Sunday, January 30, 2011

General Cuteness of Jewell


















His Ways...Not Mine

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
Isaiah 55:8-9

This morning as I sit at home sick and desperately missing my church family and worship service, I am reflecting on the above verse. It's encouraging to know that God has a plan that may not necessarily be my own. Christ has a perfect plan that is much better than any plan I can think of.

I believe the Lord is truly beginning to teach me a lesson that has been a long time coming. I am a planner. I'm consumed by my plan actually. I have a cleaning schedule for each day. I have a never ending list in my hand at all times. I eat, drink, and sleep by my schedules and lists. Everything seemed to be going great. I had learned to cope with rearranging my schedule once Jewell arrived. It took some time and tear shedding, but I soon learned to adjust. Then I got pregnant, and I spent the first 12 weeks not feeling well. But once school was back in session, I was feeling much better and back to my schedule and list. Then, the Oregon thing happened. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to be moving. But right now my house is in shambles. I like things neat and orderly. I've been going crazy! We are currently redoing 2 bathrooms, packing, about to have a baby, and about to redo the flooring in the kitchen and living room. Needless to say, those were definitely NOT on my list of things to do all at once. Oh, and did I mention that every room is 1/4 packed? I was beginning to cope with all this and started trying to plan when the baby would arrive. I know, this can't really be done, but you can't tell a planner that. They have to learn it. I was convinced he'd come this weekend. But instead, the Lord allowed for me to catch a horrible virus. Yesterday, I cried for an hour. I had planned to walk up hills, clean and organize my cars to fit 2 car seats, reorganize my hospital bag, and try to pick up the house as much as one can when it's in it's current condition. Instead, I took care of Jewell while lying on the floor coughing. My chest is extremely heavy, it's hard to breath, and my cough seems torturous. I had a fever yesterday and I was miserable. So this morning I stayed home from church.

I'm not trying to complain. I say all this, so I can look back a year from now or maybe many years, to remember how God taught me that it's HIS way, not mine. God is breaking me. And I'm so grateful for it. Deep down I know I needed to be broken. And I am reminded, that HIS way is PERFECT. For now, I'm just sitting back and learning. No more trying to get baby to come early so I can heal before moving, no more stressing out because my house looks like I'm moving. I quit. I'm going to let the Lord lead.

"As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him."
2 Samuel 22:31

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Number 4

I have exciting news! Tonight I was changing Jewell's clothes and I noticed tooth number 4 had popped its way through :). She now has 3 bottom teeth, and 1 top tooth. It looks like it just popped through, so I'm going to give it another week before trying to snap a picture. My friend Jessica warned me that snapping pictures of teeth would be one of my toughest challenges yet. So far, I have no teeth pictures! She was right.

Stay tuned for tooth picture attempts.

Monday, January 24, 2011

16 Months

I did it again! I realized today that I've been so busy with work, packing, new baby preparations, house hunting, and well-life, that I forgot to post about Jewell at 16 months! Unbelievable. Poor Jewell. I don't even have her little brother in my arms yet, and I'm already slacking.

Jewell turned 16 months on the 15th. I can't believe how fast she's grown. She's just over 20 lbs now. She's pretty much the average toddler, except for walking on her own. Although I am happy to report that she's very close to doing so!

Jewell is down to one nap a day that lasts about 2.5 hours, sometimes 3. She still sleeps at least 12 hours at night as well.

Our little Jewell is still working through ear infections. But we should soon see them less frequently. I will no longer need to take her to virus city (daycare) everyday once I quit work.

As for teeth. She has a whopping 3! The third one popped through this past weekend.

Jewell eating is starting to get better. In fact, she can now eat with spoon all by herself. She doesn't quite get the scooping part yet, but she does dip it enough to get food out if it's yogurt or applesauce. We are still working with the oatmeal in the mornings.

Jewell is definitely what her name describes her as...a jewel. I'm fairly certain she will be quite jealous of the next baby. I know it will be hard for her at first, but she will grow to be a great big sister.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

37 Weeks

Yesterday was the official day I turned 37 weeks pregnant. Praise the Lord! This past weekend I had tons of painful contractions. Matt was planning to go out of town on Monday for a week long business trip to Orlando. Because he left Monday morning, I went to the doctor first thing. I had to make sure I wasn't going into labor. Come to find out, I'm already dilated to a 3. I'm about 70% effaced at a -2 station. The doctor said that because this is my second baby Matt should come home. She said some people hang out at 3 cm for quite a while, others move to 4 cm right away.

