other than the 2nd anniversary.

Thank you, Jesus, for bringing justice. I just hope that Sheri's memory lives on of what a joyful person she was to be around. The memories that everyone has of her little boys at church... always behaving well and having so much fun with their friends. Those are the memories I want to remember. I pray for her family to be comforted, for friends to be comforted, for Joyce Meyer to not get discouraged through all of this.

I never thought I would know a murderer... much less know one that so violently killed his own family. It's a very weird thought. But, I do know that God is good, despite the evil in the world. He turns all things around for good... and always will. He is faithful.

We miss you Sheri, Gavin and Garrett!

We are okay

2011-04-28T09:49:00.000-07:00

I am exhausted. Needless to say, going through a storm like we had last night can take it out of you. But, hey, at least we are ok and safe! I don't know if you watched the news at all or not last night, or the past couple days, but the crazy storms that were in Alabama and Tennessee came for our area last night. If for some reason you didn't know about it, here's a clip from when it hit GA.

It was a good thing I checked my Iphone weather app, otherwise we wouldn't have known about it. Will and I don't have any cable on our TV, so we are never caught up with the news. I randomly felt like we should go online and watch the live weather forecast. As soon as we did they said started talking about our area, "everyone in Newnan needs to take immediate cover. The tornados will pass through in about 10 minutes. It is 5 miles away going 35 miles an hour." Yikes!! We had been watching the news about how Alabama was clobbered... that the death count was up to 70 at the time and that 2 people had already died in northwest Georgia. THEN, our ears start popping... which was scary. You know that it means that the pressure has changed in the area and that a tornado is coming. The lights start flickering and I almost peed my pants. Ha ha not really. I ran in to wake the baby up and get him out of his room. We are on the top floor of a 3 story apartment building so we weren't really in the safest place. Plus, we couldn't get in our cars at this point because it was too late to go anywhere. I think the car would have been the most dangerous. So, we just prayed over every wall in our place and that we would be protected. We took the baby (and even the dog) into our little guest bathroom and sat on the floor while watching a live forecast on Will's computer. We had to stay in there for an hour... that's how big the storm was. They kept showing circles on the maps representing funnel clouds... right over Newnan! I'm still not sure where the tornados hit exactly but we definitely heard some crazy weather outside. Not to mention the lightning was so bright!

So we just prayed since we really had no where to go and God totally protected us!

So far we've noticed that, although Georgia doesn't have earthquakes or Hurricanes, they can get some pretty crazy storms. Last year when we moved here, we heard the craziest thunder and the lightning was nothing like I've ever seen. I remember asking Will if he was sure that we weren't getting bombed... I was serious, that's how it sounded! We heard a HUGE boom and it shook everything in our place and even made our metal bed start ringing. The next day, we went outside about 50 feet from our building and saw that the lightning had struck a tree and there was a huge hole in the ground from where it had burned out all of the roots.

So.... that's something to think about when buying our house, eh? Something with a basement!!

Cleaning Out My Closet

2011-04-26T12:43:00.000-07:00

And, no, I'm not referencing the old Eminem song.

So, I've got a lot of clothes that A. don't fit because of pregnancy B. will never fit because of pregnancy C. I don't have a use for them.

I am giving everyone a chance to "shop my closet" if you will. I put these items up for really good prices with really good shipping costs because I just want to clean out my closet. AND.... I know if I knew someone with a similar style to me and they did this, I would LOVE it! These prices are better than Goodwill. Seriously, I was just there. Whatever happened to 25 cent shirts at Goodwill? Hmmm. Anyway... I'll have 5 pieces up at a time for a week, and then I'll switch them up the next week. So make sure to check back in!

If no one buys a piece, it's off to Goodwill!! Happy shopping!

SHOP MY CLOSET

Dirty Diapers Are Funny

2011-04-24T17:09:00.000-07:00

How To Make Almond Milk

2011-04-19T05:53:00.000-07:00

Figured I would post this video on this blog as well. I accidentally added one of the clips twice, so sorry about that!

Major Points To Will-I-Am

2011-04-16T07:22:00.001-07:00

....not that I'm keeping track. But everyone loves points, right?

My amazingly incredible husband got off work and immediately ran out (while I thought he was taking the dog out) to buy me some flowers. He knocks on the door and he is all dressed up with flowers in hand for our date. How adorable is that? And then he goes on to say all this mushy gushy stuff that made me feel like a million bucks and made me wonder how I got myself such an awesome guy. I don't deserve him. We went to our favorite mexican restaurant, where he proceeded to tell me even MORE mushy gushy things about how much he loves me.

Needless to say, I feel like a beautiful flower... all pruned and fully bloomed today. Not sure what that means... but let's just say that I feel like I can do anything.

Husbands are good for that. :)

Fun, and Not So Fun, Facts

2011-04-15T05:03:00.000-07:00

1. Cai has been sleeping at least 10 hours every night. This happened when I decided not to wake him up for his "dream feed"... basically I didn't wake him up at 11 pm to feed him so that he might sleep longer. Apparently this was working against me and I didn't even realize. One night I tried not waking him up and he slept like a champ!

2. We switched him to his crib in his own room (sniff, sniff) last night. Good move. He slept from 8:30-7:30 without a peep... and then went on to sleep from 8-11. Sheesh! Victory!

3. I broke my toe yesterday. Yep... jammed it right into the leg of the sofa. It almost immediately turned black and blue and swollen. Of course, right when I start working out again. Apparently satan wants me fat.

4. I have been sick as a dog. First of all, do not, I repeat, DO NOT visit Georgia in Spring time unless you plan on getting attacked by pollen. I did. And then, some cold germs decided to kick me when I was down and completely take me out. So here I am, sore throat, stuffy head, ear infection, sneezing, runny nose... all because some stupid pollen.

5. We bought a new car. Well, not new... but ya know. It's a 2005 Volvo S60. We love it but we kind of had to go through this whole fiasco after we bought it. First of all, the owner wasn't completely honest with us about things (which we found out later). But, then the air conditioning stopped working the day after we bought it. Hmmm... looks shady, right? Well... it happened to be just a small $90 part, thank goodness. But we were freaking out thinking that we had just bought a lemon. Nope... it's great and we adore it. This is not the real picture of our car. This is the vogue version. The one that all of the other volvos look and and think, "she is so pretty... why can't I look like her?" but we all know she's airbrushed and fake. Ours is still pretty. :)

6. Trying to find health insurance again. I just did this. Why do I have to do this again? Why do they have to make finding health insurance like doing brain surgery? Seriously, I'm looking at all the thousands of plans and comparing them to other companies thousands of plans and trying to do calculus while building a rocketship. It's tough. Oh bother.

7. It's Friday. Love me some date night!!!!!

Rolled Over

2011-04-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

First big milestone. Micaiah rolled over for the first time on the 7th. Well, he had done it once before but I guess forgot how to do it after that. So we won't count that. Now almost immediately after we set him on his stomach, he rolls right over. He gets so excited to see our reaction because we clap and cheer. He loves it, he's so proud :)

Here's some pics from this past week....

Cars, Bleeding gums, and Embarassing moments

2011-04-06T06:39:00.000-07:00

Some weekend updates...

Friday - We drove an hour and a half to the other side of Atlanta (yes, it takes that long) to go see a car. We sold our Honda Element a couple weeks ago because the suicide doors were really annoying to put the car seat in and out of. So, we decided we would go check out some cars. We show up and the car totally wasn't what we expected. When we asked the people over the phone if everything was working right and if the tires were good, we expected some honesty. But, they didn't tell us about the power locks not working (annoying) and the tires were completely bald. The car also didn't have cruise control (uh, no thanks!) and was dirty on the inside. Now, this is what I totally don't understand. People need to clean the inside of their cars if they want to sell it. I mean, come on, impress us a little. Take us on a date. Woo us. Ok, maybe don't go that far, but you know what I mean. On top of that, the people offered to watch our kid while we test drove their car. Uh, what??? That's weird. I've heard about those craigslist weirdos that meet up with people and steal their kids or babies. So, instead, they rode with us while we were test driving. Which is awkward because you can't at all talk about what you don't like about the car. SOOO, we ended up passing on the whole shebang and got some not-so-good mexican food and drove another 1.5 hours home. Oh well, it's the experience that counts. Why does Atlanta have to be so darn huge??

Saturday - We had band practice in the morning which is always a blast. Have I mentioned before how much we LOVE OUR CHURCH and everyone in it? We even had two people forget to come and it was still great. Right after that Will and I headed to (surprise, surprise) Trader Joes where we stocked up for a couple weeks. Annnnd.... did I mention how muc

h I love that place too? Ugh, I'm in love.

Sunday - We woke up at 6, got to church by 8, and started practice. This is always really hard for me because of the baby. I have to make sure he's fed and changed all while watching him during practice and then passing him over to someone all ready to go before we start. I had JUST made it... giving him to a friend at 9:55 right before church started at 10. But, I LOVE doing worship so it's really no big deal. Just tiring. Worship went really well... except for the HUGE mess up that I did. Woops. Will lead the first 2 songs... went great. I was supposed to lead the next 2 songs but I got super confused. The whole service I was kind of feeling like my brain wasn't there (not the best feeling when you know you have to lead a big group of people). I seriously had the hardest time and later found out that Will did too. Well, Will ended his second song and started going into some prophetic singing, but I thought he was starting MY song. NOPE! So, he starts using the same piano sound that he was going to use for my song. I just think in my head "ok, he's starting it a new way, whatever..." sooooo I start singing my song in a totally different key and tempo! Will looks so confused, as does the rest of the band, and I immediately knew I messed up. I saw Will panic a little and start to tell the band what to do. The band wasn't catching on. So, through my confusion and what I knew would just be messy through the rest of the song, decide to shut it down and precede to say, "Ok.... sorry. I totally just messed up. I'm not even going to play it off like I didn't just mess up because everyone knows I just did." Feeling like an idiot at this point... and Will's face is beaming red. I just laugh and everyone laughed with me. Then everyone broke out cheering for me, but not in a "oh I am going to clap for that waiter who just dropped all those plates to make him feel like an idiot way".... in a "we love you, Laura, and you are so awesome" way. Did I MENTION how awesome our church is?? The rest of the service went just as planned, but it was kind of my first big mess up in my worship leading experience. I hope I don't have any more. I actually had about 15 people separately come up to me after the service and tell me specific things that God was teaching them while I lead worship. SO AWESOME. I love how God turns things around for good... and also encouraged me afterwards.

Anyway... that was interesting :)

We had a great rest of the day going to, none other than, Moes for lunch. I love me some Moes! And then we headed home to take a much needed nap because we were running around so much during the weekend. We were going to do something that night, but Cai was so off schedule (and so were we) that we just crashed.

Monday - Not interesting enough to share :)

Tuesday - Woke up bright and early to go to my favorite place in the world! Did I say favorite? I meant, most awful place in the world! The dentist. I knew I would hate it. I went when I was pregnant and they told me I had 6 cavities because the baby was depleting my nutrients... but they weren't able to fill them since I was prego. So, here I was, a year later getting them checked out. This hygienist was AWFUL. It makes me want to laugh... and cry... at the same time. You know the cleaning is going to be bad when your eyes start watering and your gums start bleeding even before she starts. She was just doing the periodontal check and pushing that sharp metal torturous tool deep into my gums. "Um, maam? Can you please check my teeth with something else? Say... your soft finger??" SHEESH. So, here I was giving myself the ultimate pep talk, "ok, Laura... you can do this. You just gave birth to an 8 pound baby. Nothing is worse than that" So, I prepared myself. She was the worst. You know the part where they scrape your

teeth with that awful sharp metal torturous tool by the gums? Well, she like DUG and stabbed them. Then she said, "you need to make sure you floss every day. Your gums are bleeding!". No, I'm pretty sure my gums are bleeding because you are sticking that sharp metal torturous tool deep into them. If you did that to my eye, it would bleed too. Does that mean I have to floss my eyes too? I was so mad, and basically crying from how bad it hurt. Then she flossed. Oh the agony. I have never had a hygienist break the floss, much less break it 10 times. She was so rough that the floss kept breaking. And then, because of it, I would get pieces of floss stuck in my teeth. So, she got the heavy duty floss out and flossed as hard and as fast as she could through each tooth (that she already flossed). The doctor came in and gave me the same "6 cavities" talk. I know, I know. But, when I got the bill, I noticed it would be once I paid over a thousand dollars (with insurance!) to get them all filled. Yes, I would love to pay you some of our house savings so you can torture me some more :)

Later that day, Will and I went to Hobby Lobby because I have decided to take up sewing. I'm "sew" excited (haha, I'm sew funny). The patterns were .99 cents. Oh my gosh. These patterns were originally $20 and I was getting them for .99! AHHH! They. Are. Awesome. So, I will be doing those soon. But, my very first project is to make a simple skirt. I will let you know how that goes. We sat in Hobby Lobby for an hour looking at patterns. I love my husband :)

Here is Cai Cai playing drums :)

And here he is "talking" to me this morning.

And this was the precious view I had when I woke up today...

I love my boys.

4 Months Old

2011-04-03T17:06:00.000-07:00

The buddy turns 4 months tomorrow. Crazy how time has flown. Just a few months ago, I had a newborn... and now I have a little boy full of personality. Love it. He is one incredible little guy. We have SOOO much fun with him.

The Many Faces Of Micaiah

2011-03-29T13:20:00.000-07:00

Kid's Scripture Album

2011-03-28T11:09:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that Will and I have started a Kid's scripture album. It's been really fun so far, and we are excited to keep it coming. We don't have a lot of extra time during the week... so it may take us a little longer than normal to finish it, but it will be worth it.

Having kids learn scripture is so important! I grew up listening to Steve Green "Hide Em In Your Heart" songs and I still remember the songs to this day.

Our goal is to make songs that are easy to memorize, but are also more modern. We're aiming for a Miley Cyrus/Justin Bieber type feel. No more cheese ball kids cds. Plus, we want it to be somewhat enjoyable for the parents to listen to, too! And, heck, these verses are a good reminder to adults too. We love the idea of Micaiah growing up with some good scripture songs. Right now we are praying about which verses to hit... we may even end up doing multiple albums at some point :)

So, here's the first song we finished. It's on the fruit of the spirit... and it's me with the best bubble pop sound I could muster up! :D

All Our Visitors

2011-03-28T08:37:00.000-07:00

All those lucky vacationers. On their way to Florida, they all decide to drop by and see us in good ol' ATL. It was the first time for most of them to meet baby Cai, which was of course very exciting. Here are some pics in random order. (I didn't take enough! I'm such a bum when it comes to pulling out the camera for things like this)

Meeting Uncle Jim for the first time

Meeting Aunt Kate for the first time

Cousin Kennah

Pop and Kennah

Meeting Uncle Mike

Aunt Christen back to visit

Jim was here for his birthday so we went out to a Thai restaurant. Here's the brothers with their babies... Caiah and Shaya haha.

And here's a cute one, just because. They are so handsome.

Youtube Mondays

2011-03-21T13:00:00.000-07:00

My Boy...

2011-03-15T09:39:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted an update in a LONG time! Mommy life has gotten me into this whole new world. This little boy has stolen my heart. I can completely relate with every mom out there who says that you would go anywhere, do anything, be anyone for your child.

The other day, I put him to bed and just sat there crying looking at him sleeping. It wasn't necessarily a sad cry. It was a cry to God asking Him to help me trust Him and to protect this little life. It is so out of my control, yet I have so much peace of who this child is called to be. God has given us so many pictures of him as an adult and we are so confident in that. BUT, that's not to say that I don't get fearful of losing him or him getting hurt. It would be easy to crawl up in a hole away from the world just to protect your child. But God has put him here for a reason and I need to release him to do those things.

ANYWAY, done with my rant of how much I stinking LOVE him. Here's some updates on what he's been up to (more for my documentation than anything else) :)

- He is a snuggle bug! This child has a love language of touch, I bet you anything. As soon as you hug him or hold him he completely relaxes. SO CUTE! He has a little monkey in his crib and when he goes to sleep he digs his face in it and falls asleep. If you rub his forehead, he will fall asleep. If I put him on my chest, he falls asleep.

- He sits in his bumbo and we sit him up while holding his hands. His

head is strong enough to where I don't have to support it when I hold him, which is really nice! He is such a big boy.

- He started off sleeping completely swaddled. He didn't like it at first but he got used to it because he couldn't sleep with his arms flailing all over the place. Then we went to unswaddling one arm to get him used to it at around 12 weeks. During this time he slept on his tummy during the day for naps. I wanted to be able to watch him closer since he loved to dig his face in the mattress. Then we ended up taking both arms out and swaddling his legs. Now, just last week, we started putting him on his stomach at night since he loves it and sleeps so well. That's when he really started sleeping better. I just wasn't comfortable putting him like that all night until I felt like he could move his head back and forth and he can now :)

- He is THE happiest baby that I have ever seen. I have watched a lot of babies in my life and have never met one that is so joyful like he is. Constantly laughing and smiling. Seriously, as long as he is fed... he will be up until his naptime just talking and laughing. His little gummy smile seriously melts my heart like nothing else.

Here's a video of him belly laughing at Will...

and here's a funny one showing how animated he can be....

- He definitely knows who mommy and daddy are. We go to church and he will be held by many different people and as soon as he sees me or Will he lights up and smiles. We are trying to pass him around to get him used to people (not too much so he doesn't get sick or anything)... but he loves to be with us. I'm not gonna lie... I love it!

- He is sleeping at least 7 hours a night now. I am finally feeling like a human again! We have a great sleep schedule with him. He wakes up at about 8 or 8:30 for the day. He goes down at 9:30 for a nap and then he stays on a schedule of going down an hour and a half after his last nap and then sleeping for an hour and a half. All day long. He is amazing and just kind of sets his own schedule and it works! Then once he's up at 7 or so we try to keep him up until 9:00 or 9:30 and he will sleep until 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning! It's incredible! Then he goes right back down again and sleeps until 8:30.

- I weighed him yesterday and if our scale is correct... he is 15 pounds! There is a baby at church who is 3 months older and they look like the same size. It's crazy. He is chunky and starting to get the cute baby double chin and the squeezable rolls on the legs. Big boy!

- This child LOVES bath time. And I mean, LOVES! He's a Florida boy at heart... my parents will love that! We can't wait to take him in the pool once it gets a little warmer. He goes crazy in the tub and splashes and laughs. Here's a video of when he did it the first time. Now he's gotten even crazier...

- He really only likes one pacifier. It's one that we got on sale at Target once and now they don't have them anymore. It's a NUK but it is different than the normal ones. It's this one....

