Sleeping Through The Night!

No, I am not talking about my 3 week old or myself for that matter. I am talking about my two year old son, Brady.

This past weekend, he had a fever on Friday and Saturday nights, and would wake up crying and sweating about 5 or so times during the night. He was fine in the morning, but after his nap, he was feverish and lethargic - I think it is from his two year molars trying to grown in. So, one of the nights, after I finished feeding the baby, Brady started to cry and then I went in with him for a few minutes - to calm him down, give him a drink of water and get him settled in bed again. This was pretty bad those first two nights. Sunday was a little better. He would wake up, but we did not have to take him out of his crib, he settled down while in his crib and he was not sweating so much.

Then, it happened! Last night, he slept through the entire night again! PTL!!! I was very excited about that, especially since he has been sleeping at least 11 hours each night since 15 weeks old! I did not want this waking up in the night to become a habit, and thank the Lord, it has not.

So, now we will wait and see when our precious little baby will extend his sleep during the night. He has done a 6 hour stretch once, but he has mainly been consistent with a four hour stretch at night.

Speaking of the baby, it is time to go and feed him!

My Sweet Brady

When I went to get Brady from his nap today...

...wait, he took a 10 minute nap in Grammie's car, which I guess meant to him that he already took his nap, so he just stayed in his crib for over an hour and a half talking and reading his books - no nap for him...and he really did well the rest of the evening.

Anyway, where was I...oh yea, this is really cute...

I went in to get Brady from his alone time (A.K.A. non-nap) and this is what he said to me:

"love Barber"

then

"love TCC"

then

"love Simms"

then

"love Jeter"

I thought that was SO ADORABLE! He had to list everyone in my sister's family, and tell me that he loves each one of them! I thought that was the cutest thing - especially since he has not seen them since last week! That was the first thing that was on his mind and he wanted to share it with his mommy. I was glad that I was able to hear it and to share it with you, and if course my sis, TCC. I bet she has a great big smile on her face right now! :)

Bloggy Giveaways Carnival - Winter Edition

I've got a giveaway for all of you women who know that Your Husband Rocks! (and any of you men out there whose Wife Rocks!).

My friend has an online Tee-shirt business, called From*me Tees, that promotes a positive image about marriage. You can speak volumes without saying a word when you wear one of these Tees! She is giving one of her tees away (valued at $20 or less) on my blog. If you would like to win one of these Tees, please follow the rules below:

1. Go to the From*me Tees website and choose the tee, valued at $20 or less, that you would like to win.

2. Leave a comment stating what tee you would like to win and the size and why you believe that your spouse rocks! (If you win, I will confirm your choice of tee before it is sent to you). If you do not state what tee you would like to win and why your spouse rocks, your comment will be deleted.

3. Only one comment per person please.

4. Bloggers and non-bloggers are welcome to enter. Be sure that I am able to contact you if you are the winner (via email address)!

5. This contest is only open to U.S. and Canadian women and men.

6. This giveaway will close Saturday, February 2nd at 8:00am EST. I will randomly choose a winner some time on Saturday and will post the name on my blog.

This carnival of giveaways is being hosted by Shannon over at Bloggy Giveaways. Visit her site this week for links to more great giveaways.Good Luck!

Home "Alone"

Today was a new experience for me - one that I was not totally looking forward to, but I knew that I had to go through it sooner or later. Today was the first day, since the baby was born, that I chose to be home by myself with the two boys.

This may not seem like a big deal to many of you out there, but it was to me. Dawson was home with me almost all of last week, and then either my sister, my mom or my dad would stop by to spend some time with me and help out when needed.

Today, I knew that I could not have anyone else here, but I asked Dawson to stay home and then I told him that he really needed to go to work. I was just fearful of the unknown. What would it be like with a two year old and a 16 day old? What would I do when I needed to go upstairs to check on the baby? How would Brady handle all of this? Lately, Brady has been more snuggly with me - which I love - but also a little more needy...which is just in response to the baby being here now.

So, I started my day in tears - just feeling a little overwhelmed and inadequate. Dawson prayed for me and I prayed too. However, I did think to myself - how am I going to do this? It was at that point that the Holy Spirit quickened in my heart the verse, "I can do ALL things through Christ, Who strengthens me" (Phil 4:13). When I was reminded of this verse, it gave me confidence, knowing that the Lord was going to help me through this day.

