It's Been a Long Year

I'm sitting here in the quiet, which is something I very rarely have these days, and thinking over this past year and wondering what the new year will hold for us. Justin and I were talking earlier today about how this has been such a good and stressful year. Every joy has been paired with a lot of stress.

Pregnancy::good
Pregnancy SICK::stress

Traveling to amazing places::good
Traveling to amazing places with a sick pregnant wife and two small kids::stress

Moving home::good
Everything that moving from overseas entails::stress

Finding our home and getting to know our amazing neighbors::good
Getting settled in a new place and adjusting to life in the US again::stress (and good, too)

Isaac joining our family::GREAT!
Isaac being intolerant to dairy I was eating and not knowing why he was screaming and not sleeping::stress

(and then experimenting a few months later, per pediatrician's recommendation, and finding out the hard way that Isaac is still dairy intolerant. Lots of sleepless days and nights later, we are getting more sleep. Read: Willerton children do not sleep through the night as babies. Ever. Our Pedi told me that "most 3 month olds can sleep for 8-10 uninterrupted hours at night." I told him the Willerton boys have never been "most" babies. Then he told me they may be genetically predisposed to not sleep through the night and that their stomachs might empty faster than other babies. This is our life. As lots of more seasoned moms like to remind me, "this too shall pass.")

Dad's burn incident::STRESS, STRESS, STRESS

Reconnecting with old friends in Houston and meeting new friends::GOOD!

Justin has a job at a great company::good
This particular project::very stressful

That's kind of how our 2012 went.

I sat down at the computer tonight and pulled up a ministry blog I read looking for a great verse to start 2013 and see this:

The Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way you went until you came to this place. Deut. 1:31, NKJV

YES!!! That is exactly what God has done for us this year. Carried us. Throughout everything 2012 tossed our way, our God has been faithful. As He always is.

We are looking forward to 2013 with anticipation, knowing God is ever before us.

I'm also claiming this verse over our new year:

You crown the year with Your good blessings, and You leave abundance in Your wake. -Psalm 65:11, The NET Bible

Abundance. Yes, Lord!

I know at the end of 2013 we will look back and see God's abundance. No matter where the journey may take us.

Another Lost Tooth and 2 Months Old

I pulled out the big camera this week and actually took some pictures!  It's either feast or famine here on the blog, so this week it's a picture feast.  :-)

Caleb lost tooth #6 this week...how is it that he's old enough for this?  I texted a picture to my Dad and he said it made him feel old. Me too!

 

 

 

Isaac is 2 months old and getting bigger!

 

 

 

Caleb took this one...he was very proud he managed to get a picture of Isaac smiling:
 

 

Mommy and Levi (do I look tired or what?):
 

Dewberry Farm

My sister, Kimberly, and I were invited to join a group going to Dewberry Farm yesterday.  We each took our youngest two kids and had so much fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A New Level of Crazy

3 weeks and 4 days ago Justin had knee surgery. He twisted his knee back in April and did more damage than he originally thought. He is super healthy, is rarely sick, and hasn't had any major illness/disease/surgery in his life. It is so weird for me to be taking care of him after surgery (I've had 6 surgeries since we've been married!). His recovery is going well, but it's slower than he expected. He is definitely ready to resume his running, but it will be a while for that.  It's obvious how much Justin helps around the house with dishes, bedtime, and a host of other things when he's out of commission a little.

3 weeks and 3 days ago we had a small birthday party for the boys. Mommy and Caleb rode an indoor roller coaster (Daddy was elevating his leg and didn't get to participate in the crazy fun.)  This picture is blurry because we were going THAT fast. I was really hoping the thing wouldn't come loose, fly out the windows on the opposite side, and kill us. I'm not kidding. That would make for a sad birthday party.

3 weeks and 2 days ago my Dad was badly burned while setting fire to a pile of brush in their yard (a very common thing to do when you live in the country, and something Dad has done tons of times...he just did it differently that time and is suffering the consequences). This is a picture of his arm one week after being burned. It looks good. I'll spare the Internet the pictures of his legs until they look this good.

2 weeks and 6 days ago I quit eating dairy products to see if our very fussy, gassy, miserable, sleep-deprived baby would feel better. He does!  

To say the last 4-ish weeks have been stressful would be an understatement.

Dad spent 9 days at the Parkland Burn Unit in Dallas, Texas, and then was released to go home. My mom is now his 24/7 nurse and caretaker, performing his wound care once a day. (Did you know that burns heal from the inside out and have to be scrubbed every.single.day to prevent infection and scabbing? I didn't before this.  It's an excruciating process, to say the least.)

Dad has made amazing progress over the last couple of weeks. My sister and I were in Dallas the weekend of September 28, and we have taken turns the last two weekends taking our families to my parents house to try and alleviate some of the stress off of my mom. The change in Dad has been incredible in that time. He still has a lot of healing to do, but he is now walking without a walker! My dad is 54 years old, so seeing him with a walker was weird. His young age will help him heal more quickly, I'm sure, but it also means he's young enough to need to get back to work. 