He likes it I think because it sits flat against his face and the handle thing on the front doesn't stick out. So when he rubs his face back and forth on things when he falls asleep it doesn't fall out as easy. I need to find more! I still haven't checked Babies R Us, but I should!

I think that's it for now.

Will and I have been great! We are getting more and more involved in our church. We led worship last weekend for the second time and are just realizing more and more that it is what we are passionate about. We love that we get to do it together. We can't wait to do it more.

Youtube Mondays

2011-03-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

This one never gets old.

Youtube Mondays

2011-03-07T08:10:00.000-08:00

00:55 and 01:15 are my favorite parts. I love this guy

The Stylish Blogger

2011-03-01T11:54:00.000-08:00

I won an award. In the blogger world, this is pretty cool apparently. My friend Lindsay over here at this blog passed it along to me. She is so sweet. No seriously this girl is cool. And I miss her. AND her kid is so stinkin cute! So... Lindsay, you rock!

I'm not really sure what "stylish" blogger means... but I'll take it.

Here's the rules...

1. thank and link back to the person who awarded you

2. share 7 things about yourself

3. pass award on to bloggers you think are fantastic

4. contact those bloggers and tell them about the award

So, Here we go. 7 things about me.

1. I am a new mom to a sweet little guy. I endured the most torture in my life by going through natural childbirth with him... but MAN am I glad I did. Read all about that story HERE ;) Here's little Micaiah Gabriel

2. I am a research junkie. I am ALWAYS researching. I won't buy something unless I research if it's worth it first. I'm mainly crazy about checking out health things and how to live life without medication and just living healthily.

Check out my Health Revolution Blog to see what I'm talkin' about www.lauradstern.com

3. Fun facts: In 2010, my husband and I moved cross country twice. The first move, I got the call from my doctor on our way that I was pregnant. The second move, I was 7 months pregnant. And I had the baby at the end of the year. In the midst of all this, my husband has had 3 different jobs, we've been a part of 4 different churches, and my grandma passed away. Talk about a stressful year. But also very blessed!

4. I am obsessed with indian and mexican food. I wish I could live in India and Mexico simultaneously just for the food. SOOO GOOD!!

5. My favorite stores? Ikea, Trader Joes, Forever 21 (online because the store overwhelms me), and H&M. Thanks to Atlanta, I can go to all of them. :)

6. I love photography. I've had to take a little break since having the baby, but it is one of my passions. Check it out HERE.

7. Funniest moment: My cousin Charlene and I were riding in my car in college. I lived in Florida at the time and it was raining buckets. Literally. If you've ever lived in Florida you know exactly what I'm talking about. It can be compared to driving under a waterfall. Anyway, my air conditioning decided to go out on this 100 degree humid day in my 1992 Toyota Celica. My brain didn't quite put two and two together and we just watched as the windshield started fogging up. I start laughing because I can't see anything and my cousin sticks her head out the passenger window to tell me where to go. She is getting soaked and telling me "left, right" and I am laughing hysterically. Funniest part (at the time)... I had no idea where I was going and couldn't see the road at all. Thank you God for keeping us safe! She pulls out a tampon to wipe the inside of the car and the windshield. She is the funniest person on the planet.

So, there ya go.

And now to pass on the award....

Ashley Poole - www.mommapoole.wordpress.com

Jess Stern - www.jessandthislovelylife.blogspot.com

Megan Brueseke - www.thebruesekefamily.blogspot.com

Amanda Lester - www.appleblue.org

Get going ladies!! Follow the rules above :)

The Cloud Over America

2011-02-21T09:19:00.000-08:00

Soooo.... I've been having lots of dreams from the Lord lately. I'm super excited about this, as anyone would be, because it was prophesied over me when Will and I were engaged that I would start having lots of dreams and that they would be given to me from God. I've had them scattered here and there, but recently it's been a lot more frequent.

I know these are God dreams because I wake up thinking they are real every time. It's like it takes me a while to figure out that they were just a dream. My God dreams are always way more vivid and clear... not weird, like me eating cotton candy with unicorns on a rainbow in the sky. These dreams always have some sort of meaning to them and they always make sense to me, even when I wake up.

There was one dream in particular that Will and I felt like I should write about and share with other people. I normally have dreams about my personal life, or about my family... but this is the first one I've had about our country.

I saw a map of our country. It was almost like an illustration of it and it was cut out, like in 3D. I was looking over it and noticed a huge cloud over it. It was a thick, dense cloud, but (being over it) I could still see a faint outline of America. It was grey and gloomy, just like you would expect a rain cloud to be. There was no lighting or storms yet, just clouds.

In my dream, I asked the Lord why it was there. I was sort of having this dialogue with God about it. He said,

"this cloud represents that there is still hope over America. Nothing going on right now is permanent and can't be undone. The state of the country SEEMS gloomy and dark, but, in reality it's not. America is MY country and I have claimed it from it's start. Although it looks like darkness is surrounding, once you get past the clouds it is light and sunny. The appearance of the clouds is causing my people to question where I am or what they should do. Many people are wondering if the darkness has taken over. But, I want you to know that this is NOT a wall! (** I remember that part very clearly**) If it were a wall above the nation, you would not have any light shining through and it would take years, if ever, to break it down. It would be hard work and you wouldn't be able to see me through the wall. There is a cloud because of the way that America is choosing to go right now, but I am still present. Clouds are not permanent, they go away quickly and, even if you can't see it, the light is still shining beyond them. I want my people to not fear these clouds and to not be intimidated by them. America is still my nation and I still guard it. The more my people stand out as a light during these times, the quicker these clouds will burn away. Clouds can easily be blown away. They look intimidating, but you can easily blow them away or through them"

I woke up not remembering my dream right away and then that night it hit me and it all came flooding back to me like I had actually had that conversation face to face with God. It was awesome and that's usually how it works for me for some reason.

I feel like God is encouraging His people to not get discouraged in a time that might SEEM dark and gloomy. The enemy clearly wants us to back down and start thinking that the fight is over, when God is still wanting to shine is light brighter than before. Our country looks like it is going the wrong way, but this is the perfect opportunity for God to step in and show people His love. I was even thinking, with our government suddenly inviting so many muslim people in, this is the BEST way for us to show them the love of Jesus. These people coming into a country founded on God from the very beginning, they are bound to feel the love of God whether they accept it or not. God can turn this around for good, and He will.

I am one of those who has once thought that America is already too far gone... with debt, with turning away from God, with abortion, etc. I start to get down. It is so encouraging to know that it is only a cloud over us. Clouds blow away eventually and a bright sunny day WILL shine through. Kind of like that Switchfoot song that says "the shadows prove the sunshine"... the darkness right now is just God's way of shining brighter later (even if it's not His plan, He promises to turn it around for good).

So, don't be discouraged, friends!! Let's take steps towards asking God how pray in His wind and glory to blow those clouds away. I want to daily ask God what I can be doing to bring His wind into my apartment complex, my city, the Starbucks line... whatever. We also need to burn hotter than ever before. The hotter we burn, the quicker those clouds will burn away. How do we do that? I feel like God is asking people to not compromise in daily things. This isn't out of religion or to make life miserable, it's to align yourself even closer to what God is saying. We can't burn as hot when we have so many other things trying to suffocate our fire with the Lord. Just tuning ourselves in to personal convictions of what the Lord has placed on our hearts. For me, it's not listening to secular music because I don't want it competing with what the Lord want to do in my heart. It's also not watching rated R movies and looking up all movies before I watch them because I know that there is never anything good to put in my heart that comes from them. These are things that fill my heart and can push out what the Lord wants to do. Let God burn you! It's ALWAYS worth it. Once He does, you will notice a burning and a longing to feel the things on His heart and you will automatically start doing things for the Lord. He leads you when you're emptied out of the junk that keeps you from Him.

The more we burn for the Lord and the more we invite His winds to blow, the quicker we will see our nation turn back to God. The more that we are a light to the people around us, the quicker they will see the perfect love of Jesus.

This Love

2011-01-18T10:44:00.000-08:00

How do I even begin to describe this new love that is so deep, I daily feel it pierce my heart? It's like, when I look at this boy, my heart hurts. Not in a bad way. In a "I would do anything for you" way.

People tell you that a love for a child is the most extreme love you will ever feel, but you can't really understand it until you are there. Even being pregnant with him, I didn't truly grasp the love I would have for him. He is so helplessly dependent on me, and I love it. I think God makes it this way so that we completely fall head over heels for our children. If we gave birth to teenagers, we probably wouldn't feel that immediate love. Ha ha.

He is so simple and so pure. So innocent and so joyful. When he smiles, my heart melts all over again .

Even though my life is more non-stop than it's ever been, I wouldn't want it any other way. Even though I can't really be by myself much any more and I'm constantly running around... there is nothing that makes me feel more fulfilled. Even when I'm learning how to feed him and pumping every 2 hours just to make sure he gets the right food, I love that I am able to sustain his life. What an incredibly awesome thing that God has created in that.

I'm choosing to put all of my fears and worries aside about not measuring up and not being the mom that he needs because I'm not able to do this and that and not good like another mom is at something. I am his mom... no one else has been given this life. I choose to trust that the Lord has given him to me for a reason and that He has completely made me capable for the task. I am going to choose JOY today as I run around and don't even have a moment for a shower, because I know that these times are going to be like a flash. I am going to choose to spend one on one time just looking at my boy and staring at every little feature so I can remember it years to come. I am choosing to laugh at all of life circumstances that don't work out exactly as I envision. God has it taken care of.

THANK YOU, GOD for this blessing of life that you have given us. I cry just thinking about it. God has given me HIS heritage and HIS son to help grow and mature. This life is more than my heart can handle... it wants to explode with love for him.

I understand now how God must feel for us. I can understand now how much it must have hurt God to, not only give up His only Son, but sacrifice His life for us. I can envision the pain that must have stung like nothing else. But He thought of us. He did it for our good.

I'm just in awe of all that God has done, thousands of years ago, and even now. How He has shown his love through each generation and now through each day of my life. He is so good.

Things Are Looking Up

2011-01-17T11:00:00.000-08:00

Things are looking up here in the Stern casa (feeding wise). Not that things were bad, but let's just be honest... it's hard to figure out!

Thanks to EVERYONE'S advice, I felt so encouraged and felt like I could conquer the world. So, thanks to all my wonderful friends. Isn't the world wide web fantastic? :)

I took several people's advice and spent a while pumping. This was great for me because it gave me a little break from being frustrated and it allowed me to get my milk

supply up because I was doing it every 2 hours. On top of that, I started taking a Fenugreek seed supplement which has really been helping. I've only taken it for 2 days or so and so far I can see that my milk is increasing. Not to mention that it makes me smell like maple syrup! Not even kidding. My armpits smell like pancakes. Ha.

Makes me hungry while I'm on this detox diet. I'm on day 4 so far, and it was really hard at first but has gotten easier. We are eating really healthy and are feeling the good effects. More energy and things like that. I have the occasional, "get me taco bell now or I will bite your head off" craving... but those are rare. Only about 5 times a day. Just kidding. I do

love me some Taco Bell.

Little buddy is doing awesome. He is 6 weeks and is growing like a weed. He is sooo long and is just now starting to show signs of some chunkiness. I can see the beginnings of some leg rolls. Love it!! He is also getting really good at entertaining himself during the day. As long as he's fed and his diaper is changed, we can leave him to play and he talks to himself and smiles. It's really cute! He is also SO good at putting himself to sleep. At night, we have a routine and you can tell that he knows that it's bed time. We turn off the lights, feed him, swaddle

him and just lay him down. He might grunt a little but then he just falls asleep without any help from us. We feel so blessed that we aren't having to rock him or bounce him up and down for an hour. He's a really awesome baby.

By the way, this kid's smile kills me. Oh my goodness, it is perfect. He recognizes me. I will walk over to him and he will see my face and immediately smile. It's so great knowing that he knows who I am. I mean, how do you not just melt when you see this?

He will have his 8 week appointment here in a couple weeks. I'm excited to see how much he's grown.

We are loving live here in Georgia more than ever. We are getting more and more involved in our church and getting to know more and more great people. Will's job is going great and he has some other endeavors that he's about to take on.

We can't wait to get out of apartment living, so it's good motivation for us. We are hoping to buy a house in August. We want it to be a house we can stay in for at least 10 years, so we are going to be super picky about it. It will be weird to have to think so much in the future, in terms of kids and what not while we are looking. Plus, I want to homeschool so it will have to fit those needs as well. We are debt free now, and we are praying for God to help us stay debt free. We know that God wants us to be debt free and honors it when we ask for His help. So, our huge goal is to never be in debt again. Even on a house. God works miracles, why not ask for them! AND we are HIS children. So, that's our prayer for this year and all years to come. We can't imagine how flexible it will be able to make us and how available we would be for God if we were debt free for the rest of our lives.

Anyway, that's where we're headed! Excited to see where He guides us!

Feeding Frustrations

2011-01-12T08:50:00.000-08:00

Why do people love breastfeeding so much? I've been asking myself this question from the day I brought my baby home. All I've heard are how awesome it is once you get it going and how convenient it is from people. Um, am I experiencing a different thing than all these people?

Don't get me wrong! I am SOOO thankful that my little buddy is nursing now and is doing awesome at it. I think it is sooo cool that God designed me to be able to nourish my child like this without anything else.

I'm not gonna lie though. Most days, it is a frustrating struggle for me. I either end up frustrated, feeling like a failure, or just plain tired!

The little guy latched on at about 3 weeks and I was SO excited about it. I had been using a shield up until that point which really helped establish him being comfortable nursing. I took it away one day and he's been fine without it ever since. Well, there started the soreness, the blisters, and all the other unfortunate scenarios. But, I kept trucking.

Honestly though... if I could, I would use formula. If the organic formula we buy wasn't so expensive and if he were still able to get all the nutrients he needs... believe me I would. Cai is a SLOW eater. I think this is why I don't like it. Feeding him formula is so fast and easy. He's done and full. When he nurses, he usually falls asleep... so I try everything in my power to keep him awake. Get him in his diaper so he's cold, change his diaper, tickle him... but to no avail. This kid just loves falling asleep while he eats. It's so adorable in the sense that he feels so comfortable with me. But, on the other hand, I hate the cycle. He will eat, but won't eat enough, so I stop after trying to make him eat more. Then, 30 minutes later, he's crying to be fed again because he didn't eat enough during the entire hour that I tried to feed him. So, count it up... I literally spend ALL day feeding him. Whereas, if he were eating formula... we would be done in 10 minutes and he'd be good to go.

Why oh WHY do people enjoy this? I can't get anything done during my day. Although I LOVE snuggling him and bonding with him, there comes a point where I need to brush my teeth or take a shower or do the laundry.

I feel at a loss and I'm not sure what to do. I have seriously tried everything. I can't even go do the store most of the time because he doesn't have enough in his belly to go. I know that I would just be setting myself up for a miserable time because as soon as we get there he is hungry again.

Any thoughts? Any hugs? I need them!

Mommy Life

2010-12-14T08:54:00.000-08:00

I am adjusting quite nicely to life as a mommy. The first few days felt like a whirlwind because I was still physically tired from all the labor and still overwhelmed at the fact that I had a brand new human being to take care of. Will and I felt a little crazy the first few days because we weren't quite sure how the whole scheduling thing worked out for a newborn and how our lives fit into it... er... I guess how his life fit into ours. Last night was the hardest out of them all so far. I'm not sure if it was gas, a growth spurt, addiction to the pacifier, confusion on the time of day, or if we just genuinely have a party animal for a child... but he was up ALL night. Poor guy was crying crying crying and we didn't know why. Well, I guess we kind of did. He was hungry immediately after every feeding. So weird because he didn't do this during the day. He would eat his hand and cry. We are way more cautious about shoving more milk in his mouth because the day before we up'd his ounces from 2 to 3 and he completely spit up the entire thing. Not even kidding. It was sad. So, I guess last night we were just hesitant to give him any more. BUT, as soon as I did... he finally fell asleep (at about 6 am). He was so worn out...and so was I.

SO, so make things easier on ALL of us... I buckled down today and created a schedule for the little guy. More for my sanity than anything. I realized that the past week of having him home has felt a little chaotic because I don't even know when I can eat or shower because I feel like I'm feeding him or pumping all day. So, I think a schedule will really help me feel like I have a life and make him feel like he has some sort of consistency through the day. Plus, I've really been wanting to do babywise and I just finally decided to write it all out.

He'll be eating every 2.5 hours and he'll be awake for 30-45 minutes after and then will nap until the next feeding. This way, I'll know when he naps and I'll be a

ble to schedule out when I can shower and brush my teeth :) :) Haha.

Obviously I'm not going to be psycho about it or anything, because I know he's a baby and things change by the hour... but this is what we will try out for now.

As for breastfeeding, he still won't latch on. He gets angry and frustrated every time. I am still trying every day but it is definitely trying my patience, so please pray for us! It is hard to pump 20 minutes every 3 hours AND feed him every 2.5 hours AND try to breastfeed him all at the same time. I know it will be worth it in the end and I am so thankful that he is at least getting some breast milk in there.

We went on our first outing yesterday.... where to? Target of course. Mommy's favorite store :)

It just happened to be the coldest day of the year yet in Georgia. So windy and so cold... but we were happy to get out of the house a little bit. And the little guy slept like a champ the entire time.

Here he is all bundled up and ready to go....

He is so sweet! SUCH a good baby and so content all the time. Seriously, he really only cries when he really needs something... or when he's cold. He hates to be cold. But, he won't even cry to eat... he just makes these little grunts. It's adorable!

As for this week...

We have had company over almost every day since we got home. My parents were here, then my sister and her husband, and some friends from church. Now we have Will's dad coming in tonight, my cousin and his wife coming on Thursday, and Will's mom coming for the weekend. Sorry if I've been bad about returning calls and emails. I literally haven't had time to respond to all of them, but want to soon! Should be a busy week, but a good one!

The Birth Story - From Laura's Perspective

2010-12-09T07:32:00.000-08:00

This is a lot of detail and I do it mainly for memory purposes. I fully understand that not everyone will care to read this much detail haha.