And guess what? I did make it through this day and it was a good day. When the baby was down for a nap, Brady and I had fun together and I realized at that moment how important that I was the only one that was there for him to play with today - he needed that Mommy time. So, tomorrow is a new day. I just need to be sure to get as much sleep as I am able to tonight, so that I can face another day with my two boys (and hopefully not have the tears again!) :)

Are You Ready For Some Football???

I know that my family is!

Yesterday was an awesome day of football - the Giants and the Patriots BOTH WON and are going to the Superbowl!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why am I SO excited about this big game???

Well, I grew up on Long Island and grew up as a Giants fan - my sister and I learned to understand the game of football because we would watch it with my dad just about every week. He made it easy to understand the basics of it, and I just really enjoyed watching it!

In 2002, I married the love of my life who happened to grow up in New Hampshire and thus was a Patriots fan. I have to admit, the Patriots are now my #1 team and the Giants are my #2 team. Why the switch? Well, the Patriots are not a rival of the Giants (like the Eagles are - I am NOT an Eagles fan at all!), I enjoy routing for the same team as my hunny, and they are a fun team to watch play.

I am SO looking forward to this Superbowl!

Who am I routing for?

Well, the Patriots of course...but if the Giants win I will be happy too.

So, I guess it is a win-win situation for me! :)

God Does Answer Prayer - Continued...

There were a few things that I left out of yesterday's post - due to the sudden realization that I needed to go to bed (so that I could function today!). So, let me continue with a few more things that we have been praying for:

Flashback Continued...

I decided that I was going to nurse Brady for the first year of his life. When I began nursing him, I realized that he did not have a correct latch - his bottom lip was not flanging out. So, in turn, this hurt me when and after he was nursing. I was probably sore for about 6 or more weeks, but I was determined that I WAS going to nurse him. So, over time, his lip did correct itself and I was not in pain any longer. However, this time around, I did not want to experience that at all. So, this is something else that we have been praying for.

One last thing that comes to my mind at the moment is spit up - yes, it does happen with babies. However, Brady spit up A LOT!!! He would spit up after I fed him and them sometimes he would just spit up at random times after that - even though he was burped. The reason was probably because his digestive system was a little immature. It was not a huge deal as far as his health because he was growing and sleeping fine. It was just a lot to clean up - and he wore bibs whenever he was awake - less to clean up that way. So, I have been praying, and I still am, that this baby would not have that problem.

We have actually prayed that both of our sons would be healthy and strong and I have to say that they both are.

Those are the main things that I can think about that I wanted to mention about the past, so, now let's come back to the present - well, the last 11 days anyway!

ELEVEN DAYS AGO - the Labor and Delivery...part of the testimony of God answering prayer...

First, I have to say that I was a little "anxious" this time around as far as going into labor on my own and not in the hospital - what would it be like? Would my water break in the middle of the night again? Somewhat secretly, I thought to myself that I would not mind if I had to be induced with the gel again, just because that is all that I know - then I would not have any mess of the "water" at my house, in my car, etc. I know that might sound funny, but it is something that past through my mind at one point in time. I did not pray that I would be overdue again, but something inside of me had a feeling that I would be.

So, my due date came and went, and I was scheduled for an induction on January 8, 2008. I was really hoping that this time things would go more quickly - and of course that I would not have to have pitosin. After checking in, we got to the birthplace at 7:40am and found that the doctor was involved in a C-section. After he was done with that, he came to see me and he told me that he first wanted to give me the antibiotic and I would need at least two doses of that and it had to be four hours apart. So, he said that he did not want to induce me with the gel yet because he didn't trust me. He had a feeling that I was going to go faster this time and he wanted to be sure that I got all of the antibiotic in me. (With Brady, after I got the gel the first time, it was about 12+ hours before he was born). So, Dawson went home to work on the baby's room while I had the antibiotic pumped into me...

