One Thousand Gifts

Lately, I have been (slowly) reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.  This book is a challenging read for me in many ways but has been wonderful so far.  Her style of writing is so beautiful, but for someone who sometimes struggles with focus and comprehension, it just takes a while.  Is the content worth it?  Yes.  The basis of the book is "living fully right where you are".  The word that weaves throughout the book is Eucharisteo.  "He gave thanks."  Thanks with grace and joy.  You should read the book.

Any who, it is a lovely and sometimes sobering reminder to live with grace, joy and constant thanksgiving, on the good days and especially on the bad days.  Ann started to list 1,000 gifts.  Things she could be thankful for.  She started seeking out things to be thankful for.  Things like "jam piled high on toast", "crackle in fireplace", "bandages and pain relief."  She intentionally looked for joy in her days and, as I understand it, still keeps a list well beyond 1,000.

I've contemplated doing the same, but I'm awful for getting excited about something, spending lots of time getting ready for it, doing it for a week or two and then it trails off.  I don't want 1,000 gifts to be a project, I think the point is to make it a way of life.  Find joy.  Be thankful to God, who has blessed us with the house that needs cleaning, the food that needs to be washed from dirty dishes, the children who need...everything.  I struggle to find joy in the mundane and thankfulness in the frustration my day brings.  Last night I read about Ann witnessing a particularly frustrating interaction between her boys over toast and getting mad, really mad.  God reminded me through this book:

"Straw comes in all shapes and the back of a camel can be weak and it's toast and surely there's something behind it that I should seek out but I don't even care.  It's my own face that obscures the face of God.  How can I help this son of mine see when I can't see?  The parent must always self-parent first, self-preach before child-teach, because who can bring peace unless they've held their own peace?  Christ incarnated in the parent is the only hope of incarnating Christ in the child - yet how do I admit that people made in the Image can make me blind to God, my own soul contorting, skewing all the faces?  Why gouge out your own eyes when crusading for Beauty?  Pain drives us to the mad acts."

God, today I pray that I can find joy and grace and beauty in the midst of it all.  Help me to see and help my children see.  Remind me to self-preach before I child-teach.  Help me to hold onto peace and share it with the little ones I'm with.

O Christmas Tree

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year.  We celebrated Papa's birthday with Papa & Oopsy at their house on Tuesday night.  On Thursday we spent the first half of the day at Meme's and spent the rest of the day in Elm City with The Williams' family.  Good food all around!  Since Shawn had Friday off, we went ahead and got our Christmas tree up and decorated.  I don't think we've ever gotten a tree that "early", although, according to Target, Christmas started just a hair before Halloween.  There is a local church that has a tree lot to benefit missions.  We got there early Friday morning and found out they didn't even open the lot until Saturday.  But because any good fundraiser never turns down a sale, they let us pick one of the few trees that had been unloaded and unwrapped and loaded it right into our trunk.

Meme came over to help!

Caroline had a front row seat

Daddy helped Thomas put the star on top

Okay, so maybe Thomas helped Daddy


Thomas says often, "Mommy, isn't our Christmas tree just beautiful?"

Today's Weather

I know it's been too long (as usual).  I have a few posts that are from ages ago that I'm still working on finishing and posting.  One of those is Caroline's birth story.  Yes, she's here and she's 3 months old.  I'll get to it when I get to it, I guess.

Just wanted to share a cute Thomas story from this morning.  As we were talking about the weather this morning we started talking about how it stays comfortable in our house.  I explained that the vents in the house make cold or hot air that either cools or heats our house, based on what it's like outside.  He was listening pretty intently (for a three and a half year old).  Then it went like this:

Thomas: "Mama, where does God live?"
Me: "God lives in heaven"
Thomas: "I'm gonna go to heaven and tell God that he needs to put some vents outside"

I love the way a child's mind works. :)

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Shawn's birthday was October 19 and he may not be big on birthdays but Thomas LOVES birthdays!  We decided to make him his favorite supper - meatloaf and mashed potatoes - and his favorite dessert - chocolate eclair cake.  If you've not had this dessert before, I'm sorry.  Tell me, and maybe I'll make you one.  It is that good.  It's not one of those fancy desserts.  It's just a good ole yummy, sugary, chocolatey, graham crackerey dessert.  It's best if you make it and then let it sit in the fridge for a few hours.  Then take it out and let it lose its cool a bit.  Mm mm mm!!