It all began at 5:00 am on Saturday December 4th with just one contraction. That one contraction was a lot stronger than the others I had been feeling for the past couple days. I knew labor was on its way because for the past 2 days I had been having lots of cramps and just feeling a lot different. I sat up in bed quickly because it surprised me. I looked down and noticed that my water had broken. I stood up and there was another gush of water. Will looked over and asked if I was ok, to which I responded "um, my water just broke. Here it goes!". Will was so excited and jumped right out of bed. He started running around cleaning and getting everything ready for the hospital. We had been told by anyone and everyone that we would be laboring at home for at least 6 hours. So, we were expecting a real relaxed time at home for a while. Well, that didn't quite happen. We were immediately surprised when we started timing the contractions to find that they were consistently 4 minutes apart for an hour and were at least 45 seconds long each time. I was thinking the whole time "wow. These are really painful and really strong. I thought I was supposed to ease into this." We called the midwife and told her what was going on. She said to wait it out a little longer to see what happened. I was steadily growing really uncomfortable and my contractions quickly hit the point where I could not talk through them. We kept timing and they kept getting closer and closer together. By 8 am I told Will that we had to call the midwife again. Thoughts kept running through our minds of the people that we talked to and the books that we read that said that first time mothers never have fast labors and that we should stay home as long as possible. Will was hesitant to call the midwife at this point and I snapped at him and said "call her!!". We told her the situation. That the contractions were now 3 minutes apart and at least 60 seconds long. She quickly responded, "you're not up here yet?"

We quickly got our stuff together and headed for the door. I threw on my pajama pants and robe while my water was still breaking everywhere. I walked to the car as quickly as I could because I didn't want to have a contraction in the 30 degree weather. Will had already warmed up the car, so I was excited to get in. For the next 30-40 minutes, we took the drive to the Atlanta Medical Center and I've never seen Will drive so fast. He had his hazards on and everything. Hey, if there's one time you can speed... it's to rush your wife to the hospital when she's in active labor! I don't think we said many words to each other because I was so focused on the contractions and I couldn't wait to get out of the bumpy car.

We pull up to the Emergency Room at around 9:00 am and see another couple in front of us with a woman hunched over in pain. A woman runs out to our car and laughs because she says that we are the 4th person to come in in labor in the last hour. At this point, she is asking me questions and trying to keep my mind of the pain... she was such a sweet person. But I remember thinking that I really couldn't think of anything else besides the pain, much less making small talk with this nurse. She helps me out of the car while Will drives away to find parking. On the way from the ER to the 7th floor I had 4 awful contractions while leaning over in pain on this person that I had just met. My water is still breaking at this point and Will's sweat pants that I had thrown on were soaked. I just wanted to stop walking and be with Will. We get up to the nurse's station and there are 3 other women waiting for rooms in the hallway. I stand there for about 15 minutes (which seemed like an eternity) while they checked me in and while I waited for my room. Apparently they were overflowing with people that day. Will finally gets there and asks if I can have a chair to sit on. Here I am in the hallway with tons of people around me while I'm in the most pain of my life. They finally walk me over to my room and tell me to get in my gown. I had to be monitored first so that they could make sure that my heart rate and baby's heart rate were ok. I was so frustrated at this because it was only supposed to be a 20 minute segment, but they couldn't get a clear reading of it because I wasn't comfortable lying down completely. Honestly, the last thing on the planet that I wanted to do was lie down on my back while having these contractions. So, I was sitting up as much as I could and the nurse kept telling me that she couldn't get a good reading because of it. I was so frustrated at her thinking, "well, why don't you try it lady?" haha. Our nurse had several other patients because it was so busy, so Will and I were left alone in the room a lot.

Finally the nurse came in and checked to see how far dilated I was. I think she assumed I was in the early part of labor, but she asked me if I had any rectal pressure and I said yes! She quickly put on her gloves and found that I was already 5 cm dilated and moving fast. She also gave me the awful news that I probably wouldn't be able to have a water birth because they were overflowing with people. I wanted to cry at this point because I had been told so many times that I would be able to have a water birth and we even took a 2 hour class (for $30). "What do you mean I can't have a waterbirth!!??" I just kept thinking to myself... too much in pain to really make a fuss about it. My midwife walked in and told us that she was so upset that they couldn't let everyone get in the tub. She said "they shouldn't advertise it if you can't use it!" ... to which I agreed because I had spent the last 4 months thinking that that's what I would be able to do, and no one ever told me that there would be a chance that I wouldn't be able to.

So, there I sat in the bed... trying to get through as many contractions as I could while sitting. I started to feel really nauseous. I rarely ever throw up or have stomach issues but this was a different feeling! I had eaten half of a banana when I got up so that I wouldn't be starving the rest of the day. Bad idea, Laura. BAD idea. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I projectile vomited ALL over the bed and myself. The nurse wasn't in the room... so poor poor Will had to grab a bunch of towels and get me cleaned up. The smell was awful, and it was definitely the banana I ate that morning. He gets me all cleaned up and, 20 minutes later or so, I do it again. It was the worst because throwing up gets your body into such an uncomfortable place... not to mention I was having contractions at the same time. Each time I threw up, I felt the baby get pushed lower. It was so uncomfortable. My husband is amazing for taking care of me, even though he was gagging through it all. This was the only time that I cried during my labor. It was the beginning of the misery for the next few hours.

Well, my labor kept progressing whether I liked it or not....I had to keep trucking. The midwife suggested that I at least sit in the shower. It would have somewhat of the same effect as the tub. So, Will set up the birthing ball in the shower and I just let the hot water run down my back. It really did help! I didn't want to get out, but the dang nurse wanted to monitor me again (lol). So, there I went back to the bed. At this point I was freezing because I was still wet from the shower. Being cold made the contractions 10 times worse. So, my wonderful husband covered me up in my robe and tried to get me warm with tons of blankets. I was shaking out of control even when I was warmed up. The nurse said it was because I was getting close to having the baby. I have never seen my body shake that much. By this time, it was about noon and I was shaking uncontrollably for the rest of my labor. I hated that monitoring screen because it forced me to be stuck in bed when that was probably the most uncomfortable place for me to be at the time. The nurse left the room again and Will was great being a support to me. This was the point where I didn't want anyone talking to me or distracting me. I knew in my head that I was getting close.

The nurse checked my dilation again and said that I was about 7 cm and that I was in transition. Each contraction was like torture at this point, but I tried to keep a straight head. I was in so much pain that I kept falling asleep or passing out (not sure which) in between contractions. I wonder if this was God's way of helping refresh me since I was so worn out.

At this point, I looked at Will and said "I am so incredibly miserable. Would you hate me if I got the epidural?" and he said, "no, I completely trust you." So, I asked the nurse if she would get that going. I knew it would be a slow process, especially with all the other moms they had in. She drew my blood and said that they would be coming in soon. Well, an hour passed and I still hadn't heard of anything. Another guy walked in to take my blood and I told him she already did. He said, "well, unfortunately the nurse took the wrong ones." DANG IT! Now all I could think of was the fact that I would have to wait again for the results. Another hour passed... still no word. I was telling Will, "please ask the nurse where it is. I can't stand this anymore." I can't even put words to the pain I was in. I never thought my body could even go through that much pain.

My midwife walked in soon after and held my hand. She said, "you don't want the epidural. You are almost there. You're about to see your baby." She checked my dilation and I was about ready to push. She left the room for a minute and almost immediately I felt the urge to push. I told Will, "hurry! Call the nurse!" The midwife and nurse came in quickly and saw that the baby had made his way down. She said, "ok, let's get this baby out." I was sooo tired and so discouraged about how things were turning out... that I wasn't in the water, that I couldn't get an epidural, and that I still had to put in the strength to push. Each contraction became harder and harder (if that's even possible) and it got to the point where I didn't get any breaks because the baby's head was so far down that my body couldn't really stop contracting. I did feel the strong contractions and my midwife told me to wait until the peak to push. This was SO hard because pushing was the only somewhat relief I got to the pain. At least I was doing something now.

I pushed for a LONG 3 hours... no breaks, with the WORST contractions. There were not only contractions, but so much pressure. The baby's head was basically stuck for 3 long hours. Will said he could see his head for 2 hours. Everyone kept saying, "he is almost out!" and then I would have to push 60 more times. Then they'd tell me again. I started to not believe people and just keep going.

This was THE hardest thing I have ever had to do. I truly had to perservere in every sense. There was no turning back and there was no one to help me. For all 3 hours, the midwife was trying to get me in different positions to move the baby down. It took so much energy, but I just wanted him out. She had me on my back, she had me on the toilet, she had me on my hands and knees. She also had me holding onto handles to get more power and at one point tied up a sheet and had Will hold it at the other end to help me push. With every push, I felt my face swelling up with blood... but I knew that I wouldn't be able to get him out unless I did. The look on my husband's face for that 3 hours is something I will never forget. He was crying and kept kissing my head telling me that I was doing a great job. I couldn't focus on anything else but the pain, but looking back, I remember every face that he gave me. He hated seeing me like that. I kept saying "help me!" and "God, I need you!" and I could see that Will was praying over me. The midwife, the nurse, and Will were all there holding my legs up for those 3 hours. I know they were working pretty hard too.

FINALLY, after I was literally about to die (or what I felt like was death), the little guy's head comes out right after "the ring of fire" that I had heard so much about. That was the least of my pain though because it was so short and I knew that once I hit that point, it truly was almost over. I felt that burning for about one minute and his head was out. Then, with the same contraction, I pushed and his body was out. At 5:22 pm, Micaiah Gabriel was born into the world (with a major conehead) :) and weighing 8 lbs 2 oz, 21.5 inches long, with a huge head of 14.5 cm. No wonder I couldn't get him out!

I was more overwhelmed and worn out than I've ever experienced. I couldn't even focus on the fact that I had a baby now. I was so glad that the pain was over!! It was the only time in life that I wasn't able to cry out of pain... because it was TOO painful. What a weird thing to experience. They set the baby on my chest while Will cut the cord. I couldn't see the baby because my eyes had swollen so much from the pushing. Will said that he was just watching my face puff up. I seriously looked 200 pounds heavier. I kept saying that I couldn't see, so they put some cold wash cloths on my face while they cleaned the baby. I was looking around, almost feeling like I wasn't in reality. I saw Will holding the baby and smiling while the midwife got the placenta out and started stitching me up. I laid there for about 45 minutes while she put my stitches in. At this point, any pain was nothing in comparison to what I just went through.

She kept looking at me with these eyes of sympathy and held my hand and told me how proud of me she was. I knew she meant it. She then told me that the baby was a persistent posterior. They had told me a month before that he was in posterior position, but then later said that he was turned. She said that she didn't want to tell me because I would probably feel discouraged. She was the one that told the nurse to not let me have the epidural because she knew it would immediately lead to a C-section. Posterior births are the number one reason for C-section because of exactly what I went through. They are the most painful because the baby is constantly pushing on your back from being turned the wrong way. Also, the widest part of his head is the part to come out... not the narrowest like normal births. This is why it took him 3 hours to come out, and about 150 pushes later. I don't think she realized that it would end up going like that. She even said during the pushing part that she couldn't believe he still wasn't out. She gave me a big hug and reassured me that it was over. All I could do was have a sigh of relief.

They let me spend some time with the baby, but I was still so overwhelmed that it was hard for me to connect with him. They put me on a wheelchair once I was stitched up and started taking me to my room. My mom and dad had gotten there 20 minutes before the birth, so they saw us in the hallway and came running up. I still could barely see anything with my swollen eyes. I didn't know what I looked like, but I saw my reflection in a window and could tell that my face was huge. They got me situated in bed and gave me my little guy. I got some time to snuggle him and visit with my family. I was SO glad that it was all over!! I kept thinking that I was going to have another contraction and was scared... but that's just because my body had been doing it for last 12 hours.

I felt fine, I was just sore and tired. My parents went out and bought some dinner for Will and I and it was so awesome to just relax in that room. They left so that Will and I could sleep... but, unfortunately, I had people in and out of my room all night either checking me or the baby. I didn't sleep one wink. I think it was also because my body was so high on adrenaline. I was so tired but couldn't sleep.

The next day, my parents brought us breakfast and we hung out and watched some movies to try to get me to relax. Will followed the baby wherever it went for testing, which was comforting. I finally got some time to bond with the baby and quickly fell so in love. He was perfect. He made me melt right away.

We left the hospital after being there only 24 hours after delivery. My midwife got us out as soon as possible because she knew I was so worn out and wouldn't be getting much sleep there.

Now, here we are, at home and as happy as ever. I am so thankful for this blessing that God has given us! I can't even describe the love I have for him! It's truly amazing and it must be a glimpse of how much God loves us.

My recovery is going great and easy. The stitches cause me some pain, but it's really not too bad. For the first 3 days or so, my face was still super swollen. I cried when I saw it the first time. I have never seen myself look like that. My eyes got black and blue and when you would touch my skin it would crackle. It was the weirdest thing. I think it is because I had pushed so much blood up in my face and neck. My arms and back were super sore from the hard workout I had just done. But, other than that, things have been pretty easy. I am finally starting to look like myself again and starting to feel good. I have already lost over 20 pounds and am feeling lighter than ever! Haha.

Micaiah was SO worth the pain... and it was so great to see and look back on how the Lord carried me through. He didn't let me die, even though I was certain I would. He made the day fly by as fast as it could for me. I think my periods of going in and out of consciousness were really his way of loving on me. He was there. I know that Micaiah's birth was not normal and was hard, but I keep telling myself that other births won't be that way. Right now, I am terrified to go through that again... but my midwife reassured me that it won't happen again.

Even if it did, this little boy is the biggest blessing we have ever received. If something I went through was unjust in God's eyes, He will repay me 7 times over and I believe that He has already done that. He protected me from getting a C-section (which would have been a way worse recovery and would have possibly threatened other deliveries). He gave us a perfectly healthy baby who is SO good and has such a sweet temperament.

God is so good in every way. Thank you Jesus for carrying me when I couldn't stand on my own!!

The Birth Story of Micaiah Gabriel

2010-12-06T19:02:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone, Will Stern here.

I'm here to tell the birth story from my perspective, because we both agree that I will be much more aware of the details. Here we go.

5am, Saturday, Dec 4th (the day before the due date).

I had been lying awake for about 10 minutes, which never happens at 5am for me. I suddenly noticed Laura's breathing change. I asked if she was awake and ok, she replied "My water broke."

A strong contraction had broken her water, and immediately, 60sec contractions started 3 minutes apart. We called it in to our midwife and began labor at home.

7:30am

With 2.5 straight hours of contractions only 2-3 minutes apart, we knew that that 45 minute drive was going to be longer the more we waited. We called in again and were told it was good to come in to the hospital if we wanted. We packed up and headed in. The trip in went well - there's no traffic on a Saturday, so the only thing we had to deal with was Atlanta drivers not moving aside for a speeding suv with hazard lights on. Laura was far from happy, but was doing great, and the Mercedes and I were enjoying driving 90, turning the 45 minute drive into 30.

9:00am

We check in. Laura's frequent and strong contractions hit her 4 times between car and the 7th floor. We get a room quickly and she finds that she's 5cm already. Things are moving along nicely! She labors for a few hours, while they take the mandatory 20min fetal monitoring strip. Everything looks good, so she's cleared to hop in the shower. We get her on a birthing ball in the shower, and ahhhhhh...this is more like it. Still VERY tough, but much more manageable. An hour later, we find out the bad news that there are so many births happening today that there is no way we will be able to have the water birth tub we had so looked forward to. Apparently, they forgot to mention that if the staff is over a 1 to 1 ratio, they don't allow water births. Our midwife is angry, and Laura is...well...contracting harder than ever.

12:00pm

Laura has done amazing. However, without a single one of those rumored 8 minute breaks you get in-between contractions, labor has taken a huge toll on her. She looked at me and said "babe, this time I really can't do it anymore. Will you hate me if I get an epidural?" "I absolutely trust anything YOU choose" I said without hesitation. Laura (and I) had really wanted to go without induction or epidural for a multitude of reasons, but I could see that things really were tough, and there's no way I, the husband just sitting on the chair, was going to say no. She had made it past at least 2 hours of "I can't do this anymore" and this time, she meant it. The nurse drew her blood to get the prelim epidural tests going. We had 45 minutes until the epidural would be here.

1:45pm

Much to Laura's dismay, still no epidural, and no breaks longer than 2 minutes. Our midwife, Margaret has finished her other 2 births and is now in our room. She checked Laura and said. "You don't want an epidural...you're 8cm. You'll be pushing any minute!" And any minute it was. 5 minutes later, at 2:00, the pushing began, and what followed will stick with me my whole life.

Laura's pushing lasted 3 straight hours. It was over 120 pushes. Micaiah was a persistent posterior, meaning he started by facing up instead of down and STAYED facing up instead of down. This is the #1 cause of being taking in for a c-section, because the babies head turned this way will often be too large to make it out...especially for a first baby. After 1 hour, we began seeing Micaiah's hair. He moved as slow as molasses for push after push after push.

What I saw in my wife for these three hours went so incredibly far beyond anything I could have ever dreamed she had in her. She couldn't stop, she didn't stop, and she just decided she wouldn't stop, for the longest 3 hours of my life, and certainly of hers as well. With the baby stuck for over an hour, our amazing midwife, Margaret, pulled out every trick in the book to keep him moving. It took an hour of me pushing one knee almost up to her shoulder, with the nurse pushing the other. As he got further, it took even more, so she tied knots in either end of a sheet, and had Laura and I play tug of war while she and the nurse both pushed her knees. It was a miniature eternity, but Laura somehow was able to push only harder as time went on.

In the third hour, her pushes got so strong that her face swelled up twice the size of normal, until she literally looked 200lbs heaver like a contestant just arriving at the biggest loser ranch. To be quite honest, I almost lost it during that hour. I got to the point where all I could say was "God have mercy." In the moment of that prayer, he made more progress than the last 30 minutes combined.

FINALLY, he made it around the dreaded curve and was out in 2 pushes. He was healthy as could be, perfect as could be, and poor Laura was too tired to even notice ANYTHING but the fact that it was over. What will almost certainly go down as the most difficult day of her life was now complete.

Our boy was 8lbs, 2oz., 21.5" long. That 80th percentile head of his clocked in at 14.5in when it finally made it out. Margaret saved us from almost certain c-section.

In the aftermath, Laura walked out the next day feeling tired and sore, but great. Her swelling was mostly gone already, and is totally gone as I write this. Biggest Loser Laura was left behind in the hospital. Micaiah is definitely the most peaceful baby either Laura or I have seen. The moment he gets that one thing he was crying about, he goes back to his peaceful self within seconds.

God is more amazing than any of us will ever deserve.

This is the story of Micaiah's birth...if any men ask, you can summarize in man-eze by saying. "10 fingers, 10 toes, he came out with a Mohawk."

39 Week Appointment

2010-12-03T06:47:00.000-08:00

We went to the midwife again yesterday. I was so looking forward to this one because it was the first time they would check me for dilation and effacement. I was dying to know what kind of progress we had under our belt.