Sometime over the last few weeks, this guy started smiling: 

And turned 2 months old:

And made the cutest face EVER:

 

He is such a sweetie!
 

This is definitely my life right now:
 

And this is my milk, since I'm off dairy:
 

The older boys are doing great.  They love their baby brother so much, and they are big helpers when I need it. They are both loving school, for which I am very thankful.

Silly Levi:
 

Caleb and his ever-changing teeth.  The child never had a hope of not needing braces, but he might be needing them sooner than later.  Big teeth+small mouth=crowding.  He can thank both his mom and dad for those problems.

So, this blog will only be updated sporadically as I get time to sit at a computer.  I started this post over a week ago and have had to change 3 dirty diapers and feed a baby just in the last 45 minutes. If I didn't have a phone that took pictures, this post wouldn't have any.

Oh, and to top off all the crazy, Justin's car was hit in the parking garage while we were in the hospital delivering Isaac.  A man had a stroke and hit 4 or 5 cars.  We are still waiting on the check to pay for the damages.  So, for now, we are those neighbors with the fender duct-taped to the side of the car.

I'm tired.

One Month Old

My mom got these cute tie stickers to use for Isaac's month milestones.  Here are a few pictures from Saturday when he turned one month old.

 

 

 

Isaac Matthew

Isaac Matthew
August 8, 2012
11:56am, 6 lbs 15 oz

I'm exactly one month behind on this post!  Things have been pretty crazy since then.  Caleb started 1st grade, Levi started Mother's Day Out, and mommy has been juggling 3 kids every morning trying to pack lunches, feed everyone breakfast, and get out the door to the bus stop on time.  And throw a newborn in the mix who thinks sleep is optional and whose feeding schedule is totally unpredictable, and it's no wonder I haven't blogged at all.  :-)

Here are some pictures to document that we actually do have a new member of our family.  I'll get to his birth story one of these days.


Here is the only picture you'll see of me after Isaac was born.  I was very sick for many hours after his birth, and it wasn't pretty (quite a few times I was alone with Isaac and holding him with my left hand and the "basin" with the other. Fun times.).




Big brother, Caleb, meeting Isaac for the first time:

We were so happy Mimi could be there for Isaac's birth (note the time...Isaac was born at 11:56, and this is the first time we're seeing him.  He had swallowed amniotic fluid right before he was born, and they were sucking fluid out of his stomach for a while and then monitoring him.  I could NOT wait to get my hands on that little guy!): 

Big brother, Levi, holding Isaac

 

Caleb and Isaac:

 

Aunt Kiki and Isaac:

Cousin Ava with Isaac:

Ava and Audrey giving their newest cousin some love:

First bath at home (about 10 days old):

 

 

Almost There

I turn 38 weeks tomorrow, and I have reached that magical time in pregnancy where I just want this baby OUT of my body.  My c-section is scheduled for August 8 (the very earliest they would let me schedule it...the day I turn 39 weeks).  Although I'm having lots of false contractions, I'm not having any that would make any sort of progress or changes.  I guess that's good since I don't really want to be in labor and then have to have a c-section anyway. My doctor is also on vacation and won't be back at work until the day before my c-section.  She and I have been through two c-sections together already, and I'd rather have her with me than whoever is on call.

We are all excited to meet Isaac! It's a little surreal, at the same time, that we are adding a baby to our family next week! We are ready. Or as ready as we'll ever be. ;-)

So, until next week we're going for sno cones several times a week, trying to get as much sleep as possible (difficult), anticipating Justin's mom arriving this Saturday (yay!), and trying to stay cool inside.

Waiting for Isaac

Yes, we finally chose a name for this baby!  Isaac Matthew.  It took us a lot longer than the previous two times, but, then again, we had a lot going on in the first 6 months of this pregnancy.  We had a long list of names that we slowly narrowed down (or I would occasionally add to!), and then we set ourselves a goal to have the name picked out before my family reunion last month.  My Dad was sending messages through my mom every few days asking if we'd picked a name yet, so it was time to decide.  :-)

My friend, Jenny, is an amazing photographer.  I've admired her work for several years through another friend's family photos and on Facebook, and once we moved closer(er) to her, I couldn't wait for her to work her magic.  We are thrilled with how these turned out.  We've never done maternity pictures before, and we haven't had many family pictures taken, so these are a treasure!  I cannot wait for Jenny to get pictures of our new addition.

Thank you, Jenny, so much!  Click here to see Jenny's post on her blog with more pictures.

 

 

 

 

I love this one because it's a good representation of our family...we're all laughing and Levi is acting like he lives with a bunch of crazy people.  My kids have lots of facial expressions!