Well, at 1:40pm, I was finally induced with the gel - I was about 2cm at this point. I really wanted to have the baby on the 8th, so I was hoping that this would not take a long time. Why the 8th? Well, it means "new beginnings" and I thought that was cool, and it is also a "weird number thing" - my sister definitely "gets it" - she likes numbers. You see, Brady was born on January 2nd and I was born on April 2nd. Dawson was born on February 10th, so that was obviously not going to coincide with this birth, but our anniversary is June 8th, so I thought it would be cool if the baby was born on January 8th!

Anyway...I felt like I started to get some contractions within the hour after I was induced. Dawson and I walked the halls and I got into the jacuzzi for about 20 minutes. I wanted to do whatever I could to help the process along! The doctor was going to check me again at 5:30pm to see if they would reapply the gel or if I was going to be ready to deliver. So, at about 5:15, the nurse came in to tell me that the doctor was in a meeting, so it would be a little while. I let her know that I was having contractions. She asked me if they were leading up to labor...I thought in my head, "I sure do hope so!", but I really was not sure. I mean what if I said "yes" and when they checked me I was still 2cm! So, I said, "I don't know." - because that was the truth - I had only done this one other time!

Dawson and I decided to play Yahtzee (we had played UNO earlier, which was also fun). While we were playing, he noticed that every time that it was his turn, I was breathing through a contraction...I guess my contractions were pretty close! We were not timing them or anything. I was just breathing through them and rocking in the glider - which really helped to take my mind off of them. Dawson went to get some more water for us and told the nurse about my contractions. She decided to come down and put me on the monitor - sure enough, they were closer together! It was about 6:30pm and the doctor (now a female doctor was on duty) came down to check me. I was about 4-5cm!!! She asked me what my plans were as far as anesthesia and I said that I did not want an epidural (unless it really dragged on), so she suggested that I hop into the jacuzzi now before things got carried away.

So, Dawson got the water going in the tub and I got into it. The nurse told me that if I felt like the contractions were getting closer or if I was going to have the baby (WHAT??? In the Jacuzzi! I really hope not!!!), that I needed to get out right away. So, I was in there for about 5 minutes, and I felt like the contractions were getting harder and closer together. I thought to myself, if things don't really start to happen by 8pm, I think that I might have to ask for something like an epidural - I just was not sure how long I could put up with this tightening. I suddenly realized that I NEEDED to get out of the tub - right away!!! So, after a contraction was over, I got out, dried off, and the nurse told me to get to the bed so that they could see where I was. I asked for some staydol at that point - just to help take the edge off, but they first had to connect me to the monitor before they could do that (to see how the baby was doing). She connected me and saw how close my contractions were and then she checked me and told me that I was at NINE CENTIMETERS!!!!

I asked her, "Are you kidding?"

She replied, "I don't kid about things like that!"

I asked the nurse if staydol was worth it at this point and she said no - I agreed. I figured that the baby would be here VERY SOON! About a contraction or so later, I suddenly felt like the baby dropped right through the birth canal and I felt like I had to push! (I did not feel this completely with Brady because I had to push him past the tailbone). I wanted to have a midwife deliver the baby, but she still had not arrived (they had finally called her at 6:45), so the nurse said that the doctor would probably have to deliver the baby. At that point, I really did not care (although I would have liked to have the midwife experience!). So, the doctor came in, I pushed for about 8 minutes and our baby was born at 7:20pm!!! So, from the time that the checked me and I was 4-5cm until the delivery, it was only about 50 minutes! The midwife walked into the room after the baby had arrived!

One thing that happened in between the contractions was: when the baby was crowning, I told Dawson to "Get the camera" - for after the baby came out...not during! The doctor and nurse thought that it was amusing that I would think about something like that during the process. I just wanted to be sure that he did not forget - and he was actually already prepared!

So, all of that to share a few answers to prayer. I first have to say that I am thankful at the speed at which the whole labor and delivery took place and that the baby and I were healthy through the whole process. I am SOOOOOO excited that my tailbone was not harmed at all! In fact it did not bother me throughout the whole pregnancy! God is so good! He is our healer! Even now, I am so thankful that I am doing so well physically after this birth. I have been doing a lot of things around the house and although I am a little tired, I am glad that I can move about so much easier than the first time around!