Well, so far I am 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced. 2 weeks ago, the other midwife had said that I was probably already pretty well effaced and 1 or 2 cm dilated. Every time I go in, they comment on how low he is too. So, basically... we have no idea when he will decide to come, BUT it's good to know that he's well on his way! He is in perfect position and locked in... ready to come out!! Whenever they feel him, they say that his butt it sticking out really far. I constantly have a huge lump on my left side where the little guys rump is sticking out. It is the cutest thing ever. I feel him stretch out his whole body... he arches his back and his butt stick out and I feel his feet on my other side. I LOVE IT!! He is so big.... he takes over my entire stomach at this point. Not much room in there anymore!

I was a little bummed after my appointment yesterday because they added a new midwife on staff and she saw me this time instead of my regular midwives. I guess I was anticipating seeing one of the midwives who knew me well and who had been seeing me often on the appointment right before my due date. But, oh well! It was kind of strange to see someone who knew nothing about me at this point and knew nothing about my past appointments. She was nice, but I LOVE the other midwives... they are hard to compete with. Plus, they spend so much time answering all your questions and making you feel like a friend... not just a patient. That's why we love them so much. Anyway, I had a mild breakdown on the ride home from the appointment yesterday :) haha. I've had probably 2 others of those... Will says I'm allowed at least 10 more. Ha ha. He is so patient with me.

This week has been really hard (just in my own brain). No one else or nothing else is making it hard on me. Not even the baby. I feel so blessed that I am having a healthy pregnancy and that the baby is doing great! It's just the battle in my mind that's got me stuck. I am trying SO hard to just remind myself of God's word over me every day and His promises. He has promised me so many things over this pregnancy, and I have to repeat them to myself to remember that HE is faithful and HE knows what He's doing. My prayer still continues to be, "God, let YOUR timing be done." Even when it's hard on me haha.

Anyway, prayers for strength during this time would be much appreciated. I'm just ready to be in the next season.

Otherwise, life is FANTASTIC!! Literally couldn't be better. Will and I are constantly amazed at how our lives got to this point and how the Lord took such good care of us through it all. We cry on a weekly basis just thinking about the goodness of Him and praising Him for pulling us out of so many things when we didn't have the strength to do it ourselves. This is the most overly abundantly blessed season of either of our lives!!

Since I'm not really able to go to church at this point (since my feet swell up so bad), Will and I had our own church service last weekend. We put on one of the worship services from our church in California, and literally worshiped for an hour and a half together in our living room. After about 2 songs, both of us were crying our eyes out because we felt the joy and release of the spirit in our home SO strong. It will probably go down as one of my most favorite memories with Will and God. If you haven't experienced Bethel worship, you should really check it out. These people are so pure in their hearts and worship, that you immediately feel led into the presence of Jesus. It's like Jesus just LOVES to be around when they start worshiping. Here's a video from Bethel and one of their songs on their Bethel Live CD. Will and I can't stop playing this CD because it is SOOO filled with the spirit. When you listen to it, you just want to cry. I feel like that's how it will be in the full presence of the Lord when we get to heaven.... we won't be able to stop crying because of the joy in our hearts spilling over.

Anyway, all that to say that we LOVE our church!!!!!

Thanks everyone for ALL your prayers surrounding us and our baby. Thanks for all the encouragement. I have such awesome family and friends!!!!

One. Two. THREE Christmases

2010-12-02T07:48:00.000-08:00

(I have no idea why this post is underlined, and it won't let me fix it....oh well)

We will officially be celebrating three Christmases as a married couple this year. I love Christmas time. I feel like it puts so many attitudes in the right place and gets people in the right thankful mindset. Well, that is if you're not one of those who is running around like a Chicken with your head cut off, stressing about what mall to go to on Christmas Eve. Ugh. That's the worst. I've learned my lesson the hard way. Putting all shopping and nonsense aside, I always love Christmas for its ability to let me recognize how thankful I am for God's goodness that past year. It helps me put my focus on people that I love and memories that I am fond of. It puts ALL focus back on family, which is a rare thing now in our culture. Will and I are determin

ed to forever make Christmas what it is supposed to be about... our savior's birth. That is a HUGE deal!! We don't want to do the whole santa thing. Our kids will know about him, just like they'll know that cartoon characters aren't real. But, we want them to really appreciate and take time to think of who Christ is and what the day truly means. We want to do a birthday party type thing. Every year, make a birthday cake for Jesus. Sing some worship songs. Give each other gifts out of a heart of wanting to appreciate the people in our lives that God has so richly blessed us with. I don't want the American spirit of Christmas to pollute what it is really supposed to mean.

ANYWHO... here we are. Our little family. 3 Christmases, and many many more to come!!!

2010 Christmas:

2009 Christmas:

2008 Christmas:

25 Reasons...

2010-12-02T07:07:00.000-08:00

I LOVE being pregnant and I am so blessed to be. Just purely for documentation later, I am going to make a list of all the reasons why I am excited for pregnancy to be over.

1. To hold my sweet, precious little boy (obviously)

2. To see my husband interact with the baby as a dad. This will make me want to cry, I'm sure.

3. To bend my abs. You know... when I get up from bed. When I'm stuck on the couch because I can't figure out a way to get out. That will be so nice.

4. To be able to shave my legs like a normal person. Heck, it will be nice to just be able to SEE my legs.

5. To not be so sensitive about every comment about the pregnancy. I understand people don't get it... but I'm ecstatic to no longer have the "wow your belly is big" or "is that baby here yet" comments. I have definitely learned all the things to NOT say to a pregnant woman.

6. To not burn up all the time. Especially to not sweat at night. It's so weird!

7. To not get on the scale and every time be way heavier than the last time. I understand there is a baby growing in me... but, wow, that's a lot of weight!

8. To finally recognize myself in the mirror. From what I understand, all the swelling goes away and my nose will not look like a clown nose anymore.

9. To be able to walk places without my feet hurting right away and swelling up like balloons. I seriously don't even remember what that is like. Will had to remind me that it is not a normal way of life.

10. To not wear maternity clothes. It's a love/hate relationship, really. I miss just shopping for normal things... and not worrying if they will fit over my belly.

11. To be able to curl up on the couch and just automatically be comfortable (without a thousand pillows supporting me).

12. To be able to hug my husband without a beach ball in between us.

13. To pick something off of the ground without feeling like I just lifted 100 pounds along with it.

14. To be able to make dinner in the kitchen without sitting on a chair to do it.

15. To not get frustrated at those people at restaurants who are all taking up the chairs and sofas while waiting for a table, completely oblivious to the 9 month pregnant lady who has been standing there for 20 minutes. Much worse, the people that run to get the empty chair without offering it to me. Oh the nerve.

16. To not have my identity in my belly. That's all people talk to me about.

17. To not have the stares everywhere I go.

18. To enjoy a movie (or anything else for that matter) without having to pee 20 times during it.

19. To be able to sleep on my stomach (or any other way I want)

20. To work out. Just to run... I don't even remember what it's like to run.

21. To eat whatever I want without my esophagus burning up.

22. To walk normally.

23. To do a karate kick, a spin, and a flip... if I so please :)

24. To have a back that is not constantly yelling at me to sit a different way.

25. To be able to sit through a whole church service without my legs getting numb and my ankles swelling to the size of Montana.

This is all mainly a joke, because I know this all comes with the territory. BUT, I thought it'd be fun to reminisce later and see that it was all really not that big of a deal (even when I feel like it's all consuming my life right now). Pregnancy is a funny thing. It's like you are SO excited about what's going on and what is to come... while at the same time so miserable in your own body. Well, I've really only been miserable for the past week or two. You don't realize the every day things you take for granted. I am convinced, though, that this is God's perfect way of preparing a mother even further for motherhood. I have never been more ready! 9 months of pregnancy really is a good amount of time. You go back and forth from, "ahhh, I am SO not ready" to "get this baby out of me before I die!" haha. Me being uncomfortable will make the whole experience that much sweeter when it's here.

And, no... baby is still not here (if you didn't catch that already). He is loving his cozy little private suite in there. I don't blame him. If I could live permanently in a hot tub surrounding me while I don't even have to think about eating or breathing... I might consider it. Every day it gets closer and closer. I am having way more contractions... and I'm glad that my body is preparing before the big day. God knows exactly what he's doing with that as well. I have been woken up by a few of them because they hurt. I am also noticing a bunch of other signs that I am already in pre-labor. So, get ready folks... because he is coming.

We have our midwife appointment today. I am so thankful for that because I would love to know what progress he is making, if any. We are going to pack our bag completely and take it with us just in case. Since the hospital is about 45 minutes away, it would be a bummer to go home and get it when we don't have to... if they tell me that I need to stay for some reason.

Anyway, thanks for all your prayers and excitement to see the baby.

I just ask for no comments on if the baby is here yet, or when he is coming. I know it's tempting, but this sensitive pregnant lady can't handle them at this point. I know it's my own emotions that have me there... but right now, I need encouraging words and words to keep my mind off of where I'm not. :)

Love you all!!

38 Week Appointment - Getting Closer!

2010-11-24T16:18:00.000-08:00

Another wonderful weekly update on baby Stern. Little guy is anxious to get out of there... and I'm anxious to get him out. I'm closing up shop if he doesn't come out soon! Haha just kidding. He can take his sweet ol' time if he pleases. I don't mind a few extra days enjoying my little man just me and him.

First, yesterday I went to interview another pediatrician. She was referred to me by several people at church, so I figured I'd like her. She was amazing. I am so glad that I found her. She is super conservative with vaccinations and totally supported me with my convictions on them. She actually encouraged me not to get some of them even before I told her my concerns with them. She thinks that the vaccination schedule these days is way too much for a newborn. She also spent tons of time talking to me and understanding my family history. She also gave me some tips on getting through these past days/weeks of pregnancy. So, finally, Cai will have a doctor to go to once he's born. Exciting.

Went to the midwife today again. First of all, good news that he is in the right position. After she told us last week that he was posterior, I have been working really hard on getting him turned around. I have been leaning on an exercise ball, trying not to recline or put up my feet, I've been on my hands and knees a lot. It's been uncomfortable but I REALLY didn't want to go through labor with a posterior baby knowing that it is way more painful and can add many hours onto labor. SO... I've been trying to let gravity do its thing to turn him around. And, she checked him today and said that he is in a great position! YAY because I definitely thought that he was still posterior. Basically, from me looking down on my belly, he is facing my back and his back and butt are all the way along my left side (which is why I constantly have a protruding butt sticking out) haha. And I feel his kicks mostly on my right side. She said that his butt sticks out a lot because he is stretching. Which makes sense... newborn babies are always doing that cute little stretch thing.

She also felt around my belly and said that his head is even lower and it can't get any lower. Basically, he is right in position for delivery. Crazy to think that he is in the spot he will be in for when I start pushing. Let me tell ya... this past week, I can definitely feel it!! He has dropped so low that it is painful to walk. I also was up for about 3 hours last night because my back was hurting so bad. Another indicator that he's ready to come out. Yesterday and today I have been having constant contractions (irregular) and can for sure feel my body doing some strange things. I'm great with my body doing whatever it wants to get ready for labor. That just means less to do when I actually AM in labor. The midwife said that usually people go into labor about 2 weeks after the baby has officially dropped. Well, the boy dropped about 2 weeks ago way into the birth canal. She said... "see ya next week... unless I see you before..." That's a weird thought.

My sister, Christen, is coming and will be here tonight. It would be really cool if he decided to make his grand entrance with his aunt Christen around. It wouldn't surprise me... she has a party everywhere she goes and everyone loves to be around her. She has more friends than anyone I've ever met. Micaiah is probably just excited to meet her :)

We plan on doing a LOT of movie watching and chilling out. She is so sweet and is making breakfast for us tomorrow and then is going to make some turkey, potatoes, cornbread, stuffing and pumpkin pie for us. I'm so spoiled. My midwife warned me not to stuff myself... she said that I may be miserable if I gain too much more weight and the baby still hasn't come by next week. But she can't see how that would happen considering he is about to fall out lol.

Anyway, I'm just here with my irregular contractions... wondering when they will turn into real ones. I'm being spoiled by my husband (whom I totally don't deserve) and soon I will be spoiled by my sister. I'm having constant heartburn (which is weird and random because I thought it went away) and I'm still hoping that the whole heartburn connection with a full head of hair is true. I'm just waiting and honestly loving it and taking everything in. This is my first baby and the beginning of a very huge and defining season for our little family. Time is, surprisingly, going by fast... even though I may not realize it right now. I still can't believe that I am only about a week away from the due date and next week is DECEMBER!? I'm enjoying my last days as a single couple with my hubby. We can't wait to meet our boy, but even through all the discomfort and anxiousness to see him... we are just enjoying life.

SO.... that's the update. Only the baby knows when he will come. So, don't ask me why I'm still pregnant, or tell me I look huge. Otherwise, I'll either smack you or I'll tell you that YOU look huge. Just kidding :)

But, seriously, I'm surprised at some of the awkward and so completely naive things that people say to a pregnant woman. It baffles me.

We are just waiting, like everyone else. I'm not sure of the exact date. So, we will update everyone and you will know when he is here because we will be posting a picture asap!!

Hope everyone has an awesome Thanksgiving, thanking the One who is truly deserving of our praise and taking time to notice how good He is to us. Jesus, You are so good!!

Learning to Relax

2010-11-23T07:36:00.000-08:00

Things are going good this week so far. Probably the hardest week I've had in my pregnancy, physically, but still going fine.

Yesterday was the most miserable with swelling.. but my most incredible husband (seriously he is) put my feet in a bucket of water, massaged them, and cleaned up the house. Gosh he is so great. I feel like our kids are the luckiest kids on the planet to have him as a dad.

Anyway, the back pain has begun. I don't like to complain about all these things because I know it just means that he is coming. It means that he is that much closer to being here. The swollen feet and hands just mean that he is pushing harder on all those blood vessels. The hurting back means that he's falling down further. It's exciting... while still uncomfortable. I do have an occasional break down here and there just because it hurts sometimes. But, I quickly snap out of it. My son will be here so soon!! I think my back hurts mainly because he is still posterior (from what I can tell). His spine is pushing against mine at this point, and it's causing some back pain. I've been trying everything possible to get him turned around. We got an exercise ball which has been awesome. I lean over it so that the gravity will (hopefully) make his back fall the other way. Even if I start labor with him in posterior, I'm having faith that he will turn. I'm also having more and more Braxton Hicks, which are sometimes kind of painful. My body is definitely starting to move along. Whether he is early, late, or right on time... my body is doing just what it needs to do.

My oldest sister, Christen, decided randomly yesterday that she would be coming to ATL to visit us this week. I am super close to both of my sisters, so I am really excited to see her. She is one of those people that is so easy to have around. She said she will just sit and watch movies if we want (which has been a lot of what I do anyway). She's so thoughtful and encouraging... I'm thinking this is the perfect time for her to come. Plus, she is convinced that I am going to go into labor this week. Haha. We will see about that. I'm trying not to think about it.

And, along those lines, I decided that I am taking a Facebook break. Probably until the baby is born. I have found that Facebook makes it even harder for me to mentally deal with the last couple weeks of being pregnant. I already have tons of people asking me if the baby is here yet day to day (which I love), but having it constantly on Facebook is hard for me. I also have found that I can't quite keep up with messages and phone calls lately. I'm having a hard time as it is just sitting on a couch, much less keeping up with emails and phone calls. I realize that this is a time in my life where it's ok to worry about myself. That's not to say I don't completely enjoy catching up with people... but I feel overwhelmed a little bit with how many people have asked to talk to me before I go into labor. I'm trying to keep my head calm and try to stay encouraged with the Lord and what He has told me about how he will provide during labor. So, for now, I'm going to stick with that and after the baby is out... I will be able to have an awesome testimony of His goodness and how He was there for me. So... I just thought people should know that just in case they feel like I'm not getting back with them. It's a weird season for me (since it is so new) and I'm trying to soak it all in.

Will's rule for me today was to not think about when baby is coming. I am allowed to be excited, but I need to just live my life like it is any other day. I'm not as mobile, so I just need to read a book or watch a movie. I need to recharge before he gets here. (Once again... what a good husband!).

So, that's what's up for now. Tomorrow we have our midwife appointment. Can't wait to see what they say this week :)

I'm still going to keep everyone updated on my blog, so don't worry!! :) haha.

37 Week Appointment- He's Comin!

2010-11-19T05:43:00.000-08:00

Here's me 37.5 weeks. Feeling huge, and proud of it. The little guy is growing so fast and every day I feel bigger and bigger. I'm totally learning to embrace it though because I know it is such a good thing.

We went to the midwife yesterday. It was our most exciting appointment yet :) And not just because Will learned some new things.... hahaha.

We got a little bored waiting in the exam room.

Here's the update on the little guy as of now. First of all, we got to meet the other midwife, Margaret. We have heard so many awesome things about her and we were wanting to meet her before the baby came because there is a chance we will have her or the other midwife... depending on who's on call. Margaret has been doing this for 25 years or something crazy like that. She is so knowledgeable in what she is doing. Anjli, her partner, is also sooo awesome. We feel so great about both of them and would love either one of them to be there. We feel blessed for that!

Anyway, the first thing she did was ask me how I was feeling. I immediately responded with, "good, but I'm ready to have this baby" and she said..."well, you know that first time moms usually don't have their babies early, right? Most likely you will be late. I'm guessing mid-December by the looks of your due date." Everyone has always told me this... that first time moms always go late. I have been telling myself this through the pregnancy, so I have been kind of expectant of it... not hoping too much. She said she just wanted me to know the reality of it so that I'm not disappointed. I appreciate that. Then she felt my belly... pushed him around to see where he was at. She looked at me with a surprised face when she felt lower down in my pelvis and said, "your baby is REALLY low." Coming from Margaret, I knew that she really meant it. She is the type of person that would not tell you something unless it was true. Again, she is a realist and didn't want to get my hopes up. She said, "I think he might fall out" :) haha. Then she asked me how long he has been dropped, to which Will responded "oh about 2 weeks." She was surprised by that too. But just in this past week have I felt like he has really made his way down. She quickly changed her mind and said, "well, you could have this baby in 10 days." AHH 10 days?? I've been telling myself that I still have 3 or 4 weeks left. It hit me so hard... yikes! And then as she was feeling around she had to stop because she could feel my braxton hicks contractions coming on strong. It was cool for her to confirm that that's what I've been feeling about 5,000 times a day. I just didn't know it. I asked her, since the baby is so low, what her predictions were on dilation and effacement (since they won't do an exam until 39 weeks). She said, I would guess that you are a couple cm dilated and 80% effaced. She said that she is hoping that I will get up to 5 or 6 cm before I even know I'm in labor... which, by the looks of things, could very well happen. I wouldn't mind that either!! :)

She felt around some more and said, "hmm, I feel too many baby parts by your ribs" she was feeling legs and arms, instead of feeling his back. The baby is obviously definitely head down and in the pelvis, but he is facing the wrong way :( Little booger. No wonder I've been feeling his every movement. My stomach is constantly looking like I have an alien in it because his arms and legs are facing outward instead of inward. I asked her if it was something to be concerned about and she said that normally it just means that you have a longer labor because the baby isn't fitting into the pelvis how he is supposed to. BUT, she said that in my case with the baby already being so low, "he must have a mind and a plan of his own." Haha, that's my boy.

