June 4th

 Still Are

No more of a little person than baby bird still sleeping in its egg. The shell that never cracked open is the child that stopped growing in his mother’s womb. In an instant her whole life changed-the moment she found out they were expecting you. Your family and friends were expecting you. Yet, just as the seasons change so did their expectations and the realization that you were no more. Something better and more extravagant was also expecting you and now they understand why the Heavens won your soul. You were His. You still are.

Anonymous

I thought of you today and smiled. 

Psalm 139: 1-18

 ¹ O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
 ² You know my sitting down and my rising up;
         You understand my thought afar off.
 ³ You comprehend my path and my lying down,
         And are acquainted with all my ways.
 ⁴ For there is not a word on my tongue,
         But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
 ⁵ You have hedged me behind and before,
         And laid Your hand upon me.
 ⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
         It is high, I cannot attain it.

 ⁷ Where can I go from Your Spirit?
         Or where can I flee from Your presence?
 ⁸ If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
         If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
 ⁹ If I take the wings of the morning,
         And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
 ¹⁰ Even there Your hand shall lead me,
         And Your right hand shall hold me.
 ¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall^[a] on me,”
         Even the night shall be light about me;
 ¹² Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
         But the night shines as the day;
         The darkness and the light are both alike to You.

 ¹³ For You formed my inward parts;
         You covered me in my mother’s womb.
 ¹⁴ I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;^[b]
         Marvelous are Your works,
         And that my soul knows very well.
 ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from You,
         When I was made in secret,
         And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
 ¹⁶ Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
         And in Your book they all were written,
         The days fashioned for me,
         When as yet there were none of them.

 ¹⁷ How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
         How great is the sum of them!
 ¹⁸ If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
         When I awake, I am still with You. 

Meet Jackson Ryan

Meet Jackson!

Jackson was born on January 12^th at 8:26 am. He weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces, 18 ½ inches long, cute dimples, a little brown hair, 10 little fingers & 10 little toes, and beautiful face to melt his mommy’s heart. I wasn’t quite prepared for the intense connection I would feel with my son. Of course I knew I would love him immensely but I longed for that bonding time. As soon as I caught a glimpse of him and finally held him in my arms I felt a deep connection that brings tears to my eyes even as I type. During my pregnancy I had a fear in the back of my mind that I wouldn’t be able to love another child as much as I love my daughter because I love her so much. But then the other part of me knew I had so much love to give and would very much love each child equally. So at times I let the fear get the best of me…shame on me. Anyhow, God showed me that every child is a gift from Him, each child is a miracle, and with each child your heart grows bigger. I cannot thank the Lord enough for the beautiful blessing of my son. As most people close to me know, Jackson had a single umbilical artery, so shortly after he was delivered he had to have an ultrasound. Praise God that everything came back normal! I have a perfectly healthy baby boy, and couldn’t be happier.

Jackson is such a good baby! He loves to be cuddled in mine and Tim’s arms. Jackson has the cutest little fingers and toes (long & skinny), adorable dimples, and the most perfect lips. He is beautiful in every way and has captured my heart. ♥

Welcome to our world little guy :-)

Lovin his dimples!

Warm and cozy

Welcome home sweet baby boy!

Our family of four

Look at those toes! Love them!

4 days old

 

Three More Weeks

We have only three weeks left before we meet baby boy Finstad! We are so excited! My 36 week appointment went really well and my c-section is scheduled for January 12^th. It seems like this pregnancy has went by pretty quickly. I guess that’s because taking care of a toddler has kept us super busy. Our little boy weighs in at 5 pounds 14 ounces. He is in the 35^th percentile for size right now, and we are happy about that. They told us that babies with a single umbilical artery are typically a little smaller than average. But hey, he still has 3 weeks to go so I’m guessing he will be an average size baby boy. His heart rate at this last visit was 136 and that’s about where it’s been from the start. As for me I’m feeling alright most of the time. I fell on the ice a few weeks ago and ever since my back has been in bad shape and I’ve had trouble sleeping. It makes it very difficult to pick up Makayla (she weighs about 27 pounds!). Actually, Tim has been the one chasing her around and picking her up over the last few weeks. I am moving much slower. The ultrasound tech told me I looked like a cripple…whatever!  I am so glad Tim has picked up the slack…uh my fault of course….but hey I am taking care of our other child too ;-)