The other answers to prayer include:

Our baby will not need the same corrective surgery that Brady needed! Praise the Lord!

The baby's latch is really great. I actually started to have a little bit of pain, but prayed and asked the Lord to correct anything that needed to be corrected and I have been feeling fine since then!

As far as spit up goes...the baby has had a little bit of it, but it has not gotten to the point where Brady was at, and so we are praying and believing that it does not.

God is so good. He is not a vending machine, but He is a good God and wants the best for His children. Luke 11:9 says, "Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

There is power in prayer. Sometimes we may not see the answer right away, but I know that with God all things are possible!

God Does Answer Prayer...First, A Flashback

Throughout these last 9+ months, there were many things that I had been praying for in regards to the pregnancy itself, the labor, delivery and the final product - our precious baby! God truly has answered so many prayers, and I wanted to share a few of those with you.

First...a flashback to two years ago...

When I gave birth to Brady, I had to be induced with the gel - two times. They kept me overnight in the hospital and they told me that if my body did not go into labor on its own, that they would give me pitosin in the morning. Well, before I went to sleep with my irregular contractions, Dawson and I prayed again that my body would go into labor on its own and that I would not have any need for pitosin. We also prayed that my water would break on its own and that my contractions would be normal. Well, at 3:17am, I woke up and felt a "BOOM" inside of me - I thought that maybe Brady kicked me really hard, but when I went to sit up, I realized that my water had just broken (it gushed out). When the nurse came in, she confirmed that my water had broken, then she put me on the monitor and told me that my contractions were normal! Praise God! He is so good! Within 5 1/2 hours, little Brady was born. It was somewhat long for me - especially some of the hard part, but the Lord helped me through. The only pain medication that I took was staydol. I did not want an epidural and I was thankful that I was able to make it through the labor and delivery without one - the needle into my back just was not my cup of tea!

I had to push for about an hour - and I did not realize it at the time, but I had either badly bruised or broken my tailbone in the process of pushing Brady out. It was very painful - it hurt to sit down, get up, pick up Brady from a kneeling position - I was in pain. Although the intense pain subsided after a few months, my tailbone would still hurt me from time to time - from sitting too long, etc. Before I even became pregnant again, I was praying for complete healing. When I became pregnant, I went up for prayer (I think that it may have been a prayer tunnel at church), and when I was returning to my seat, I felt something move in the tailbone area - I just claimed that as healing. When I went for my first doctor's appointment (after I became pregnant), I asked them about the whole tailbone issue - they said that it might hurt during the pregnancy because of the added weight on it. They also said that I might injure it again, unless it moved out of the way. So, those were things that I began to pray about.

Brady ended up having to have a surgery to correct something in his body. Everything went fine, but I did not want another child to go through that - so, that is something that we were praying about as well.

Well, it is time for me to go off to bed...so, more next time about some of the answers to these and other prayers.

My Husband Rocks!

Yes, many of us have T-shirts that state that our husband rocks - so, I would like to tell one aspect of why he does!

Dawson found out that on PBS they are having the 2008 Classic Season featuring the movies from Jane Austen's books! I LOVE these movies (and so does he)! So, although I am not able to watch them at the time that they are airing (Sundays at 9pm), he even thought ahead and is taping them for me so we can watch them a little bit at a time.

This past Sunday they had the movie "Persuasion" playing. We watched 45 minutes of it and I just love it! I can't wait to see the whole thing and find out if Anne Elliot ends up with the Captain or not (no, I have not read the books, and do not have time to at the moment!).

Dawson is wonderful and so thoughtful...He Rocks!

PS: We are doing well and settling in with the newborn. He is on a 3 hour schedule - sometimes he only makes it to 2 1/2 hours, but we are doing well. Dawson goes back to work tomorrow, and my sister will be spending the day with me - she is pretty awesome!

Our Newest Promise Is Here!

My eyes are filling up with tears of gratitude and thankfulness (and running down my face too) as I write that our precious little boy is here - safe and sound. He is a little cutie pie and I fall in love with him more and more each day that he is here.

I will eventually share more, but I need to use my time to do some other things right now - like shower! So, I will share the basics with you.