So, she gave me some things to do to try and get him moved around. Will and I bought a birthing ball yesterday, which is supposed to be one of the best ways to turn him. She also told me to get on my hands and knees a few times a day and rock back and forth. Hopefully they help and he is not stubborn!

I really enjoyed hearing all of this because it means that everything I have been feeling is not in my head. Like, I've been feeling TONS of pressure on my pelvis this past week or two. Well, the baby is extremely low, about ready to come out! My bladder doesn't seem to have an off button anymore. I literally go to the bathroom about 5 times before I go to bed in hopes that I won't have to get up in the middle of the night... but still end up getting up anyway. When I have to use my abs to get out of bed, it's SUPER uncomfortable because the poor baby's head is pushing on me.

As with him being posterior... I always thought it was weird that I always felt his feet up on my ribs, when I was supposed to be feeling them on my side. Will and I also noticed for a while that my belly button hasn't "popped" out completely, which was always confusing. It's because a posterior baby wraps around the stomach in a C shape instead of there being a continuous back on my belly. Also, I've been feeling some grinding on my pelvic bone, which is just because he is not facing the right way and his head isn't fitting exactly right, like a key in a key hole. I also constantly feel his little arms and hands wiggling way down low which is one of the main indicators that he is the wrong way.

SO, I'm not a crazy person :) Well, maybe with other things... but that's another post.

I also learned that I have been losing weight. How weird! I feel like I'm eating more than ever, and somehow I am losing?? Last week, I didn't gain any weight. This week, I lost 2 pounds. I asked her if it was normal and she said it does happen, but it's really rare. So, hallelujah! Maybe I am losing some of this dang water weight! Ugh, it's so miserable. My fingers are bigger than Will's... no joke.

The other day, I was nesting more that I EVER have and I completely cleaned the apartment in one day. Seriously took about 4 or 5 hours scouring it. Suddenly I got a burst of energy... and part of me started freaking out that the place wasn't completely ready (in my mind) for the baby. I vacuumed, swept, mopped, cleaned the bathrooms, cleaned the kitchens, washed all the rugs, washed all the sheets, washed all the towels, did ALL the laundry and put it all away, pre registered for the hospital, gave Gibson a bath, made my husband lunch. I mean, I was literally out of my mind. Afterwards, my hips have never hurt so bad in my life. I tried to lie down... but it just made it worse. The only thing that gave me relief was the bath tub. Oh I love baths. This is how I know I was made for a water birth :)

Anyway, I truly believe that this little guy will be here really soon. Even putting all my hopes aside of him coming early, my body is showing all signs of an early arrival. I think everyone would be really surprised if he was late. If Margaret says he is coming, he probably is. This lady doesn't mess around. Ha. But, then again, you never know with these little babies.

She made sure I was registered at the hospital and all ready to go. She's also going to circumcise him after 2 weeks of birth. It's so nice that we will wait 2 weeks for that because I love having the peace of mind that he will have some time to let his little body start clotting blood and everything.

So, to sum it up... I am BEYOND excited, slightly freaking out, and still have some patience. I can't believe I will see the little face that has been growing inside of me soon. That I will touch the little feet that have been buried under my ribs. That I will kiss the little mouth that is constantly hiccuping inside of me. That I will smell the tiny head that I feeling pushing on me all the time. It's really not real to me yet, and probably won't be until he comes out.

For now, I am going to go on my daily walk and continue to try to get him in the right position to make his debut.

One thing Will and I know for SURE... we have been praying for him to come in the right time when he is healthy. Well, whenever he comes is whenever he is healthy. I can rest on that.

So, now that we are truly in the last days... any predictions on birth dates for the Cai guy? I'm still sticking to my November 25th... Will is still stuck on his Dec 3rd. Will he be a November or a December baby? I guess only he can decide.

36 Week Appointment

2010-11-12T06:01:00.000-08:00

We had our 36 week midwife appointment yesterday. Again, not much to report besides the fact that the little guy is doing awesome.

She said I am measuring 37 weeks... sooo maybe he actually WILL come early?? Either that, or I will have a big baby :)

I was surprised because I hadn't gained any weight in an entire week. This hasn't happened in my whole pregnancy (well, not since 1st trimester at least). Apparently the baby is still gaining weight, but I might start losing some weight due to losing some fluids and what not.

My test for Group B streptococcus came back negative. YAY. This means that I don't have to be put on antibiotics while I'm in labor. I hate antibiotics, so I was so excited about this. I guess it is a normal thing that women can have, and if passed to the baby it can be dangerous after birth where the baby can catch pneumonia and other sicknesses.

Anyway...

I am frustrated at ALL those people who told me that the last month of pregnancy is torture. Not really frustrated, just laughing. I didn't realize how much my body is made to do all this. This last month has actually been really enjoyable so far. I am surprised at how well I am able to get around, even despite the baby being dropped. I go on walks every day and it is really no different than when I was walking at 6 months. I may have to put my feet up more every once in a while, but it really isn't so hard. I'm so thankful for this. Because of what so many people had told me, I was expecting to feel like a train ran me over 50 times a day and that I would be miserable. I mean, my back doesn't even hurt. I still have 3 more weeks til the due date, but I am highly expectant to stay feeling good! :)

I watched some water birth videos online last night and it HIT me! I will be doing this veryyy soon, and it also hit me that I have an actual baby inside of me. All of the babies they were delivering were around the same age as mine and same weight. I have a real baby in me. That is so crazy.

I also learned that in the last month of pregnancy, a baby cries in the womb. Because they are practicing for life outside the womb, they will cry if they are hungry or scared from a noise. It makes me sad that my little guy might be crying. Well, obviously he's not crying... he is showing facial expressions that show that he's sad. Awww! Poor thing.

Haha. Anyway, that's it to update right now. It's basically just a waiting game at this point. Still hoping the little man comes early. Will and I made bets of when we thought he would come. Mine is November 25th and Will's is December 3rd. We will see! Hopefully we won't go until December 20th... but, if that's when he's ready, that's when he's ready.

Here's an update on what he's up to...he's actually more like a 37 week baby by now, but this is 36 weeks. Just in case you didn't know what everything is, it's labeled for you :) haha.

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely she's in a head-down position.

Walk Through The Years

2010-11-10T05:45:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was our 2 year anniversary. I can't believe that it has already been 2 years since that frigid cold day in November. The funny thing is, I didn't care one bit that it was 30 degrees and we were outside for 2 hours taking pictures. I was so enthralled with Will and so excited to be his wife. I felt like I was in a different world and nothing else mattered.

Today, I feel even MORE that way. I am so in love with this man that God has given me and feel incredibly blessed that God chose him for me. I truly feel undeserving... which makes it even more special.

We have been reminiscing and talking about the past 2 years... and all we can come up with is how much we love how much more we've fallen in love. There is so much more grace for each other in our marriage, there is so much more understanding, so much more just pure love for each other. It's beautiful :) Even through the, what most would consider, "hard times" that we've had... they have surprisingly brought us so much closer. Most newlyweds don't have to move across country twice in 6 months. Or most newlyweds don't have to have 3 different jobs, 3 different places to live, and 4 different churches in 6 months. This past year has definitely been interesting... but God gave us so much grace to go through it together that now all we can say is how extremely BLESSED we are because we came through it together and our marriage is stronger because of it. Isn't it great how God works? I trust Will more than ever before. He is the best spiritual leader and so dependable. I LOVE the thought of depending on him. It's wonderful.

Anyway, happy anniversary to my one and only love. Thanks for these amazing past 2 years and for always sticking closer to me every day!! Can't wait to see you as a dad in a couple weeks. I will love you even MORE (and I don't know how that is possible). You are incredible.

Love you, Will Stern :)

A look at our relationship through the years....

JANUARY 1ST 2008

Will invited me to The Call. Afterwards, he sat by me on the bus ride home and decided that he would officially "pursue" dating me :)

Will asked me on our first date. Best night ever. He showed up in a tie and coat with flowers in hand. Took me to Maggianos for a nice dinner and then to a fun coffee place afterwards.

FEBRUARY 2008

We took a trip early on in our relationship to visit my sister and RC in Columbus. Our very first road trip together.

MARCH 2008

I was in Florida visiting my family at the same time Will was in Florida with his family. They invited me to come up for a couple days to spend time with them. He also met my family for the first time.

Will is always making me cry when I laugh. He is so funny.

APRIL 2008

Early days of dating at Destiny.

MAY 2008

Random pictures in the park with Will's new camera.

JUNE 2008

Will met all of my dad's side of the family at my grandma's 80th birthday party.

Putt putt with my fam.

The airplane ride home, right before he proposed.

JUNE 30TH 2008

Proposed once we got home. I was a happy girl!

Engagement pics.

NOVEMBER 9TH 2008

After 10 months of dating and engagement, we tied the knot.

THE kiss.

First dance to the song he wrote me.

Cake in the face :)

Freezing cold, but I didn't care.

Honeymoon!!

About to take an evening boat ride over to Kokomo.

Stuck in the ocean on this stupid thing, going in circles.

Horseback riding through the Jamaican mountains.

DECEMBER 2008

Marriage license. It's official.

First Christmas.

Loving the snow.

MARCH 2009

First trip to Sanibel as a married couple.

Sanibel.

On the boat with my parents.

MAY 2009

Decided to buy some chickens when we visited my sister in Kentucky. Goes down as one of our favorite memories :)

SUMMER 2009

Decided to buy this little guy. BEST dog!!

FALL 2009

Frantically getting our house ready to sell once we decided to move.

DECEMBER 2009

Visited my family for my dad's 60th birthday. Went to Disney World.

We were, randomly, at the doctor's office with my grandma when she got the bad news that she had pancreatic cancer. She passed away 3 months later... but we were so excited to be able to spend time with her.

Christmas 2009

FEBRUARY 2010

Taking me to our favorite sushi restaurant for my 23rd.

March 2010

Found a place to live while in Louisiana.

APRIL 2010

Official move out date. We loved our first house.

The HUGE moving truck that poor Will had to drive for 13+ hours. Not fun.

About an hour into the move to Louisiana, I get a call from the doctor that I am pregnant. Talk about huge life changes all at once!

SUMMER 2010

Having some fun in Louisiana at some plantations.

4th of July in the Baton Rouge heat waiting for the fireworks.

Our first crawfish boil.

AUGUST 2010

Decided that we are moving to Atlanta. Out to dinner to celebrate (we were excited to leave LA).

Found out that our baby is a BOY.

We had to move within a week of deciding. Poor Will had to do all the moving since I was halfway through my pregnancy. He packed the entire huge truck in 105 degree weather. Louisiana has the WORST summers I have ever felt. Miserable. He's a trooper.

SEPTEMBER 2010

My sister and RC visited since we lived a little closer.

Getting closer to having the baby. Got a 4D ultrasound of the little guy.

NOVEMBER 9TH 2010

Picture from last night with the flowers he got me for our 2 years.

36.5 week picture of the big man.

Maggianos for our 2 year anniversary. One of our last official dates before Micaiah gets here.

What a journey!!!! So glad I had an amazing man to walk through everything with.

Can't wait for MANY more years with you, babe!!

6 Pound Baby

2010-11-05T17:19:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to get antsy. I want this baby to come out! Everyone has warned me that the last month is the hardest because you are in the most anticipation. Welp, I definitely feel that.

I'm also frustrated that I can't do normal things. Every day things are so dang hard! Making dinner, cleaning, bending over, shaving my legs, clipping my toenails, putting on my shoes, rolling over, getting off the couch, taking the dog for a walk, going out to do things...... ahhhh!!! I'm starting to go crazy. But, just in time because he is about to be here anyway and pretty soon all the pregnancy discomforts will be gone... and he'll be in my arms. I've just never been so excited to work out in my life. To go for a run, or to do some jumping jacks.... heck, just to even walk around the mall. My feet have been swelling like crazy. My midwife says that they're really not that bad and she's seen a lot worse... but yesterday, they were totally cankles. All I could do was laugh about it though.

Went to the midwife yesterday. Baby is still doing well. She estimates that he is about 6 pounds right now and will probably be in the 8 pound range by the time he comes (assuming he comes at 40 weeks). I was really surprised... but, considering I was 8lbs 7oz, I guess I really shouldn't be. She said that it is a really good thing because that is a very healthy weight. She also said that "bigger" babies aren't any more difficult to deliver. Whew. That's a relief. I just can't believe he's a 6 pound baby right now. I mean, 6 pound babies are born into the world all the time healthily. He is a full grown baby. Craziness.

Also, with the whole hiccuping a thousand times a day... I found out that it just means that he's practicing his breathing. He will "inhale" the fluid and swallow it and when he gets hiccups it is strengthening his diaphragm. He's gonna have nice healthy lungs when he comes out.

The midwife also said that it looks like he has dropped into the pelvis. I'm really excited about this because it means that we're that much closer to meeting him. I knew he had dropped in the past week because all of a sudden I felt tons of pressure and like I have to pee every 5 seconds (even if nothing comes out). I thought I had a go a lot before.... now it's ridiculous.

All I can say at this point is.... I am REALLY READY to have this baby. That doesn't at all mean that I am miserable, because I'm not. I actually didn't expect to feel this good in my 9th month of pregnancy. BUT, I am totally excited to not only finally have him here, but to have my body back too and to not feel like a couch bum anymore. I really don't have the energy to do anything anymore.... and I definitely couldn't if I wanted to without my feet swelling like balloons. So, the Lord is teaching me patience in this season. Just to be still.

One of our prayers is that the Lord would bring Cai RIGHT when he's ready and healthy to. So, even if it's 2 weeks early... that would ROCK. And we will also be confident that if he is late, that is also because he is not ready yet. We are confident in the Lord's plan.

Please be praying for strength and patience over me... and for a healthy little boy to keep growing how he is supposed to. :)

Welcome To Cai's Room

2010-11-02T11:21:00.000-07:00

The little guy's room is officially done. Well, we still have 4 frames to hang and put pictures in on one wall... but, besides that, it's done.

Take a peek :)

Pic from the doorway. New dark grey curtains from Ikea, new changing table, chair from craigslist, lamp from Ikea, owl picture from goodwill, rug from Ikea.

Can't wait to sit here with him.

His changing table. Diapers, clothes, towels, bibs, etc.

View of the new freshly painted yellow wall, his Ikea crib, the cool decor in the corner that my sister gave me.

The crib and the cute stuff above it.

Closet and ipod deck with non-stop worship playing :)

Just got those the other day from goodwill. Painted the birdhouse, vase, and sticks (from outside). We picked out some matching books there too.

Owl painted from goodwill and frame from there as well that I painted (no picture in there yet)

All the cute decor. I love that my sister's painting is the focal point :)

His white crib with the blanket that my grandma Moggie made before she passed away.

His outfit that we'll be taking him home from the hospital in. So crazy that I'll have a baby in those soon!

35 Weeks

2010-10-30T07:22:00.000-07:00

36 days. 5 weeks, 1 day. That is how much time I have until my baby boy's due date. Craziness I tell ya. Can't believe he is almost here. I know I say that every time, but seriously. Time is flying. The month of October felt like it came and went, literally. I feel like yesterday was October 1st. Here I am at the end and thinking about how November is my last month of pregnancy. Tomorrow will mark my 35 weeks of pregnancy and I can't wait to get to 37 weeks to know that he can healthily come into the world whenever he pleases!!

Anyway, now that I got my shock out of the way, I will tell you about baby Cai.
First and foremost, this child is like a hiccup machine. I mean, it could be his full time job. Well, right now it is. But, ever since he switched to the birth position upside down, it is like hiccups every 2 hours or so. They are so cute and precious, and I can just picture him in there. Just knowing that about 10 weeks ago (when we had our 3d sonogram) he was smiling and making facial expressions (like the pic below)... I can only imagine what he does now. Oh this child melts me already.

We had our 2nd appointment the other day with our new midwives. Although our appointment was at 4:30 and we didn't get in until 6, it was totally worth it. These women are so sweet and down to earth. Ideal situation for someone taking care of you. They act like friends, really. These women are literally bombarded with new patients every day. They are so popular in Atlanta (because people are starting to take control of their births, thank goodness) so they are overwhelmed. But, that's a good thing! Anyway, everything is good with the baby. No high blood pressure, nothing. Just uneventful... and thankful for that!

The past week or so I have finally been experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions. It's crazy to know that my body is getting ready for labor. One day, they lasted all day long. Not fun. The worst was yesterday when I was taking Gibson on a walk, and on my way back I got one of those ligament pains REALLY bad on my side. I could barely walk. I finally made it up the stairs and plopped on the couch while Will looked at me all confused. He tried pushing on the baby to move it and lifting my legs to get the baby out of a weird position. It actually helped, but wow, I hope I don't get many more of those!

Will and I also went to this mandatory 2 hour water birth class at the hospital. I guess, because it's a hospital, they require it so you know everything about it. The lady teaching it has been a L&D nurse for 18 years and is super knowledgeable about natural birth and is passionate about it. It was nice to hear that all of the nurses we will have are going to love being there... they won't look at me like "is she crazy??". They are used to it and enjoy it. Anyway, the class was actually super informative and I'm glad we learned everything there is to know. Apparently water birth has been around for a LONG time... it was first recorded in medical journals in 1800 and it was around even before then. They described how it's actually a very natural thing to want to do. They call it the midwife's epidural because it takes to much stress and pain off of your body. When I get to the hospital, the nurses will only monitor me for the first 30 minutes, and then after that I am free to walk around or do whatever I want. It's awesome. They suggest not getting into the water until you're 5cm or more because it relaxes your body so much it can slow down labor. So, I'm going to try to tough it out at home as long as possible and go in when I feel like I'm in tough labor. The nurses won't monitor me unless they see signs to need to. They'll let me do my thing. Also, once the baby is born, it will probably be tough for me to catch the baby being in the water so they said that the dad gets to catch the baby. It made me want to cry just thinking about it. Then, while I'm getting out of the tub and doing all the after birth stuff, they said that they let the dads take the baby to the heat warmer and clean them off and wrap them up. How precious. Will is super excited about that!! What a great bonding time. I just LOVE our midwives, nurses, and hospital. Will and I say over and over again how BLESSED we are to have found them. We really feel like they are doing things God's way (even if they're not Christians). I still believe that this is how God intends childbirth to be. I am so at rest that the first decisions I get to make regarding the overall health of my baby are good ones. I won't be affecting him with medications and stressing him out with induction. Childbirth is already stressful enough on that poor baby... I am just so at peace knowing that he can come how he wants to come with no one making him do otherwise (unless he's in danger of course).