Oh and I can’t forget to mention that we went looking at Christmas lights last weekend. It was a lot of fun! Makayla has matured so much over the past year and she really enjoyed looking at the lights this year. She smiles and points at every house that is lit up. Goodness I cannot believe how much she has grown. MG is a very smart girl! She makes the days brighter and the evenings more fun; what a blessing. It’s going to be awesome watching Makayla be a terrific big sister. (Of course I think there will be a transition period J )

 ~ Shawna

A Night at the Hospital

As we sit here in bumper to bumper traffic right outside of Chattanooga I can’t help but think of the crazy events of this past week. Tuesday started out as a normal day, but ended with me in an ambulance headed to the hospital. It was around 6:30 when I started feeling really weird; sort of spaced out. This feeling quickly led to me feeling disoriented, unable to feel my right arm or the right side of my face, blurred vision, seeing zigzags, and unable to answer questions. It was a very scary experience. Needless to say Tim called my doctor, who then told us to call for an ambulance. Once at the hospital and after getting about 30 minutes of oxygen I started feeling better. I had to see a neurologist, get an MRI, and take a stroll over to my high risk OB to check on our little guy. So here’s the deal, I had an atypical migraine (aka: silent migraine).The type of migraine presents itself like a stroke, but is not a stroke. It was more than likely triggered by stress. The good news is that me and our little guy are okay and that’s all that matters. I was finally discharged Wednesday evening with the doctors ‘okay’ that we could still go on our trip to Florida. I just pray that the last 12 weeks of this pregnancy go smoothly. We feel so blessed to have so many wonderful family and friends that are praying for us! God has truly blessed us. It feels like a lot has been going on lately and the Lord has been so lovingly carrying us through.

Grandparents Day & Our Little Guy

Grandparents Day Fun!

Happy Grandparents Day Nana & Granddad!

 Makayla had fun today hanging out with Nana and Granddad! They came over to eat lunch and play with MG for Grandparents Day. One day Makayla will realize how blessed she is to have grandparents that love her so much and want to spend so much time with her. It makes my heart very happy! Here are some pictures from the day.

Granddad sneaking MG some icecream....caught on camera!

MG telling Nana that she know the word cat!

Never a dull moment!

Our Little Guy...our precious blessing!

Now for an update on our precious baby boy! I have a single umbilical artery with this pregnancy so our baby boy will be monitored more closely to make sure he is growing well. All other worries were removed last week when we got the news that everything else looks great! Praise God for that! We surely do serve a God who is much bigger than our biggest burden and I know God would have been our comfort and strength had the news been different. As of my 20 week sonogram he was measuring 2 days ahead and 12 ounces; the size of a can of coke! We are still trying to decide on a name for this little guy. Boy, are boy names hard to choose…lol. Hopefully we will decide soon…but…we want to keep the name a surprise. Don’t you just love the suspense?

Here are some pictures of our little guy. Yes, I know he is so darn adorable!

Amazing!

Taken at 21 weeks...he is so cute!

 And here are some picture of me....my how I've grown!

Come on Fall

Well, the weather is finally cooling off a bit. It is supposed to be in the 80’s all week long! I am looking forward to more days at the zoo and fun at the park with Tim and Makayla. I love the fall weather and can't wait for it to get here. Tim has been putting some new flooring in at home this past week. It has been very hectic and extremely messy to say the least, but he has done a wonderful job so far. I can’t wait until the job gets finished! I will have to post some before and after pictures when everything is finished.

God Bless,
Shawna

August Already

I can’t believe my summer vacation is coming to an end. It feels like it’s only been a few weeks, but in reality it’s been a few months. Makayla and I have had a wonderful time spending our entire days together. It has really been the perfect time. She has grown so much over the last year, and I’m so glad that as a working mom I was able to see those 1st big milestones with my own eyes. In fact, she started crawling and took her first steps on weekends when Tim and I were both home. We couldn’t have asked for anything better!!! Now that she has been walking for 2 months she has become a little pro and looks absolutely adorable! So I thought I would give a few update on Miss Makayla…

New word she learned: waffle (it sounds like bopple, and it is sooo cute!)
Favorite place to eat: Cracker Barrel
Clothes: Wears 12 mo (has for several months now) She can wear some 18 month clothes.
Teeth: 2 up top, 3 on bottom…plus 1 more coming in on the bottom and 2 more coming in on the top! She has done very well with teething. Yay!
Favorite TV Shows: Super Readers, Dinosaur Train, and Sesame Street (I definitely limit the time and days I have the tv on cartoons because I don’t want MG to ever be a television junky! The shows are good though.)