As soon as I left the doctor I called Matt and told him it was time to come home. Fortunately, he was in Atlanta. He was relieved to know that I had made progress and he shouldn't be away. He rented a car, and came home. I of course, was thrilled to see him!

So, we are now playing the waiting game. My contractions aren't nearly as tight, or as often, but I'm still having them. We have no idea when our baby boy will actually arrive, but I do know that I probably won't be making it to my due date. Hopefully, he will come very soon!

Friday, January 14, 2011

15 Month Check-up and Milestones

On Tuesday, we dug our way out of the driveway with a garden shovel and headed to Jewell's well visit. She is now 20 lbs and 2 oz. She's has been getting over a virus so she lost a few ounces since her surgery, but we are pleased with her weight. The doctor said she looked very healthy, and he's glad she now has a new set of tubes that seem to be working properly.

This past Friday I had to pick Jewell up from daycare early due to a fever of 101. The girl was miserable. It was that evening that we realized she FINALLY learned something. Jewell can now roll over from her back to her tummy. In fact, she now prefers to sleep with her little butt way up in the air while she is on her tummy.

On Saturday, Jewell showed us that she has reached another milestone. She can now pull up all on her own. She can even walk around objects while holding on. This is huge for her, and I'm so pleased. Her OT and PT are very excited as well.

Since we've been stuck at home all week, Jewell has been finding new ways of entertaining herself. On Monday she discovered Daisy's crate that I've recently moved into the living room due to packing. Here are a few pictures of her entertaining herself inside Daisy's crate.


Snow Week

I'm from Michigan. Matt is from Colorado. Needless to say, we had no idea just how unprepared South Carolina is when it comes to snow falling. We are both used to having all the roads cleared with nice big snow plows, right away. After the snow is plowed, they salt all the roads. Where we are from, everyone knows how to drive in snow, even if they haven't cleared your street yet. However, in SC, they clear around the hospital, and the interstates. They use some salt and sand. And they only have a few plows. After a week of being "snowed in" I have finally figured it out. South Carolina is much more laid back than Michigan. They take more time to enjoy things than those up North. So, instead of clearing all the roads. They simply wait for the sun to melt it all. I guess there isn't really a right or wrong way of doing things. It's just part of the culture.

So, we've been snowed in. I think the first day was the best because it was just snow. The sleet was what made things bad the next day. We bundled Jewell all up for the snow, she looked adorable, and we headed out. Well, our little girl wasn't a huge fan. In fact, it more or less terrified her! All we did was stand her up on the snow covered pavement and she freaked out! We found this to quite humorous because she kept looking at the snow outside all morning. We thought for sure she'd be interested. Here are a few pictures of her adoring it.






Here she is bundled up. As you can see, I forgot to buy snow pants this year!


Here she is terrified!


I think she preferred for Mommy to hold her in the snow :).


And of course, I had to post a pretty picture of our house!

Staying in for the week has been a nice treat. We've thoroughly enjoyed the extra family time.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Home Stretch

My Christmas break has now come to a close. It started out a bit rough with Jewell's surgery and sicknesses, but it couldn't have had a better ending. I'm happy to report that Jewell has truly grown while I've been home these past 2 weeks. She's MUCH more mobile. She even pulled up in her crib for the first time yesterday. I guess it's time to move her crib down from the newborn position :). She can now cruise around the coffee table, color, and say words such as "purple, book, bottle, and apple." She can say others, but has learned those few just this week. She also walks all over the house with her walking toys. Before, she wanted me right next to her to guide her. I will miss having the time to teach her between nap times. However, I'm on the home stretch folks. Just 5 more weeks, and it's baby time. I can make it 5 more weeks. And the best part, I get to stay at home with BOTH my babies from that point on. What a wonderful blessing. If Jewell learned that much while I was with her for 2 weeks, I can't imagine what it will soon be like!

I'm afraid the most recent pictures are on Matt's camera :(. Stay tuned for more later this week!

The Kids

A few days ago one of my dearest friends had to have her appendix removed. I was blessed with being able to watch her little 6 week old Miles for the evening while her husband spent time with her in the hospital. Miles was just a doll. Jewell took a nap most of the time, but she was awake with him for a few hours. I learned a few tricks with balancing 2, and I'm grateful for the practice. I was especially happy to see how gentle Jewell was with Miles. She loved having him around too.