As for me, I am feeling great still. I think I don't realize how big my belly is most of the time. My belly is the least of my discomforts... it actually doesn't feel that big (I know it LOOKS humongous). I really don't have back pain. I also have been sleeping just fine, which has been awesome. Ever since he turned upside down I can lay more comfortably on my side without squishing him. He is also big enough now that he doesn't do as many huge movements... they're just him sticking his butt out or a foot or something. So that makes it a little easier. I don't think that he has ever sit very high on me, so I can usually breathe fine thankfully. He is to the point where his feet are constantly right at my ribs, so there's the occasional shock when I get a huge kick to my bones. But, I am even thankful for those, because I know he's healthy :) I am even learning to embrace the swelling if I have to. Pregnancy is such an amazing thing, and I am just going to let it take its course. I truly feel like a balloon sometimes, but who cares! I was actually really proud of myself because at my last doc appointment I only gained 3 pounds in 3 weeks, which is exactly what I should have done. YAY.

Today we are going to finish up his nursery, hopefully. We just have to grab more paint. I can't wait to post pictures... it is looking so cute in there. We are also going to run to the store and get all of the hospital bag things that we need. With natural childbirth, there's a lot of extra things that they recommend getting. My midwife even told me to pack a bunch of food just in case I want to eat during labor. How cool (and unheard of) is that? No IV for me!! Woo hoo. I already have the baby's bag packed, which was easy. But the bag for me is kinda a huge list. So... it will be fun to work on that. Gotta be prepared just in case he chooses to make his arrival in a couple weeks!

Will and I are still REALLY enjoying our new church. Last week we taught kids church, which was so awesome. We love being involved in kids ministry knowing that our child will be there soon. We really value it. It's getting harder for me to get involved considering that I can't stand up for very long without my feet throbbing. Next weekend will be mine and Will's first time leading worship at Bethel. We are so excited. Even though I'll only be 4 weeks from birth, I still couldn't wait to be a part of it. Will asked them if I could sit on a stool just in case, and they laughed and said that I could bring a bed if I want. I love our church! So easy going. Last week, they said that they want church to feel like a living room where we invite the most important person in to spend time with us and relax with Him. I love that visual. I think God likes that too :)

Will and I celebrate our 2 year anniversary on November 9th. We went to the Georgia aquarium last week to celebrate part of it because we knew that I wouldn't be comfortable walking around much longer. It is the biggest aquarium in the world. It was soooo awesome seeing God's creations like that up close. I can't believe how fortunate our generation is to be able to see things like that. We got to pet sharks, sting rays, horseshoe crabs, shrimp, etc. It was fun. I didn't take many pictures because I felt huge that day. But oh well. This one is cool and doesn't even partly describe what we saw. These are whale sharks and they were HUGE!!

Anyway, enough for now. I've been typing forever.
Now to go spend time in this chilly fall weather. Georgia is so dang beautiful!!!! Ever since we moved here it's seriously been perfect weather. I love it.

Enjoy your weekends, lovelies :)

All My Beautiful Junk

2010-10-29T09:15:00.000-07:00

I have a new obsession. Goodwill. And Craigslist. And garage sales.

Ever since I discovered that you can find some cool things at goodwill if you go in with artsy eyes... I have been hooked. Will has to tell me not to go every week :)

So... I know I should have taken some before pictures of these things, but I completely forgot. Now you get to see the finished products.
I went into goodwill one day, mainly just to look and hope that I find something really cool that I have needed for a long time. When I didn't find any such thing, I looked at their whole "trinkets" aisles. You know... the ones where normal people would say "what is this junk?". Yeah, well, I was in heaven. I LOVE looking at things with new eyes and wonder what I can do to make them fit my home.

Here's some stuff I got. I'll try my best to explain what it looked like... but basically, a lot of this stuff was gosh darn ugly. Seriously like, who would ever buy that?
I spent about $20 total and had so much fun redoing them. I must be in full force nesting mode or something because all I want to do are crafts.

I got these awesome wood box containers for about $1 a piece. They used to be just pure wood with writing on them like "sugar" "flour" etc. Basically, they looked super old and gross. Just a little glossy black spray paint and, voila! Pottery barn look a like.

These are 2 of my favorites. For the baby's room, we are doing an owl type theme. I found this frame with the picture in it for $1. The frame was an ugly wood with no paint or stain. I just painted it black and it looks brand new. Like it came from Anthropolgie or something. And that little white ceramic owl was probably the ugliest of them all. It was yellow and said "Georgia on the bottom" and was apparently a thermometer. I so envisioned painting it a glossy white and making it look like it was brand new. Now I love it and it will fit perfectly for the baby's room.

I got that shelf for $2. It used to just be a wooden shelf with rusted looking metal off of it. I'm telling you... so ugly. I mixed some different paint colors together and came up with a soft orange for the shelf and we spray painted the metal bright glossy white. So this looks brand new too. AND we finally have somewhere to hang some hand towels. Our apartment didn't have them?? So weird. It so beats paying $20 for a new one that doesn't have much character.

Got this little wooden piece for $2. It was just plain wood and looked like it had come out of a Cracker Barrel store. So not my style. BUT... I envisioned some blackish/greyish paint on it and knew we needed a place to hang our keys (since some very cute husband often misplaces them) :) and we LOVE it. A great place for our keys, garage door opener, and Gibson's leash. We thought about putting our mail on there too.

I LOVE this one!! We didn't yet have anything over our bed because we were focusing so much on the other rooms. So our bedroom looked pretty bare. I got these 5 frames for $1 a piece. They were plain wood and the paper in them looked like it came out of the 50s. They were gross. Soooo... I painted each frame with a soft brownish/grey and they look brand new. We headed to Hobby Lobby and picked up some scrapbooking paper, all in the same style and color but different to avoid being matchy. Then, Will did his thing and hung them up perfectly. Sorry, I didn't take a picture of our whole bed or bedroom because I just did 3 loads of laundry and I am in the middle of putting them away.

Here's a close up of some of the frames.

And, as for Craigslist, sometimes it can be hit or miss. People will put up a junky wooden chair that is falling apart for $100 just because they think it is valuable. When, in actuality, it is junk. Well... I have been looking and looking and have been patient with my hunt for a chair for the baby's room. I didn't necessarily want a rocker because I actually don't want the baby to be rocked to sleep. When I nannied, I learned this the hard way when the kids would get addicted to the rocking and wouldn't fall asleep any other way. So, I was looking for a comfortable chair that would be ideal for those late night feedings. Ideally I wanted one with an ottoman where I could put up my feet and fall asleep if I wanted to. I wanted one that supported my back well and my arms since I will be holding the baby and feeding him. Yesterday, I was looking on craigslist again and found this awesome chair for only $100. I was shocked because everything eles I have been looking at for $100 has been so old or worn. And, surprisingly, most people weren't willing to budge on their price. So, I almost settled for an older overstuffed chair for $60 and we were going to reupholster it for fun, but then I came across this beauty. It's only 2 years old, leather, and so comfortable. I snatched it up right away. We brought it home and cleaned it and it looks brand new. I love it!!

We also had our washing machine break the other day (boo!). So we have been on a washing machine hunt ever since. We have checked craigslist but have found that most people only want to sell their washer and dryer as a set or people are ridiculously over-pricing their stuff. PLUS, Atlanta is humongous and it can take 2 hours just to get across the city (at least). So... I was bummed that I really couldn't find anything of good value or in good condition in our area. I saw that there was a garage sale today about 5 minutes away, so I decided to check it out. They had a 2 year old washer (really nice) going for $200 and I asked her if she would take $150. She said fine! We looked it up... this is an $800 washer!!!
So we still have to pick that up....but I am so excited. It is a top loader (our current one is a front loader) and I get so tired of bending down and pulling the twisted clothes out of the washer as they fall on the floor. So I am VERY excited about a top loader.

AND, as for Cai's room... it is coming along but we ran out of paint. SO, I think we will be finishing that this weekend and I will definitely have pictures to post.

Love you all and hope you have an amazing weekend :)

Michelin Girl

2010-10-07T13:27:00.000-07:00

Things have been a little nutso around here. Let's just start off by saying that the "leak" from the "ceiling" that we had goin on in our apartment was more like a flood from a broken pipe behind our wall. Lovely. Water all over kitchen and on the other side soaking our carpet. Tear open the wall to find some mold that has been stirring in our house for the past week. Thank goodness the weather has been nice because we just open all our doors and windows all day to keep fresh air flowing through. Although my allergies have been crazy, the doctor said it shouldn't be a big deal and just to stay away from it as much as possible.

Speaking of doctor... we got to meet our new midwives!! Will and I went to their monthly "meet and greet" last night at the hospital. I was literally expecting one, maybe 2, other couples to be there. Nope. Probably 50 people total. It was awesome. The midwives got to talk about themselves and answer any questions. They are SO on the same track as we are with everything we believe. It is so amazing to feel like we won't be pressured into anything we don't want to do. Induction and any other interventions aren't routine. They base everything they do on the baby. So, if the baby is ok... then they just wait it out. They don't even induce if the baby is "late" because they understand that some babies take longer than others ( so, if I'm past the due date, don't ask me when they are going to induce me) :) They take precautions, but once again it's up to the baby. The baby won't be taken from me the entire time I'm there (except for the admission into the hospital and the pediatrician to check him over). But, even then, I am able to go along if I want. Otherwise, they put the baby directly on the heat lamp when he is born which is right next to my bed. They do all tests and checking over right in front of me. And, they don't do anything out of routine... they ask before doing anything. They have birthing tubs if we want to use them (which is great)! I'm not a weirdo for wanting a water birth, I just honestly think it would be way more comfortable to be in water while in labor than on a hard bed in a weird position. So, I plan on doing that... we just have to take a waterbirth class in a couple weeks (by law). One of the midwives has been doing this for 30 years or so and has experience with every type of situation. She is comfortable with whatever is going to make me comfortable. They are both so knowledgeable about everything to do with natural birth, and they are so passionate about it. We feel so blessed to have found them.

The hospital is really nice! We are getting used to the 40 minute drive more and more. It's really pretty easy to get to. The midwives took us on a tour of the L&D floor as well as postpartum. They said that all uneventful births get to leave within 24 hours of delivery, which is nice. Their offices are conveniently right across the road.

We went today for my appointment and the midwife talked to us for about an hour. It was great. She answered all our questions and was so supportive!

Here's the update so far. Little guy is in the head down position facing the right way. This is awesome! Will and I have been praying every day for our list of things that we are believing for for the childbirth and for me and the baby. Such as, healthy, easy labor/delivery, no episiotomy, no interventions, and that the baby would get in the right position at the right time. She had to feel around for a while and couldn't tell exactly, so she did an ultrasound and saw that his head is just where it needs to be. He is locked in until delivery. It's no wonder I have been feeling tons of pressure on my pelvic bone. When I walk it feels like bone is pushing on bone (which, I guess it kind of is). Not comfortable. BUT, so glad that he's getting ready to come. I've also been feeling those little kicks getting right up under my ribs. It's a love/hate relationship with them :) I don't blame him. Sometimes I squish him. Ha.

As for me... my weight is still steadily increasing. I have gained about 34 pounds... and I definitely feel like it. They try to aim for no more than 35 pounds by delivery, but it looks like I'm passing that up. Kinda frustrating because I feel like I've tried just about everything to slow it down, but I think my body knows what it's doing. SO, I'm just along for the ride now. I'm waiting it out and we will see. No need to stress about it. She said sometimes if you don't eat enough protein, it can cause extra water weight. Will and I both laughed because I am not a huge meat person. Unless it's a nice juicy steak, I probably won't eat it. So most of the time I am feeding Will my leftover meat (which is all but about 2 bites). I may try to add more protein in my diet to see if it helps the swelling.

Oh, and by the way... if you notice that a pregnant woman is looking a little puffier than normal.... big tip: DO NOT point it out. I've had so many people say "You look more swollen" or "your face is puffier". REALLY people?? What if I said that to you? Haha.

We officially became Georgia residents yesterday and got our licenses. I was dreading taking that picture because I know I'm swollen and my cheeks look like a chipmunk. But, I sucked it up and did it anyway. I will be changing that picture as soon as we change our addresss. Believe me.

Oh well, it's part of the joy of pregnancy.

At least my baby boy is healthy... even if he is having fun making me swell like a marshmallow.

Oh, and don't expect anymore pictures of me to be posted on the internet while I'm prego. Not only am I rarely dressed up, but I also don't look like myself. So... sorry. Deal with it haha.

(Hence the blog title and picture. This is how I feel).

So, this is what the baby looks like these days at 31 1/2 weeks. At about 18 inches and almost 4 pounds... he's really starting to have cramped living quarters. My stomach is lobsided all the time. So weird looking!

Can't wait to meet him!! (and, as a plus, I can't wait too see my feet again!). So many things to look forward to within the next 8 weeks or so ;)

Let God Burn Your Heart

2010-09-30T07:55:00.000-07:00

As I write this, I can't help but cry. My heart is filled with emotion today. Not just over injustice, but over what God's heart is crying over. It's overwhelming!

I have always been passionate about babies. Literally from the time I was 3 (a baby myself), all I wanted was a baby. God had put on my heart at an early age to see the value in them. I grew up loving them even more. I remember a particular conversation I had with my dad driving in the car one time at about the age of 7. He asked me, "what do you want to be when you're older? What makes you really excited?". Without even thinking I sai"d, "babies!". He then went on to help me think of all of the careers that had to do with babies. I grew up wanting to be a baby doctor, until I was in my 2nd year of college. I realized, it's not that I necessarily want to be a doctor... I want to SAVE babies. So, from very early on, God has been refining and burning me from the inside out with HIS passion for babies and children.

Will and I went to The Call in 2007. This was the most monumental point in my entire walk with God. 12 hours of fasting and prayer... and I have never heard God so clearly. So many incredible things were birthed in my heart... and I didn't even realize it until a few weeks after. I was filled with the Holy Spirit during those 12 hours, and immediately after that I felt completely overwhelmed with God's presence. I think I was crying for the last 5 hours of the meeting. Not out of sadness, but I have never been so close to God's physical presence before, that I couldn't help but let my emotions out. They were praying about things on God's heart... like Israel, and prayer, and fasting. But the one that caught my heart the most (it felt like God had caught my heart with a humongous fishing hook and reeled me in) was on the topic of abortion. Before this day, I always KNEW it was wrong... but because I wasn't as in tune with the Holy Spirit and God's heart on the issue, I couldn't truly understand why. I felt so many things... anger towards our world, anger towards the abortion "doctors", anger towards the girls who killed their babies. But God quickly took my mind in a different direction. Love for these lost people, and love for these helpless babies. I walked away from that meeting feeling more physically tired than ever before, but more amped up in my spirit than ever before.

A few weeks later, Kirk Bennett came to speak in our church. Will and I got words over our lives... and he said one particular thing over me. That I would be having dreams from God more often and that they would be during times that I'm half awake and half asleep. I had never had what I considered a "God" dream before. So, I was excited to go on this new venture with the Lord.

A couple nights later, I was in my apartment and had a dream. This was definitely a God dream. I had never experienced anything like it before. I was definitely half awake and half asleep... and, to this day, still don't know if it was reality. In my dream, I was in my room in my bed (this is why I don't know if it was reality or not... I never had a moment of waking up) and I heard whispers. I looked around my room and saw black figures swirling around all around my bed. I have never been so afraid! I kept hearing "you can't have them" ... and, in the spirit, I knew they were talking about abortion. Immediately fearful, I pulled the covers over my head and didn't want to see anymore. I looked out one more time and saw a HUGE flash of the brightest white light I have ever seen. It completely consumed that black figures. And they were gone. Although my spirit had just been stirred like never before, I was also so afraid. I heard God telling me to hurry and get a notebook and write this dream down (which I had never done before). So, I ran out and found some paper and wrote down every detail. I asked God what it meant and He said that, because of my new passion for His heart and against abortion, satan wanted to make me fearful. God said I was going up against the scariest spirit of all...death. But that is no reason to shrink back. God's light consumes it all.

Anyway, there was more to that... but I'll keep going. So, people kept randomly confirming this about me. That I am called to stand against huge armies of death. I may be alone sometimes, but to not be afraid. Literally word after word from the Lord encouraging me.

Then, my church had another speaker come in, Lou Engle, who spoke at The Call when I was there and who is also one of my heroes. I got to speak with him before the service and he asked me to sit next to him. He asked me about myself.. I wanted to share so badly with him what has been going on with me since The Call and how many things were birthed in my heart because of His faithfulness to the Lord. Just a note...Lou has been praying for abortion to end for YEARS and now has a huge calling and anointing to go around the world speaking about it (he was even on CNN). Anyway, I told him about my dream and he stopped me and said, "you know what this means, right? This is your calling in life. God is preparing you for something big, and you need to be prepared for it. It may not happen for years, but it will happen." Then, his wife prayed over my womb, knowing that satan would be after our children because God has called me to this area.

Fast forward to now. Here I am pregnant... amazed at God's goodness, even through battles. He is still stirring my heart to do the things on His heart but I am even more passionate. I can't stop crying this time thinking about it because it hits me on a personal level this time. As I sit here feeling my little boy roll in my belly and kick my ribs, I am amazed at God's creation. Amazed that God has BLESSED me to care for one of His children. This blows me away. Why was THIS child called to me in OUR family. It's a cool thing to think about.

And then I am immediately disturbed at our world. Why would anyone choose to destroy a life? Just because the child cannot speak or fight for itself does not in any means make it ok to kill. Why are people put in jail on two counts of murder when they murder a pregnant woman, but no one says anything to the "doctor" who kills innocent babies every day of their life...knowingly! Why won't people wake up and see what is really taking place here? Why don't people care about the genocide?

These are the thoughts that go through my head on a daily basis. What can I DO God??? I feel so worthless... like there is nothing I can do. I literally cry every time I think about it. Even just seeing my baby at 8 weeks... moving around with very visible arms and legs. People, day by day, are ripping apart, limb by limb, babies at 8 weeks.