Thomas did a great job of helping me make dessert. 

Stirring the chocolate

Pre-chocolate

Final product

I took Thomas to Target to the dollar section and told him he could pick anything out for Daddy as a birthday present.  We had a conversation (and he was reminded a number of times while shopping) that this was a gift for Daddy, not Thomas.  He picked out a box of Double Bubble bubble gum and told me that he really thought Daddy would like this.  What is the first thing he did when Shawn opened his gift? ...ask for some bubble gum. :)

Mommy splurged a little with the help of my parents and got Shawn tickets to the Michael Jackson Cirque du Soleil show in March.  We are both really looking forward to that date night!!

Happy Birthday Daddy!  You look great for 28! ;)

Happy Birthday Caroline

What a day July 20th turned out to be!  I want to share Caroline's birth story for those that are interested, but mainly I want to record this day and the experience so that I don't forget it.

Wednesday, July 20th began at 2:30am when I woke up with contractions about 12-14 minutes apart.  I laid there for about an hour to make sure this was really it, then I woke Shawn up.  He knew it was coming that night, because he had stayed up later than usual and spent time getting his gym bag ready to get up early in the morning and workout.  Figures, huh?  So, we gave it a while and the contractions kept coming, but fairly far apart and not too painful.  We went ahead and called our parents.  Papa came over to stay with Thomas in the early morning hours.  Meme was in Washington DC on business, so she hit the road to head home.  Shawn's parents were headed to Myrtle Beach and eventually made it there, dropped off Joseph and turned right back around to head to Raleigh.

Papa got to our house, so as soon as my contractions started getting stronger and closer together we were ready to go!  Then....they stopped.  Not completely, but they were not consistent and not too painful.  So, Thomas went home with Papa for the morning while Shawn and I walked MANY laps at Crabtree Valley Mall, ate a nice spicy, greasy meal at Bojangles, and took a nap.  All the while having contractions very inconsistently.  In the afternoon, contractions got more consistent and more painful.  Thomas came home to nap and Meme made it to our house to stay with him.  By late afternoon, my contractions were still 10-12 minutes apart but were getting VERY painful.  At around 4 or so, I called my doctor and explained the situation.  (The guideline is that you don't call the doc or head to the hospital until you've had contractions 5 minutes apart for 1-2 hours!)  Dr. Gray told us to go ahead to the hospital to see what was going on.  When I hung up the phone with Dr. Gray, Caroline decided she wasn't wasting anymore time and my contractions went straight to 5 minutes apart and then to 3 minutes apart in no time!

I had heard a description of what it feels like when you are fully dilated and ready to push (I had a very good epidural with Thomas, so I didn't know what that feeling was like myself).  I found out what that felt like standing in our doorway, ready to get in the car and head to the hospital.  I did my best not to birth that baby the entire way there.  I had these milestones in my head the whole way... if we can just make it off the highway... if we can just make it to the fire station near the hospital... if we can just make it to the hospital driveway... if I can just make it to a room on the labor and delivery wing.  Well, we made it, barely.  They told us to wait in the waiting room and I refused (kindly, I'm sure) so I decided to pull myself, in the wheelchair, along the railing in the hallway to the nurses station to tell them that I needed a bed NOW!  Shawn stopped me and told me (kindly, I'm sure) that "next time you have a contraction, the louder you are, the quicker they'll get you to a room."  He was right.  They led us around to a room that had just moments ago been cleaned.  The floors were still wet from being mopped.  In between contractions I got undressed and hopped up on the bed.  Eight minutes and about two contractions later, our sweet Caroline was born.

We spent about 18 minutes at Rex before she arrived.  Dr. Gray barely made it, but as luck would have it, she and Dr. Alvarez were switching shifts and both happened to be right there.  We actually got checked in and admitted a while after Caroline was born.  I hadn't planned on a natural birth, but that is what God had planned for us.  I can say now that I wouldn't have it any other way, however, next time around, we'll be heading straight for the hospital at the first sign of true labor.  We didn't get to spend much time with our L&D nurse, but she was great!  As usual, the rest of the staff at Rex was just awesome and we had a great experience.