Our little blessing was born on Tuesday evening at 7:20pm. The labor and delivery was an answer to prayer - once things kicked in, it was REALLY QUICK! (I only needed the gel one time!)

He is 19 3/4 inches and 7 lbs 15 oz. He has a full head of black/dark brown hair! (Brady has blond!). And he is so cute a cuddly.

Thank you for all of your prayers!

It's About That Time

Today, I had another doctor appointment and we decided that I would be put on the schedule to be induced tomorrow morning. Please pray that I will go into labor on my own and/or all that will need to be used is the gel.

I am really excited that I will soon meet my new little boy! My mom is over here now helping me with some last minute details!

New Keys, A Lion, and Other Goodies

Today, I drove Dawson to work so that I could run a few errands. Let's just say that the Lord was with me throughout the day and really blessed me!

After dropping Dawson off, I drove to my parents' house - to see if Mom wanted to accompany Brady and me on my errands. Well, when I arrived, they were just getting up (oh, the life of retirement! They deserve it!). So, we stayed for breakfast - which was great!!! I had not had time to eat before we left! My Mom had to do some errands too, so I asked Dad/Poppy if he would be willing to watch Brady! He said "sure"! They both had a great time together - Poppy even had to change a poopy diaper, feed him lunch and put him down for a nap! He is the best Poppy!

So, Mom and I headed off to complete our errands. The first thing that I needed to do was to get some new keys made for our car. You see, our power locks will sometimes lock on their own when the driver's side door closes. That is not always a big deal, except when the car is running and your not even one year old is strapped into his car seat! Yes, that happened over a year ago - thankfully, AAA came very quickly to our aid! It is also a big deal when the car is warming up and you go out of the car to scrape the snow off, only to find out that you are locked out with the car running. Initially AAA said that they could not rescue my husband for about an hour! (this happened within the last month) So, when he called and told me that, Brady and I prayed, and AAA was there within 10 minutes! God is SO good! Anyway, we brought it to the dealership to have it checked out and fixed, but they said that we should wait until it gets worse so that they do not have to charge us crazy amounts of $$ to have them try to find out the problem, because it is not an all the time occurrence...

So, today I went to the dealership to have 4 keys made up - so that we can have one on us at all times besides the one that it in the car. The guy told me that the keys would cost about $7-8 per key! (GULP!) So, I was telling this guy why I needed that many keys. He suggested that I go to a place that makes keys. I had tried Home Depot before and they could not duplicate the key, but I had not thought of one of the key shops. Anyway, we went to a key shop and the keys that they made worked perfectly and they only charged $2.50 per key! So, I was able to get all four keys for $10.60 instead of $32! God is so good!

Another place that we needed to go was Michael's. My mom had to return a few items. While we were there, I looked around at some things for Brady's birthday party (which will probably not happen until February). His theme is going to be wild animals. I was looking for a cake pan and they had a lion cake pan - it was originally $10.99 and it was on clearance for $9.00 - big whoop dee doo (I thought)! It did not have the original photo attached to it any longer and I would have to look that up on the Internet, so I decided to ask if they would be able to give me a better discount that $2 off - there were other cake pans there that were on clearance and it was a true clearance price! I really did not expect the lady to give me a deal, and was completely surprised when she said, "Sure, I will give you 50% off of that price"! I was blown away by that! So, I was able to purchase this cake pan for $4.50! I am still excited about that!

Then, when I was driving to pick Dawson up from work, I decided to listen to the radio. When I initially turned it on, it was on talk radio - obviously my hubby was the last one to listen to the radio. There were just commercials on at that point, so I tuned in to the Christian station. The DJ was talking about how they are going to focus on one name a day and read from this new book that came out recently (cannot remember the name of it), that tells the name and gives a Bible verse, etc. I thought to myself, wouldn't it be cool if they had Baby #2's name as the name of the day... when they announced the name of the day, I felt like it was even more confirmation that we did hear from the Lord as to what his name should be, because it was baby #2's name! I was blown away!

Today was a very busy day for me, but God's hand was truly upon all that I was doing. Thank you, Lord!

On another note...I seem to be getting more contractions throughout the day, but I have not been timing or anything like that - it just does not seem like they are coming that often yet! I (or my sis) will keep you posted!