So, here I sit. Going through all the words people have given me. Going through the dreams that God has let me see. Seeing that this hasn't been an accident. God has been preparing me from a young age to be the voice for a generation that literally has no voice. To represent the scream over the nation that couldn't hear the millions of screams from these babies being murdered. God is slowly, but surely, preparing me. He is letting me become so passionate and so mad at the sin in the world, that I won't be afraid to show it. I won't be afraid to stand up. I won't be afraid to be persecuted for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Here I am saying, "God, do with me what You want. I want to be used by You". Not just when it's convenient for me... but when God says "GO". I don't want to be a selfish person who only looks at MY life and is ok with living for my plans and purposes. I want to be the person who looks continually on God's heart and says, "God, what is making you hurt today?".... and then doing something about it. I want to be a person who is not afraid of people hating me and calling me names. Nothing is worse than what Jesus endured. I'm willing to do whatever it takes.

I challenge you to find that thing that God has drilled into your spirit. I can guarantee, it's at least one thing. It's not something you are passionate about... it is something that God's heart cries out for. Find that thing... pray over it, cry over it, find scripture over it, practice talking to people about it. DO something about it. We were called, as God's people, to live as His hands and feet on this world. How can we expect to do that when we are so consumed with how WE think life should look? Have you ever thought that maybe God doesn't at all see life as Americans view life? Be willing to sacrifice for the gospel.

Will and I moved to Atlanta after a very trying time in Louisiana. We moved here, no job... nothing. Just our faith on the fact that God TOLD us that we needed to be here for this church. We are here, first and foremost, for God. Not a job... not a hobby... not money... for GOD. This season has been the most blessed season of both of our lives because we chose to make that our number one concern.

If you're a believer in Christ, I just ask you to not be afraid to look different. Not be afraid to have people be mad at you. God never promised everyone would love us... actually, just the opposite. Expect the fact that Christians look different, and they should. The moment we start fitting in with the rest of the world is when there is a problem.

Let God burn your heart and let go of your own plans. THIS is when we will truly stand out and separate the darkness from the light. This is when we will see changes and welcome Jesus back in.

Ezekiel 22:30 - ...So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land...

30 Weeks... and counting

2010-09-26T15:50:00.000-07:00

I always knew I hated spiders. They have too many legs... and they are always sneaking up on you. It's like, can't you just be walking in plain sight instead of creepily crawling on my face while I'm sleeping?

Well, I have a brand new hatred. A loathing, if you will, of a certain nasty bug. Georgia has TONS of roaches. Even growing up a Florida girl, I don't EVER remember seeing this many roaches. We have already seen a couple in our apartment (especially when it rains) and I am already totally disgusted by them. These aren't just little beetles. These are like what you see in horror films. HUGE. NASTY. BUGS. They're fast too.

Anyway, I just had to start off by saying that. If for some reason I vanish and no one knows where I am, it was probably the army of roaches coming to get me in the night. UGH, it gives me the willies.

SO, now to talk about what I came on here to talk about. I am 30 weeks prego today!! Feels like such a relief to say that I am in the 30s. Crazy, really. It really is the home stretch. And I will be a mom in 10 weeks. YIKES!!!

This is what the little guy is up to these days...

"Your baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)"

Kinda cool, huh? I think so.

He is moving like crazy lately. Seriously all the time. Maybe he was always moving this much but now he is big enough to notice every single move. My stomach is constantly looking like an alien is trapped inside. Oh, and my ribs and pelvic bone have apparently become really fun to kick and jab. Uncomfortable, but I love it. It always makes me smile. I love that he is getting so big.

As for me, I am officially experiencing things I have never experienced before. My feet and hands are swelling like crazy. My shoes don't fit. Seriously, none. Except my flip flops. So, I had to go out and buy a few. I also can't stand up long because my feet start to throb and swell. I also can barely bend over anymore... which is strange. Will has to buckle a pair of my shoes for me... and I told him that he may have to start clipping my toenails (now, if THAT isn't love, I don't know what is). Sleeping is basically impossible. I think this is God's way of preparing me for sleepless nights... which is why I don't mind it too much. I've found that it's really hard to get comfortable. When I lay on my side (which is the only way I can lay), the baby goes crazy because I'm probably squishing him. So then it's even harder to sleep. Oh the joys.

I do really miss feeling somewhat small. I truly understand why women who are pregnant feel so large. It's not necessarily because of the actual belly. I expected that. It is all the extra bloating and water weight... every part of me looks huge... to me at least. My face looks different to me too. I am also WAY clumsy. Gosh, I don't know what the heck is up...but I've probably broken 5 glasses in the last month or so. This morning, I reach over to grab my orange juice glass in the bathroom and somehow end up throwing it onto the edge of the toilet. Glass, and orange juice, everywhere. Even in the toilet. Will just laughs at me.

BUT, all in all, this whole process is way more than worth it and so enjoyable because I get to help God in a miracle. He gave me this baby and created it... and He is trusting us to bring up one of His children. I feel so honored.

Also, I was talking to a girl at church about childbirth (she just had a baby a few weeks ago). She recommended a certain midwife in downtown Atlanta who delivers at the hospital but also does waterbirth. This would be ideal, in my opinion. Will and I haven't been too extremely excited about the midwife I have now. There's nothing wrong with her... but you still get the feeling that you would have to be defending yourself and fighting the whole time to receive the natural childbirth you want. I have heard lots of good things about this other midwife, so I am really hoping that I can get in to see her. We feel so much more peace about it. We will see :) One cool thing about it is that the labor rooms are all with windows to the downtown skyline. That would be awesome... just a perk I guess. Might as well have something cool to look at while I'm in agonizing pain ;)

Anyway, all is well with us. We are still loving Atlanta and feel like this is the best season of our lives. God has so richly blessed us in every way. We talk about it constantly.

Now, if I can figure out a way to demolish all Georgia roaches, we will be good.

ps. Random thought: if you haven't seen the movie "To Save a Life" yet... it is awesome. A christian movie, and totally the best one I've seen yet. Will liked it too. Go get it... it's in Redbox.

Showers of Baby Love

2010-09-23T06:59:00.000-07:00

We had our baby shower this past weekend in St. Louis. Will and I, of course, had so much fun on the road trip. We didn't want it to end. We've gotten so used to this whole road trip thing that it almost feels normal to us. We drove back and forth to Louisiana 3 times (11 hours), back and forth to Atlanta 2 times (10 hours), and back and forth to St. Louis once (10 hours). All in about a 7 month period. Ha.
We got there right at about 6 and went to drop off Gibson at my sister's apartment. It was so awesome to not have to worry about him all weekend. We went straight to the Stern's to have a family dinner. We hung out and played games. It was so fun to see everyone again. Then, on Saturday, we took some pictures of my brother and sister in law and their sweet little family. It was SO much fun seeing the girls again. I love them so much and they are growing up incredibly fast. Jadyn especially was weird to see because when we left she was barely talking and still looked like a baby. Now she's miss chatterbox and with a whole personality of her own. It was so cute!! Jess and I took a belly pic of the two cousins together. She is having another precious little girl. It's strange to think that these two will grow up together and know each other for their whole lives.

After the shoot, Will and I headed over to hang out with my sister Kate and my parents (who were in town). My other sister and her husband were supposed to be in town at this point but they ended up driving an hour out of the way, during that hour they got a flat tire. While they were changing the tire, their battery died on the car (all at night). So, they headed back home and ended up getting in STL Saturday night. I felt so bad! Talk about a funny memory. :)
It was sooo much fun to hang with my family. We went out to lunch, got some stuff for the shower, and then went back to Kate's to take a nap. I love that about my family. They are so easy going and you can just crash if you want to. Saturday night we went to Destiny for church and got to catch up with TONS of people. It was cool to be back and worship with family. After that, of course, Will and I HAD to get Lion's Choice (one of our favorite places to eat in STL). So his family came with us and we all had some good laughs (and good food).
The next day was the busy one. We got up for early service at church and my family met up with us. We went out to get BBQ with my fam afterwards which was fun. We went straight to the shower after that and I was amazed at how much people did for us. We had friends and family there setting up and making food. It was awesome!! We felt SO loved the whole day. Once people started showing up, it was non-stop catching up, talking, opening presents for the next 3 or 4 hours. I have seriously never been more exhausted or overwhelmed in my life. It wasn't a bad thing... it was just that my prego body doesn't have as much energy. Will and I ended up losing our voices a little. There were probably about 60 people that showed up (well, 60 invites... so including all the husbands and kids, there were a LOT)... all people that we haven't seen in a long time. So, I was so eager to catch up with each person. The sad part was that it was impossible to completely catch up with each person. So, it was mainly quick conversations. I found myself getting so overwhelmed, and I really had to use the bathroom. It took me about an hour to get to the bathroom :) My friend Stacie was my body guard and made sure I made it, uninterrupted, to the bathrooom and to get some water and food. Ha ha. I loved it though and I am so excited that I got to see everyone. We feel SOOO loved and blessed by all these awesome relationships. We couldn't believe how adored our son already is :)
Here's some pics of the shower...(the pics were taken with my point and shoot and I forgot to turn the flash on for my sister who was shooting the pics. So, there's a lot of flat lighting, which I hate. But, oh well) :)

My Mom and Dad :) :)

Me and my beautiful sis, Christen

Christen jumpin on the trampoline haha

Will a little TOO excited about the nursing pillow ;)

I love cute baby shoes

Cai Cai's cake ;)

Some decor

Showin off my big belly

Opening gifts

After the shower, we hung out with Will's fam a little and then Will and I just HAD to lie down for a bit. We were so exhausted. Once we got up, we went and hung out with my family one more time since we knew we wouldn't be seeing them otherwise. Will and I packed the car the next morning (I should have gotten a pic of that haha) and headed back for home.
We got so many great gifts and got to see so many great faces!! Thank you so much to all of those who came to our shower or helped out in any way. You are truly a blessing in our lives.

We can officially say that we have everything we "need" which is nice!! There are a few things on our list of "would really like, but we don't need" that we will get eventually. We feel so relieved that this baby could come today and we would be prepared. Well, once I get his little room all organized :) I'm in the process of washing all his clothes and sheets and everything so that I can start putting things where they need to go. Little man has so many things!! We also got ALL of the cloth diapers we wanted to get. That is a huge relief because we really didn't want to have to worry about buying them last minute.

Anyway, we are truly feeling like we are in the home stretch of this pregnancy and it's crazy to think that he will be here in about 10 weeks. WOW. Still so much to do, but I'm realizing that the baby doesn't need a perfectly decorated room. He doesn't care :) haha.

Perfect weekend in STL and now I'm having fun going through it all!!

New Favorite Site

2010-09-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

I just found a site that I LOVE and I had to share it :) As a lot of you know, I normally do most of my toiletry shopping and healthcare item shopping on www.vitacost. WELLLL, I was shopping around looking for the best deals and found www.soap.com. It is connected with www.diapers.com (which I love). You can shop both sites and have one connected shopping cart.

Anywho... I stocked up on laundry detergent, cleaning items, vitamins, etc and ended up saving $20. This is a big deal for me. It makes me happy.

SO... if you are new to www.soap.com or www.diapers.com, you can get 20% OFF your order as well as FREE 1-2 day SHIPPING. So, even if you just end up using the site once, at least you'll save tons of money on what you would have bought anyway at the grocery store (that's how I look at it).
Just put in my code LSTERN when you checkout, and you'll get the deal.

This was especially nice for me considering I am trying to switch all of my cleaning products over to natural products. It's really hard to clean with harsh chemicals while you're prego (I don't... but it drives me crazy that I can't). So, this allowed me to get everything that I want without paying ridiculous prices.

ALSO, this will really help me out. Because it's a referral code, I will get $10 added to my account for every order. Most of you know I am registered at www.diapers.com, so this would really help our ability to get baby items!!

Let me know if you have any questions. It really is as simple as it sounds. I just made my order a few minutes ago :)

**(The 20% off is only for a limited time. After that, it will go to 15% off)

Look at our boy!

2010-09-10T18:38:00.001-07:00

Here's Micaiah's 4D Ultrasound video. We love our little guy!!!!

Bumgenius 4.0

2010-09-10T07:05:00.000-07:00

I am in LOVE with BumGenius 4.0 cloth diapers. Although I'm still pregnant and have not gotten the opportunity to try them yet... we have resorted to using Mr. Monkey once again.

We can't believe how well made they are. They are sooo soft and feel like they will last forever. Plus, we were able to see that they can get really small (which will be nice for a newborn). I'm so excited to try them. We've already had a couple people buy us a cloth diaper here and there for our shower. So far we are up to 4 and are SO excited and feel so blessed :)
(never thought I'd get so enthused over my child's bodily functions..welccome to mommy world).

Anyway, www.cottonbabies.com is the company that makes them and a bunch of other cloth diapers. I think they are actually out of St. Louis, which is cool. Check them out if you are interested.

They are having a contest right now on www.clothdiapers.blogspot.com to win 6 Bumgenius 4.0 cloth diapers. I hope I win!!! :) wouldn't that rock??

Miraculous Healings

2010-09-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

You HAVE to watch this. It is a little long, but it's worth it. After watching it, you will want to go out and pray over everyone... I feel so much encouragement and confidence just from watching it.

This is our friend Drew. He is actually our connection with moving here. We met him a while back in St. Louis when he came to our church. He travels with Kim Walker and plays on her band. When we decided to check out Bethel Atlanta, we contacted Kim and she suggested that we talk to Drew. So, we went that weekend and saw Drew at church and immediately felt at home.

This is just one testimony of the miraculous things that God is doing at this church and in this city. Seriously, my faith is being lifted and tested by being at this church. Like, why do I EVER put God in a box? If He truly is who He says He is... who am I to not be comfortable with a particular aspect of who God is? If I say that I believe all He does and I believe who He says He is... then I better not keep my faith small!! God is the same yesterday, today and forever. He doesn't change. He is the same God who healed people's blindness, who called demons out of people, who healed lepers. If I have God IN me... I need to have the faith and authority to also call people out of darkness into freedom. This is probably the biggest thing we are learning at this church. We are SO thankful we are here.

This video really pulled on mine and Will's hearts. There is a guy in our apartment building that we literally run into every day. We don't run into anyone else that much. It's obvious that God is wanting us to get to know him. We even run into him at groceries stores for goodness sake! Anyway, he is in a wheelchair and paralyzed. He's just a normal guy... probably about Will's age. He got in a motorcycle accident and ended up not being able to use his legs from there on out. He has his friends carry him and put him in the car. He has to have friends drive him around. He always tells us how hard it is for him to do normal things during the day... because he can't reach for anything. It's obvious that this guy has a tough exterior, but we are slowly getting to know him...and, because of Jesus, I know that he is attracted to getting to know us (whether he realizes it or not). Honestly, Will and I haven't had the courage to pray over him. It is the most intimidating thing ever to walk up to someone who obviously doesn't know the Lord and randomly pray over him and declare healing. But, I'm realizing... who am I to judge if he wants us to pray over him or not? Maybe he had a strong encounter with God in the past and is feeling alone now. Maybe he feels like God left him. We don't know what he's been through. It is GOD'S timing to do what he wants to do.

We just ask that you be praying for us... that we have the complete and pure faith to walk into praying healing and freedom over this guy. We also ask that you start praying for him and interceding over his life with us. His name is Darryl. We want to see a miraculous healing, and we are not going to settle for anything less. God is the healer. If He really is who He says He is... I need to believe it and not ASK God for healing... but declare healing over Darryl.

Please be backing us up and praying whenever you think of it for this man. We know that God's plan for him is to get him out of that wheelchair!!

I'm so glad I watched this video. We love our church and are so thankful for a place that walks in supernatural healing like they do. They are not afraid to declare God's power... and, because of it, testimony after testimony of God's healing is constantly released.

WATCH IT HERE

Baby Shower

2010-09-05T13:59:00.000-07:00

I am officially in my 3rd trimester starting today. I can't believe it when I say that I'm 27 weeks pregnant. I've always said that once I hit 30 weeks, I would be in the home stretch. Well, I'm only 3 weeks away from that. Yikes!! And, not to mention, 2nd trimester FLEW by. But that was probably because of all the moving and I didn't have time to sit down and enjoy myself much :) I'm so excited to meet this little boy! The time can't go fast enough, though.

We'll be heading up to St. Louis in about 2 weeks for my baby shower.

Just wanted to clarify my registry information...

First of all, registry has been a big headache. I thought it would be easier but it's really annoying haha. This isn't like getting married where you really can just pick out anything you want. This is for another human being to survive. We also don't have a lot of things (since it's our first baby) so it feels pretty overwhelming.

I registered at Babies R Us at first, and then quickly realized that their prices are way above other places and I heard that they don't easily accept returns. Bummer.
BUT, I understand that that's where a lot of people go to buy registry stuff.

SO, I am registered at Babies R Us, Target, AND www.diapers.com. There are some things that are a must that are on all 3 registries. There are some things that I couldn't find at Target that I had to register for on the other places. I just wish one place had it all... but nope. Actually, www.diapers.com is my favorite and had mostly everything we needed, but I doubt many people will be shopping online.
Really the only reason why we registered online there is because we are going the cloth diaper route. The cloth diapers that we are wanting are only on www. diapers.com. SO, we figured, what the heck. Might as well register for them. Right now our biggest need are those cloth diapers. Without them... well, our child will be pooping all over himself. Just kidding :)

Since it is kind of confusing and there are so many different things on all 3 websites, our biggest needs are just the necessities. When I would shop for other people, I used to skip over registries and buy an outfit that I thought was cute. But now that I'm about to have a little person, I am realizing that there's a LOT more to it than just cute little outfits. Ha ha.

Just looking over the registries, I am amazed at how much a little human needs. It's crazy.

I am so blessed that my mom and mother in law are throwing me this shower though. If anything we are just so excited to see all our great friends that we haven't seen since we moved from STL.

Something not listed on the invite.... husbands/guys are invited. I don't know whoever came up with the deal that girls have all the showers. It's Will's baby too!! Ha ha. He is excited to be there and to see everyone too :)

So, I hope that clarifies everything.

We feel like our baby is already so loved and cared for. We have such a peace that God has everything covered and ALL the little boy's needs will be taken care of.

Can't wait to see everyone in a couple weeks!