Caroline did great in the hospital and started nursing well.  She had some of the clear gunk in her lungs that would make her gag and spit up a little.  We had one little scare at night.  I woke up to see her flailing her arms around in her bassinet and obviously having a lot of trouble breathing.  I paged the nurse and calmly (too calmly) asked for help.  They came in and turned that child upside down and beat that stuff right out of her.  What didn't come out then got sucked out with a bulb syringe.  That was a bit scary but she did great after that.  Big Brother got to come and visit and even got a special "I'm The Big Brother" sticker to wear while he was there.  He was and continues to be so gentle and sweet to his baby sister.

She's such a sweet baby and we look forward to watching her grow.  We love you Caroline.  Welcome to the family!

Caroline Scott Williams

July 20, 2011  5:03pm

7 lbs 10 ozs  20 in

Hurry Up And Wait

That's what we're up to these days.  We are busy waiting.  Today, I am 38 weeks and 3 days pregnant and we're smack in the middle of that time where she could come anytime, but it could also be another couple of weeks.  Thomas was 5 days late, but I swear I feel like I can't possibly carry this baby that long.  So, the waiting continues.  We're pretty much ready.  Her room still has bags of random stuff for which I have not found storage yet.  Funny how this time around, I'm not near as worried about being completely "ready" as I was last time.  With Thomas I wanted everything to be in it's place, clean, put away, etc.  This time....I'm just glad we have the crib up with clean bedding!  The rest will just have to come together.  She has some clothes to wear and they are clean and in drawers/closet.  We're good!
  

38 weeks 3 days

We're all ready for Caroline to make her grand entrance into the world.  Thomas is already including her in family activities.  He makes sure that we remember to include her in our family of 4.  The other day, he said that "Me, Mommy & Caroline are going grocery shopping".  Thomas is really a big boy these days and is ready to be Mommy's big helper.  He has more and more funny things to say...

"Mommy (sigh)....here's the deal"
"Daddy, you're a big guy who works hard for us"

Wish I could remember more...maybe if I blogged more often.......anyway.

We've also been working on potty training.  I was just going to wait until after Caroline was born, but one day he seemed interested (mainly in the M&M's) and I figured, why not?  So, off we went.  It's going OK.  He decided that he needed to wear his Cars rain boots for the occasion the other day.  It was too cute not to capture in a picture.

Pee-pee is pretty reliable, but we're currently working on getting poo-poo in the potty.  We're done with the M&M's and now we've upped the anty to 2 Double Stuf Oreo's.  No success yet, but I'm hopeful.  The only problem with the scenario is that means we always have to have a package of Oreo's in the house.  We've gone through 3 packages in the past 4 weeks.  I've eaten most of those Oreo's.  Guess I better enjoy them while I can.... 

Maybe next time I'll be posting hospital pictures of Sweet Caroline??!!  :) 

June Showers Bring July Babies

Well, my computer issues were solved and then my bad computer vibes struck again.  Sooooo, we're without a computer again.  That means that I use Shawn's work computer most nights just to get caught up on email (ok, ok....and facebook), keep up with the budget, etc.  I don't, however, get much time to update the blog, keep up with pictures, etc.  So, no pictures this time and it's too late for my brain to try to go back and update on the past couple of months.  I'll just stick with the past 24-48 hours, K? K.

We had a busy, but fun, weekend!  Thomas spent Friday night and Saturday with Papa & Oopsy so that Shawn and I could go to a marriage conference at our church.  It's called The Art of Marriage through FamilyLife Ministries.  We really enjoyed spending that time together hearing from some really great speakers via video.  After almost 9 years of marriage, this was a great reminder of our commitment to each other and to God, and also made us really think over why we fell in love almost 13 years ago.  I would encourage any of you married couples to do things like this when given the chance, or seek them out yourself.  FamilyLife also does "Weekend To Remember" marriage retreats at hotels around the country.  Maybe we'll get to one of those soon.

Today we went to church, bought Daddy a new golf glove (a replacement Father's Day gift for the wrong glove that we bought originally), and had lunch at Moe's.  Our family has a slight addiction to Moe's.  I'm okay with that.  Anyway, this afternoon, I got to enjoy a baby shower given by Becky, Mom & Whitney at Dad & Becky's house.  What a beautiful shower it was!!!  Everything was just perfect.  I'm feeling incredibly blessed tonight thinking about how special that gathering was.  Some of my family from Charlotte was there (even though they've made this trip quite a bit in the past month!), friends from high school and college were there, family friends were there.  I felt loved and these special ladies showed me how loved baby Caroline is.  It's still a little surreal that all that pink stuff is for us, and boy did she get a lot of cute girly stuff!  A huge thank you to the hostesses with the mostesses and everyone who made it.  We missed a number of folks who are also so very special to our family.