Special Gifts

Recently, I received some very special gifts, and I wanted to share them with you.

For Christmas, I received a lot of great gifts that were on my Christmas list - pertaining to baking (thanks Mom, Dad and Dawson!). My husband surprised me with a Rachael Ray cookbook! That was not on my list at all, but I enjoy watching her cook, the tips that she gives and I like a lot of her recipes. I was so excited about this gift, and I am really excited to start to use it. The cookbook is set up a little different than most cookbooks, so it will take a little getting used to. Dawson is so thoughtful - I just love him to pieces!

My sister surprised Dawson and I with a beautiful afghan that she crocheted for us! She is truly amazing and very talented! The colors and pattern that she chose are so beautiful. And, if that was not enough, she also made a afghan for our little baby (who will be born soon! Sometime within the next week!). They were awesome gifts.

This past weekend (Sat., 12/29), my family and Dawson's family threw me a little family baby shower. It was really nice and they blessed us with a lot of practical things, such as: diapers, wipes, a special baby blanket, a new outfit, and a new paci for the baby - which Brady wanted to try out, but we did not let him! My mom also makes these amazing cut out cookies - baby carriages and baby bottles. She decorated them and writes things on them too - they are amazing and I really like them a lot! I felt very blessed by all of them. The funny thing, is that I sort of helped to plan the get together months ago - on the premise that we would all watch the Giants-Patriots football game together. My family is Giants fans and Dawson's family is Patriots fans, so it was fun to watch that together - and it was a great game. (Patriots won, but not by much!). So, after I made the plans for all of us to get together, my sister and mom planned the shower!

Those are just a few things that people have done for me which made me feel special. I am also thankful for all of the help that my mom, dad and father in law gave to us to help get Brady in his new bedroom on Sunday evening. Their time is a priceless gift!

So, now we are going to focus on the baby's room. Dawson has to first fix the ceiling - where he stepped "wrong" in the attic the other day! Thank goodness he did not go through the ceiling, but he made some cracks in it! Hopefully, a lot of that room will be done in the next few days: ceiling needs to be fixed and painted, walls need to be primed and painted - and then the trim could also use some paint too. It would be nice to have that all done within the next week - it is not a huge room, so hopefully, it will not be too hard to do! I just need to decide on the exact color of paint that I would like in there!

By the way, the birth announcements are finally put together! I might just add something to the back of it! I am thankful that they are completed. They took a lot longer than I thought that they would - but they are done and are so cute. So, it was worth it! :) All that needs to be completed on it is the info - but we will have to wait a little longer for that to be added!

Happy Birthday Brady!

Today is Brady's 2nd birthday (and my due date - but nothing is happening yet!). It is amazing to think that two years ago today, we were in the hospital, holding our new little bundle of joy. He has grown so much in the past two years - he is no longer a baby, but my little toddler.

Brady woke up to having balloons on the floor in his new room (we got the painting done and things moved in, but nothing on the walls yet - he loves his new room though!). I don't think that he totally understands that today is his birthday, but he does enjoy playing with the balloons and throwing them around! We don't have a lot planned for today - we were not sure where we would be! However, we will celebrate with pumpkin muffins and ice cream. This weekend (if the baby is not born yet) we will have cake with our family and then later in the month, we will have a birthday party with friends.

I love my little Brady. I love his hugs and his kisses and playing with him - building towers, Brady knocking them over and then rebuilding. It has been so neat to watch him grow up in this past year. He communicates very well now - usually with at least a three word sentence! I love it when he prays to Jesus - it is simple and it is the beginning of his relationship with the Lord. It will be exciting when he asks Jesus to live in his heart!

Brady is a promise that has been fulfilled in my life. I always wanted to be a mom, and I am so thankful to have him as my son. He is so content and happy and I am thankful for that.

I am looking forward to watching all of the plans that the Lord has for Brady unfold before my eyes. It is fun to watch the plans unfold even now. He has a worshippers heart and I also believe that the Lord has given him a discerning spirit. I am thankful for my little bundle of joy and I am thankful that I have been given this gift to raise as my son.

Happy Birthday Brady! May you always follow the path that the Lord has set before you! I love you! Love, Mommy