TARGET REGISTRY

BABIES R US REGISTRY

DIAPERS.COM REGISTRY

Handsome Little Buddy

2010-09-03T06:29:00.000-07:00

Can I just say that I am in LOVE with this little boy. How is it possible that I love someone that so much that I haven't even met? Well, I guess we have spent a whole almost 7 months together... but we have never officially met. He's already got my heart and I am so in awe of how perfect he is developing.
The 3d/4d ultrasound experience was really fun. Despite the fact that the lady that did it was the owner and super business-like... so she stopped our ultrasound literally on the dot on 10 minutes (and she was running late and had people waiting). We just wish she would have gone a little more above and beyond than she did, but oh well. We got some good pics of our little guy and I already cherish them so much. I've looked at them probably 500 times. We got a DVD of the whole ultrasound where we can see him moving around and what not, which will be fun to keep later on.
Cai was sleeping the whole time. He didn't want to move :) I was surprised because normally he is moving like crazy, especially when you try to move him. He looked very content where he was. She said he obviously liked to snuggle because he was pressed up against the placenta and wouldn't budge (which is why in some of the pics his nose looks squished). She also double checked to make sure he was a boy... and yep! Definitely is a boy still. He just looked so sweet even in the womb. Just the way he was putting his hands up to his face and smiling (smiled 3 times)... it seriously made my heart melt! I just can't wait to kiss that sweet little nose of his and smell his head. I just want to hold him already!! As for who I think he looks like as of now... I really have no idea. I do think that he has my nose from when I was a baby. Other than that, I can't tell. All I know is he is the cutest thing ever.

Sleeping and rubbing his eyes...

This is our favorite. Those sweet little lips and nose are so adorable.

She said he was blowing out his cheeks in this one

His mouth was opening and closing here. He was taking a drink:)

Smiling :)

Smiling again

His hand blocking his face. Telling us to leave him alone haha

Love those cheeks!

Yawning. She said that it looks like he has a dimple on his cheek. How cute would that be?

Big yawn

Sleeping

This one made us laugh because he looks like a black baby. Will has always said he wants a black baby haha. The ultrasound made his nose and lips look huge. It's funny :)

Seeing Our Little Boy!

2010-09-02T06:26:00.000-07:00

After lots of strategic convincing... :)

Just kidding. Will is just super careful with money (which I love about him). He is actually really excited.

I am getting a 3d/4d ultrasound today. I don't think time can go fast enough. This is my first baby and I can't wait to see his cute little cheeks and lips. It's going to be so awesome. This 4d technology just blows my brains. I don't get it. I will get to see him in real time while he is moving inside of me, all the while I am feeling it at the same time. Weird!

I can't believe I only have 13 weeks until his due date. I freaked out a little when I realized that this morning. Every 4 weeks has been flying by and just to think that it's still flying by with little time left is crazy. Maybe it's also because life has been the most chaotic it's ever been with moving (what seems to be) every month. Life is finally settling and slowing down and that feels so awesome.

We are headed to St. Louis in just a couple weeks. My mom and mother in law are throwing us a baby shower. It will be soooo much fun to see everyone again. We decided to have it no later than September because I don't think I can comfortably ride in a car for that amount of time much longer. This back is getting pretty picky lately.
On that note, I've been sleeping with a whole bed full of pillows. One behind my back, one under a hip, one under my head, one between my legs. Poor Will has been replaced! It has really been hard for me to get comfortable though the past couple weeks. The pillows help immensely though!!

Anyway... be checking back on the blog for pics of our little baby boy. It may be the cutest thing you'll ever see... just sayin :)

Week 25 Doctor Appt...and other things

2010-08-25T07:18:00.000-07:00

FINALLY got insurance to see a doctor. God is so good. It had been about 2.5 months, which isn't really that big of a deal but since I have a thyroid issue, I'm supposed to get my blood checked every month. Anyway, I guess it's just the maternal side of me popping up already, but I want my little baby to be safe in there :)

I realized how ridiculously blessed I was at my doctor's office in Louisiana (ONE good thing about LA) :) My doctor there was so incredible. He fit me in twice to see him last minute when I was having some scary issues in the beginning. We also rarely ever had to wait... not even once we were in the exam room. AND, if he ever suspected anything to be wrong whatsoever... he did an ultrasound. To put a cherry on top... he is a christian.
Our new office seems REALLY busy so it took a while longer to get into. But, we were told when we were there that all expenses are paid for. 100%. CRAZY!! I don't have to pay even for a copay. When I go to get lab work, it's all covered. I mean, everything! It's sweet. We also love our midwife. She answered all our questions about having a natural birth at the hospital. Since she is so familiar with the hospital and staff (on call 40 hours a week), she said that there's no doubt about it that I will be comfortable and can do what I want. She is a busy woman, so there is the chance that she may not be there for the delivery, but there is another midwife who will be. If BOTH of them are off call, then I will have to go with an OB/GYN, which isn't ideal since most of them look at you like you're crazy when you say you want to have the baby naturally. But... GOD IS IN CONTROL. He really truly is. I'm not afraid at all and I know it will all work out perfectly. She strongly suggested us finding a doula to be there for the delivery. Doulas help a mother who is giving birth naturally. They are basically there to help get anything or be support... they also can be the middle man when it comes to nurses asking questions and what not. From what I hear, when you're in the middle of a contraction, the last thing you want is someone distracting you. So, we may look into that.She said that usually there aren't any more ultrasounds scheduled unless there is reason to do one (if they suspect the baby is breech or if the baby seems to be too small or too big). SO, I am begging Will for a 3d/4d ultrasound. I found a place that does it for $100 and I am dying to go. I haven't seen my little man in more than 2 months and I miss his face. Plus, I really want to see what he looks like now that he's got some fat on him ;) Sooo, Will said we would look at our budget and see how it works out. We have to make a decision soon though. I guess there is a window of time that is best... when the baby is not too big and not too small. When they are too small, they don't have enough fat so they just look scary. Haha. When they are too big, you can't tell what anything is because they are so squished in there. Maybe God will provide a little extra this month so we can do that!
As for the baby at the doctor's appointment, everything seems great. His little heart beat sounded nice and strong and she measured me to make sure I'm on schedule. He is moving more than ever in there. To the point where I can't sleep. Last night, I woke up probably 10 different times because he was moving his entire body. Not just a kick here and there. I think he just had a lot of energy. I love it though :) God's preparing me for motherhood. He is also on my bladder WAY more than he used to be. Sometimes I have to push him up so he gets off and I can feel him squirm as to say "mom, leave me alone!" haha.

In other news....My sister and her husband came in town this past weekend and it was so much fun. We literally haven't had quailty time with them in 2 years. Last time we did was when Will and I were dating and we visited them in Columbus, OH. They drove 10 hours just to hang out with us for about a day and a half. So awesome!! We stayed up WAY too late, but it was awesome. We even went to a dollar theater together haha. On Saturday, Will and I had worship tryouts at our church and then came back and got to hang out with them. Both Christen and RC are artists so they made canvases for the baby's room. It is so hilarious because it totally represents both of their personalities. Just look at them and you'll know what I mean. I love it! We had them do owls since that is kind of the theme of the baby room.

RC's painting

Christen's painting

Then, that night, we went to the dollar theater (and stayed up late again). The next morning, we all went to church. I was so excited for them to see our new church. It was an AWESOME service and we all loved it. We went to Mellow Mushroom for some pizza after church and then they ended up heading home.

Then, that night, we decided that we still hadn't had enough. So, we hung out with our best buds, Matthew and Katie. Seriously, we are stuck to the hip with these people. We love them. We drove to downtown Atlanta (where they live) and took a random trip to Ikea. It was so hilarious and fun. We brought our little video camera and did some funny videos. We are all so weird. They totally understand our humor :)
We LOVE our friends here. Everyone here seems to be just like us... and so welcoming. We already feel so connected :)

I'm excited for this weekend because I found a local farmer's market that sells local raw milk, grass fed beef, organic eggs/cheese, breads, and produce. SO excited!!! I may hold off on the raw milk until the baby is born. Since I've never introduced my body to the new organisms it has in it, it's probably not wise to start in pregnancy. Not that I think it would do anything bad, but just in case. I can't WAIT to try their raw milk though.
We have also officially planned our trip to STL. We won't be there long, but we'll be there for my baby shower that my mom and Linda are throwing for us. It will be fun!!

So, that's it for all the happenings in the Stern family...... for now!

Bumpdates - 24 weeks

2010-08-20T06:59:00.001-07:00

Found this from THIS blog. Thought I'd take a stab at it :)

When are you due: Everyone should know this by now... but, December 5th.

How many weeks?: That makes me 24 weeks and 5 days. Almost 25, people! Here's the lovely diagram.

**Just in case you all didn't already know what everything is... good thing it's labeled, huh?** :)

Was this planned or unplanned: We were expecting it to happen at some point. I guess you'd call that planned.

How much weight gained: oh yikes. Time to spill the beans. Last time I checked it was 18 pounds. And, yes, I said 18 (not 20) because those 2 pounds aren't officially there yet!

Is this your first pregnancy?: Yes. Hence why suddenly this topic has consumed my blog.
Latest food craving: MOE'S. Give me Moe's and no one will get hurt. This is my weakness right here. Will says that I have a separate stomach for anything to do with Moe's. I'm wondernig if he's right.

Your top two name choices or baby's name: Micaiah Gabriel. That's his name. We never really had another name.

Worst Thing about being pregnant: Feeling large. I literally have a break down once a week on Sunday mornings (God bless Will) where I pout and cry that I don't have anything to wear. I just miss being comfortable. I miss feeling at least someone skinny... not like a hot air balloon. BUT, hey, it comes with the territory. Oh... and the heartburn. My poor poor esophagus.

Best Thing about being pregnant: having a BABY inside of me. I know that IS the definition of pregnancy, but it's true. I love my little guy moving around inside of me. It's a little alienish sometimes when I can see my belly moving.

The first person you told was: the baby daddy.

Are you more scared or excited: WAY more excited than scared. I will officially be a mom in a few months. Weird. But then I start thinking about how exactly that child will be entering the world.... by exiting from you-know-where with no pain meds. That gets me a little on my toes.

Happy or mostly moody: ha. Ask my husband. I would say happy. He says I'm actually more rational now that I'm prego (not sure what that says about me before pregnancy) lol. Apparently I get moody and easily turn right back around and admit that I was ridiculous.

Last time you cried over something ridiculous was: like I said. The clothes. Sunday morning. Oh the drama!

You pee an estimated __ times a day?: 5,000. I think 5,000 is accurate. I usually don't have to go, but then as soon as the boy kicks my bladder, I've got one thing on my mind. Get me to a toilet.

Weirdest dream you've had since pregnant?: hmm. I have them every night. I should write them down because they are so dang weird! The other night I had one that we (me, Will, and my parents) were sitting around and they had me try out the new breast pump. They all wanted to make sure my milk was coming in ok. I just tried it out, right there, with everyone watching and admiring how well things were working. Awkward.

Will you breast feed: Yes. And, don't worry, I've heard the horror stories. The infections, the blisters, the feeling of getting punched in the boobs daily. But, bring it on!!!

Words of wisdom: while pregnant, don't underestimate the belly. It's bigger than you think. Hint: while closing the car door, maybe take one extra step backwards to avoid slamming it into your child in utero. Or, while cutting that corner in the kitchen that you used to do so gracefully, maybe this time consider a wide angle turn.
**this has happened to me a little too often**

Praises

2010-08-17T06:47:00.000-07:00

- First and foremost, God is so awesome and He never fails to provide in every way. I can now say that I officially have a midwife and it is all covered by insurance. This is such a huge answer to prayer and a huge weight off my shoulders. This means that I will be seeing a midwife for all my prenatal care and then I will give birth in the hospital with that midwife which is right around the corner. Best situation ever. I was so annoyed because a doctor denied me originally, but I see that God is just taking care of me and leading me where He wants me to go. He has a specific doctor's office and midwife that He wants me to go to. That's really comforting!

- WE LOVE OUR CHURCH! I don't think we can say that enough. Bethel Atlanta is such an amazing place for us to be a part of. The people that go there just blow us away with their kindness and love for us. Will and I are already fitting in nicely and loving serving in any way we can. We are going to worship team try outs on Saturday, which is exciting. We don't care where we serve... we are just passionate about this house and what they're doing. It's so awesome. We have made some awesome friends already too that feel like we've known them forever. Will and I have never really had that before, so it's so cool to experience.

- Will took some 6 month maternity pics of me after church. He's random like that. He just said, "I want to take pictures of you"... and pulled over and started shooting. I love him :) click this link to check them out.

- Pregnancy has just been so fun and I'm enjoying every second of it. Even the heartburn that makes me have throw up burps every five seconds ;) I am SO thankful for this baby and every time I feel him moving, I get so excited and just smile. I still can't imagine that there's a human inside of me. I really don't think it will hit me until the baby is coming out. Ha ha. Will gets to feel him kick and move too. His way of connecting with the baby is to play with the stroller and set up all the baby stuff. He said that for some reason that is when it hits him. How cute. Will and I have been reading my Bradley book and practicing all the techniques. It gets me really excited about that day and it really includes Will in everything as a coach. So he loves reading it to prepare. As for Micaiah, I can tell he is getting huge! Instead of just feeling random taps, I will feel him on one side of my belly at the same time that I feel him on the other side. He turns, and moves, and kicks. He's a big boy. Not to mention, I saw my maternity pics and didn't realize how big my belly had gotten. Geez! Will said, "you've been that way for a while"... how did I not know this?? Ha. Nothing new pregnancy wise... besides it's getting harder and harder to bend over and to sit up. The back pains are starting to kick in, but really only when I'm sitting down for a long time (like at church or something).

- Atlanta has been so amazing for us. Whether we were supposed to be here in the first place and just missed God's voice, or whether God wanted us on this path for a reason... we truly feel blessed to be here. This is what home feels like. We immediately felt like we can rest here and immediately felt a deep breath. God has made it abundantly clear to us that this is where we are supposed to build our family. We are finally settled. Oh and it feels amazing!! After living in 3 different cities across the country in 5 months, we are READY to be settled. We probably have the least amount of "material things" that we've ever had in our marriage, but we feel the most fulfilled. This is how it is to live with the Lord; when you're in His will, it is never not satisfying. We have had to watch our money more than ever. We don't really go out to eat anymore (we just make fun cheap meals at home), and we really don't do much of anything else. But we are LOVING our time together and cherishing this season preparing to be parents together. God has blessed us more than I can even describe. We even love our little apartment the best than any place we've ever lived.

That's it for the updates. Thank you ALL for your prayers over us!

Wanna Make $50?? (or more)

2010-08-16T06:43:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy and proud to announce that Will has officially started his website/graphic design company. God led us in this direction, and we are really excited about where it's already headed. He has been working so hard, and I can't say enough how proud of him I am.

So, as his wife, I will be bragging about him. :)

To start off his business, he is offering a referral deal. If you refer someone to his business for a website/graphic design, he will pay you $50 for each referral that goes through. Seriously, people... easy money. Just send out an email to all your friends and (you never know)... you may end up with 50 easy bucks in your pocket... or more, I guess.

Cai's Room

2010-08-10T10:17:00.000-07:00

It has officially begun. I've looked forward to this since the first day I found out I was pregnant. It's time to nest, and I love it. Since we just moved, we only started... but I'm so excited to keep goin. We still need to paint the room, hang up stuff on the walls, add some furniture, make curtains and crib skirt, etc. But I wanted to show everyone what we've got so far.

I'm so excited. I feel like a momma bird going crazy trying to get things ready for her babies. Only, my baby won't be sleeping on moss and yarn that I found outside ;)

I'm super pumped too because my extremely talented sister (who is an artist) is coming to visit in a couple weeks and will help me with some drawings to hang up. She is seriously soooo good!!!

Here's his cute green/grey stroller and carseat...

My mom is a great garage saler. She got us TONS of clothes. These are just the newborn clothes.

Here's his Ikea rug...

The kid better like Ikea. Here's his crib, lamp, and decor. Moggie made that precious blanket before she died. I feel so blessed to have it.

Micaiah is a monkey for now. Will drives him around in the stroller. He even has a diaper on :)

Ikea changing table...

Pack and play...

Gibson is already jealous. Ha ha. Here's clothes that people have bought him so far.

Here's a closer look. Do you see a pattern? Hint: Will's favorite instrument...

Birthing Options..... Thoughts?

2010-08-09T07:51:00.000-07:00

Good news! I finally found out that I qualify for medicaid. This has been a tiring process and I'm sure glad it's figured out (at least for now). Actually, the whole application process was a sinch... seriously I was surprised how many questions they didn't ask me. But I think because I am so far along in my pregnancy, they are wanting me to get medical care right away. So, that's nice.

If you aren't caught up, the reason why I had to apply for medicaid is because we moved and no longer qualify for signing up for individual health care. I called so may insurance companies, just to hear them say "sorry... no can do." I even called the department of insurance here in Georgia to which the woman told me " you won't be able to qualify for any insurance. No one will take you or your husband since you are pregnant." Which I didn't realize was the case... but oh well. Here I am trying to figure things out to the best of my ability.

I already decided that I want to give birth with a midwife. Since I am doing this whole thing naturally, I cannot have someone distracting me or asking me every 5 seconds if I want an epidural. I would probably slap them :) So, I am really wanting a midwife to be able to go through the whole thing with.

I would LOVE your thoughts... anyone that has them. Here are my options.

1. Under medicaid, I can go to a doctor's office that has certified nurse midwives available. I would have my first inital appointment with a doctor and then I would see a midwife from that point on. I would also have ultrasounds. I would end up having the baby at the hospital under the midwife supervision. From what I know, all costs would be covered.

2. I can have a homebirth with a midwife for about $2,500. Medicaid sometimes reimburses this, but I am just not sure yet. I would have the medicaid just in case something goes wrong and need to go to the hospital, otherwise I really wouldnt use it much. I would have the option to still see doctors for prenatal appts but wouldn't have to. I could just see the midwife, but no ultrasounds would be offered if I did.

I think I'm leaning toward the first one because it just seems easier. It also seems like the best of both worlds.
Here are my concerns with either of them...
- Is it hard to have a natural birth in a hospital setting? Even with a midwife?
- With a midwife in a hospital, will they let you walk around and do what you want to do? Or are you still told what to do?
- Anyone experienced a homebirth before and like to tell me their thoughts?
- Anyone been on medicaid before while pregnant and would like to tell me how it works? Do you get full care or are you treated less than other patients?

Gosh, I didn't realize there would be so many options!! I just want to have my baby! :)
The main thing that concerns me is that hospitals really scare me. I feel like they are run really according to laws and regulations, rather than thinking of what's best for the mother and baby. Ideally I'd love to be at a birthing center, but that's not an option here.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be highly appreciated!! Love you all.