And not that anyone else cares what kind of schedule MG is on, but I wanted to put this on my blog so I can look back at it one day. Everyone knows that I am “Miss Sentimental”!

Schedule (which is about to change next week when I go back to work)
8:30            Wake up, get ready for the day (We love sleeping in!)
9:00            Typical Breakfast: waffle, milk, fruit
9:30- 11:00 Play time with Mommy, go strolling, watch Elmo’s World
11:00          Typical Lunch: meat, vegetable, fruit, milk or juice
12:00-2:30  Nap
2:30            Wake up, snuggle time, read a book
3:00            Snack Time: cheese, fruit, yogurt, or whatever I find
3:15-6:00    Playtime, and anything else we plan for the afternoon
6:00            Typical Dinner: meat, vegetable, fruit, milk or juice (basically whatever mommy & daddy eat for dinner.) Sometimes she doesn't get a meat and eats cheese pizza or cheese bread.
6:30            Playtime
7:00            Bath time, get ready for bed
7:30            Milk bottle (This is the only bottle she really gets now. Hopefully no more bottles soon!)  Playtime, family stroll, read a book, play with Jazz & Rose, then settle down.
9:00            Bedtime

MG started going to the church nursery almost 2 months ago, and needless to say it’s not going so well. As soon as we get into the hallway where her room is she starts crying. I hope it gets better very quickly! She has really become attached to her mommy and daddy. She is a lot like me when I was little; sensitive and very sweet. I am just happy that she loves her Nana and Grandad because I can leave her with them and she is perfectly content. Last weekend she went over there to play with Amelia and Anna Catherine. It was a hoot! Makayla acted like a little hotshot; running around, grinning, not wanting to leave, and basically thinking she was as old as the other girls. It was so cute and funny to watch. Here are a few pictures.

And now…here are some updates on our bun in the oven. I had my 16 week appointment last Tuesday and everything is going well. The baby’s heartbeat was 158! I think I felt the baby move once at 12 weeks and once at 14 weeks. Over the past week I have been able to feel the little one move more, especially at night when I’m lying in bed. It is so neat, and I know I will get to feel the movement more and better in the next few weeks. We will find out if our baby is a boy or girl at the end of this month!

Have a Blessed Week,
Shawna

Almost 15 Weeks Pregnant!

I am so glad to finally be in my 2nd trimester! The first trimester was exhausting and everything was so unappetizing. I lost 5 pounds but have now gained 2 of those back. Over the last week I’ve noticed my pants have become tighter, so I got out the maternity clothes today. I know everyone shows differently, but I’m hoping & praying that my hips don’t spread like peanut butter on sliced bread. I can’t wait until I feel the baby move; that is by far the best part of being pregnant!

Shawna

Soon to be a Mother of Two

 All my babies in one photo! Love it! What a blessing from the Lord! 

Wow, just saying ‘mother of 2’ makes me excited and nervous at the same time! I am so happy Tim and I have finally told everyone that baby # 2 will be here in January. It is difficult to keep such exciting news from people, but at the same time it’s kind of special for Tim and I to share that by ourselves for awhile. We waited till the 2nd trimester with Makayla too and it was very nice. We had that time to talk about it, dream about her, and make our own decisions without input from others. Once the “cat is out of the bag” is when you get all the advice from everyone including strangers…lol. But so far I haven’t had much advice, just congratulations. I guess when people see that your first child is doing okay they realize you might know how to do it after all. But honestly, I have received some tremendous advice from friends and family that has proved to be very helpful; especially from my Mom. Thanks Mom! Now I find myself giving advice to first time moms…ironic isn’t it….because I’m certainly not an expert at this mom thing! I'm sure I'll be the one asking for advice soon enough...haha!

Anyhow, I am so excited for Makayla to be a big sister! I just know that she will adore this new little baby (okay I hope). I heard that MG will be too young to be jealous…but I guess we will eventually find that out. Tim and I always wanted our children to be close in age, so this has turned out to be great for us. Makayla and her little brother or sister will be just under 18 months apart. Uh…my thoughts just turned to diapers…and diapers…and diapers. Nah, maybe MG will be potty trained early!

Well, that’s all I have time to write right now. I will leave you with some cute new pictures.

Until next time,
Shawna

 8 Week Ultrasound

I love this picture!! This is when we told Makayla she was going to be a big sister! Honestly, she seemed to know what we were saying...lol.

12 Week Ultrasound

It's amazing how fast the baby has grown!