Well, we are now at 35 weeks and I'm now going to the doctor weekly.  That makes it sink in for me that this little girl is on her way soon.  Thomas is really getting excited about meeting his sister and I think he can tell it's getting close now that furniture is being moved and all this new pink stuff is taking over our house. :)  We'll be getting his big boy furniture this week, which he is also really excited about.  As far as Mommy, she is equally excited to meet Caroline, but very uncomfortable.  This pregnancy has been very different in many ways.  I've been uncomfortable for a while now - that didn't really start until later with Thomas.  I haven't gained as much weight this time, which I'm happy about, and doc says Caroline will be "more petite" than Thomas...hmmmmm.  I've been having Braxton-Hicks contractions since 20 weeks, so much so that I tend to not even notice them sometimes now.  We are now trying to tie up some loose ends like packing the hospital bag, coming up with a plan for when I go into labor (mainly for Thomas' care), etc.  So, overall we're not totally ready, but we're ready.  Does that make sense?? :)  Makes perfect sense to me.  She is busy tonight as I write this.  As I type I can see my belly dancing all over the place.  She pushes to my right side and then pushes to the left.  Meanwhile, I feel tiny little baby hiccups.  I love that part.  Despite the tough parts, I love being pregnant and anticipating this sweet little miracle.  She'll be here soon.  :)

We Won!

That's right.  The NC State Wolfpack won a big football game today.  The spring scrimmage game was today.  The weather has been insane today but we decided to give it a shot and go out to the game anyway.  We got dressed in our football game gear, which was interesting for me.  None of my normal t-shirts fit and it was going to be warm-ish, so the only thing that semi-fit was my Philip Rivers jersey, so I put it to good use.  Thomas rocked his Lightning McQueen rain boots and we were off.  We took the traditional trip to the Western Blvd Bojangles and got a supreme tailgate special.  Mmmmm mmmmm mmmmm!  Let me say that again...  mmmmm mmmm mmmmmm!  We set up our chairs and table behind the car and enjoyed our yummy lunch in the drizzle and cool breeze (okay, it was wind).  We walked around the stadium and watched some of the game.  We even got to see our friends, the Sigmon's, and then we'd had enough and headed home.

Mmmmm, Bojangles!

Daddy & Thomas getting a picture with Mario Williams and some other guy (anyone know who he is?)

Go Wolfpack!

We made it home for nap time and Thomas awoke from his nap just in time to hunker down in our bathroom as a crazy storm system with lots of or maybe just a few big tornadoes came through our area.  When I say our "area" I mean half a mile from our house.  It looks like this was a mighty historic weather event.  We were spared any damage and we don't know of anyone yet with severe damage but lots of people are without homes and even loved ones tonight.  That makes me so very thankful for our safety.  Thomas and I got comfortable in the bathtub with pillows and towels and his crib mattress at the ready, while Daddy kept an eye on the conditions.  Our power went out for a while so we had snacks, water and Thomas' favorite toy, his "reading book".  I was pretty freaked out, but Shawn assured me we'd be fine and I think Thomas just thought we were picnicking in the bathtub.  He was completely unfazed.  So, tonight we're praying for those that are hurting and thankful for our safety.

It's (Gonna Be) A Girl!!

So, Thomas is going to have a baby SISTER!!!!  We are all so excited for her to get here.  The first little girl gift we got from Papa & Oopsy was a sweet little dress.  When I opened the bag, I felt like maybe they had made a mistake.  I think my exact thought was "Who is this for?"  So, we have lots of new things to get used to.  I look forward to dresses and all those sweet clothes.  I'm not so much looking forward to tights and bows, but I'm sure it won't take long to get used to.

Thomas is so very sweet to his sister already.  He regularly talks to her and tells her what he's up to.  He likes to give her hugs and kisses.  In order to do these nice things, he must lift up my shirt and bare my belly.  That is not so bad at home, but I've had to stop him multiple times in public.  I'm trying to explain to him that she can hear him, even through my shirt.  So sweet!

Here it is 11:11pm and I'm still awake messing with pictures and blogs.  I've gotten into such a bad habit of staying up late.  Once Thomas is actually asleep, which ranges between 8:30 and 9:30 most of the time, I so enjoy being able to hang out and do nothing, check email, read other blogs, etc.  We still don't have a computer but I'm using Shawn's work computer and still have a great desire to more regularly update the blog.  No telling how many fun things I've missed updating in the past few months.  I did finally get around to getting some pictures uploaded so here they are.

Thomas and Daddy at the Raleigh St. Patrick's Day Parade

Daddy on his Dell and Thomas on his Handy Manny computer.

How Do I Recap Three Months??!!

Now that I have a little bit of time, I'll try to update just a bit.  No WAY I can really truly update you since Halloween, but we'll hit some of the highlights.  OK?

Thanksgiving:  We had a nice Thanksgiving.  I can't remember what we did or where we went, but I'm sure it was great.  I especially enjoyed the food....and the family, of course!  :)

Christmas:  Christmas was nice too.  Thomas seemed to "get it" more this year and really enjoyed opening presents.  We started a new family tradition of heading to the Raleigh Rescue Mission on Christmas Eve to donate various items - some new stuff, some gently used stuff, and a few bags of groceries.

Big News:  Most of you already know, but we're expecting baby number two in late July.  My due date is July 28, so I'm thinking this little one might have an August birthday like his/her mommy.  We had been trying for a little while so we were thrilled when we found out that I was pregnant.  I had a feeling I was but I was trying to be patient before taking a million pregnancy tests.  Well, I caved one afternoon and decided to give it a try.  Well, it turned up positive so when I picked Shawn up at work, I had some good news that day!  Since this is the second time around, we didn't wait long to tell our family and friends, in fact, we didn't wait at all.  Our family found out the next day and most of our friends found out within the week.  We thought we were just a tad farther along than we really were.  Turns out, we told the world we were pregnant at about 5 weeks.  Oops!  Thankfully, everything has gone well so far.  I'm now 18 weeks pregnant and we have our big ultrasound this Thursday.  So, we'll be finding out whether Thomas will have a baby brother or a baby sister.  SO excited to find out!

Like I said, all is going well, but this time has been a little different than last time.  A little more nausea and of course it didn't take long for my belly to pop out.  I'm naturally more active this pregnancy than my last.  Instead of sitting in a chair in front of a computer all day, I'm bending, moving, up and down, picking up a 30-some pound child, in and out of the car, playing, racing or running up and down our hallway (although I've convinced Thomas that now Mommy needs to "speed walk").  So, I'm hoping that will serve me well.

Thomas is so excited to be a big brother.  We had him call his grandparents and inform them that he was going to be a big brother.  He enjoyed sharing the news because of the reactions, but I'm not sure he knew exactly what was going on.  Now that Mommy has a belly that is growing by the day, he "gets it" more.  He regularly kisses my belly and talks to the baby.  He says things like "Hey baby", "I love you baby" and he often tells the baby what we're doing "on the outside" and tells baby what he/she has to look forward to - things like throwing the football or basketball and playing trains.

Speaking of Thomas, he is growing up to be such a big boy. He is becoming more and more self-sufficient. He loves to play trains and play with his cars. He also loves to play with his basketball, football and soccer ball. Nearly every day, he is eager for Shawn to get home so they can race up and down the hallway! I think if we let him, he would race continually for an hour or more! He's quite talkative these days and has hilarious things to say. He keeps me laughing, that's for sure. Some of the cute Thomas-isms that I can think of now are:


"Oat-me-meal" - what he calls his oatmeal in the morning; "Ohhhh, thaaaat's riiiight" - he says it like he's grown; "That sounds like a good plan" - if he approves of something I've said or suggested; "How was business today, Daddy?"; "I wish I could go to that Bojangles with Mr. Lucas"; "Hey Mommy, that food is going to go down into your belly and say 'Hey baby, nice to meet you baby'"

Well, those are some of the updates that were on the top of my mind.  Hopefully, I'll have really exciting things to share with you going forward.  Maybe the really exciting stories and wonderful writing will keep you interested, even without pictures. :\ ??

Out of Touch

I know I don't have many followers, but for those of you that do read our updates: just wanted to let you know, if you don't already, that our computer at home has died.  It was a great computer for a long time but he just couldn't go anymore.  So, I'm barely keeping up with email, etc. on Shawn's work computer when I can get on which is usually every few days.  My point.... blogging is probably not going to happen until we get a new computer (not sure when that will be).  I will try to update if possible and when I do update we will be going back in time and catching up.  Pictures definitely won't happen for a while.  :(  Oh well.  Maybe one day I'll get caught up.