Next Step!

Things have been going so well at our church. A year ago we voted on an assistant pastor and we love him and his family so much. John is such a huge help to Larry. Now we have decided to take the next step and hire a youth pastor! We are excited about this opportunity as we begin the search. 

Some other exciting news is that we are starting the process of building a house. Since we have been here we have lived in the parsonage which is owned by the church. Last April we bought a piece of land in hopes that one day we would be able to build our own home. We are so excited about this!! There are so many decisions to make but it's been fun looking at housing plans etc. It feels like yesterday my parents were building their house and I was 13 years old then! So I remember a lot of the process. My biggest request is that it's a one level home. I'm so tired of running up and down the stairs with kids and not having a bathroom in the basement. It took a little convincing Larry to keep it a single story but we will have a basement with bathrooms downstairs which will be nice. 

Right now we have put our townhouse up for sale in NOVA. We've had such a wonderful renter the past two years but the market has slowly crept back so we are good to sell and not lose $$ on it! 

As things progress I will post pictures but summer is here and it's that crazy time of year. Larry leaves for camp on Sunday and my mom is coming to spend a few days with us then in early July he leaves for our missions trip in which I will go to NC during that time and spend it with my parents. Before you know it, it'll be fall-my absolute favorite time of year:)

Father's Day 2014

Our children have the perfect example of our Heavenly Father's love through their earthly father. Larry amazes me in every aspect of life. He's the spiritual leader in our home, a godly husband and father. The wisdom God gives him amazes me. We don't deserve this guy but God's just good. Thank you Larry for leading our home in a God-honoring way and for always pointing us to Christ. Today, we celebrate you, Larry. Happy Father's Day.

It's Larry's 3rd Father's Day with Mariah, and his first with Justus. I love these pictures of him with the kiddos. Happy Father's Day to all of the fathers out there. You have a pretty amazing job given by God and you're appreciated! 

Our photo cd is coming in the next few days. I can't wait to show you more of them and to share some exciting news later this week! 

Big Boy is 7 Months!

Mr. Handsome is already 7 months old! He's  so loving and sweet. He smiles ALL the time and has the sweetest personality. He brings so much joy into our lives. It's amazing how much faster time goes with the second child. I think just because you're so much busier taking care of two little ones.

On the 28th we will be going to his NICU reunion. I'm so excited! I think they'll be surprised with how big he is! He currently weighs 22 lbs!

Mariah helped me with taking these pictures and wanted to get in the tub herself. In just a few short months she's going to be three! She talks all the time and the things she says is hilarious!

Family Photos

Last Friday we had our family pictures taken by Lindsay with Miscellaneous Media and she did SUCH a great job. We've gotten back a few of them and can't wait to see the rest;) Here's one of all of us and when I get the CD I will post more! My kids are growing up!

Playing Catch Up!

I've attempted blogging several times and it just hasn't happened then before long, it's been months and I realize how big my kids have gotten in between posts! So, it's 1:00 in the morning, Mariah woke up from a nigh mare and I'm in the room next door waiting for her to fall back asleep and I think she has but now I'm not tired:)

 Mariah is almost 2 1/2 and Justus is now 4 months old and weighing 15.9 lbs! Sheesh! Time goes faster with the second one. I just can't keep up. Having two is night and day difference than having one. You're constantly on the go!! WOW! I knew it was busier but I didn't know it was this much busier. It's SO much fun though. I found myself with just one kid, looking around for something to do, and with two, I find myself looking for a few free minutes to take a shower:) I'm still loving photography. I'm slowly changing things, adding things and working on a blog for my photography. Hoping to have that up and running by mid April. 

The kids are great. Justus is healthy as a horse, and doing so well. He's had no health issues since being home from the NICU, not even a cold. Mariah is doing great. Half of the family had the stomach bug, Justus and I managed to avoid it. It was nasty, Mariah had it for 3 days and Larry for 12 hours. I never thought about having to teach a kid how to throw up so that was FUN??! All she wanted to do was snuggle and I gladly did that. 

Life is sweet. We just celebrated 2 years of Raphine bliss here. I feel like we've always been here. It's home. 

We're looking at getting some chickens to raise and hopefully start getting eggs from them. Since being here we've always had fresh eggs brought to us for free but we thought it would be fun for Mariah to experience having them as our own pets. I told Larry I couldn't take care of them though, it was all him:)

I praise Jesus for being so good to our family. So maybe next time my kids won't be teens before posting again:)

Sibling Love

We get asked all the time how Mariah likes Justus. She LOVES him! She's always wanting to help change his diaper, burp him after feedings etc. She thinks it's funny when she's close by and he tries to touch her face. She's had an ongoing cold and nasty cough along with an ear infection so she hasn't been able to get in his face much until recently so she's loving that!

Our 10 Pounder!

Yep you read it right! Justus is now 10.8 pounds which means he's in the 90th percentile for preemies!! Wow! We took him for his 2 month check up and that blew us away. We were guessing in the low 9 lb range. He's a good eater:) He's a pistol though. He will fight you when you try to do anything, change his diaper, put a bib on him, feed him-he's just a stubborn thing but he's sweet too. I love his blue eyes, they're getting more blue as the days go on so I'm guessing he'll keep them! 

I think I'm going to have this picture sent off and have a canvas made of it for his room. He's so handsome! Of course, I birthed another one that looks just like his father!

50 Days Early

It's hard to believe when I look at our little blessing that he was 50 days early! I love this story, it's the story that God wrote for me.  

As I found out about my shortening cervix at 20 weeks, I began to google it-I know, it's bad right? To look stuff up on the internet-espeically a health issue but I felt that something wasn't right when the doctors wouldn't put me on bed rest and said that the progesterone would do the trick of keeping me from going into preterm labor. They had told me that there was nothing they could do before 24 weeks so I needed to be "careful" So I told Larry that everything I was reading seemed to say that I needed to go on bed rest no matter what the doctors said. So, I did. Ten EXTREMELY long weeks of waking up and going to lay on the couch ALL DAY LONG and watching tons of TV, shopping on the internet and editing old pictures just for practice. I would get out a couple of times a week for a doctor's appts. and of course, a good trip to Chick fil A. I can't tell you how much I would look forward to that. What did I miss the most? Getting Mariah up out of bed every morning, getting her dressed for the day, fixing her breakfast, giving her baths, etc. you get the picture, right? Taking care of my family like a wife and mother should do. I missed doing laundry-yes, honestly I did. It wasn't my favorite chore around the house but when you go from doing everything to nothing, it's a rude awakening. I remember one day walking into the kitchen and looking out the window at my parents playing with Mariah on the swing set. She went down the slide for the first time in her life all by herself, and I couldn't be there to see it.

 But I had to look at the bigger picture, doing all I could do myself to bring our son into the world safely. So I had to suck it up. There were days where I cried-I was so tired of laying around and not getting to do anything. I didn't understand how I could have a perfect pregnancy the first time, perfect VERY fast labor with no pain meds BUT I knew God was doing something in my life and there was something He wanted me to learn from this. As every week passed I would google "baby born at 25 weeks"... "baby born at 26 weeks"... and so on. The biggest goal was to first get to 24 weeks then 28. I passed both of those with no signs of labor. Huge praise. I would read different women's stories on how early they went into labor-some good, some bad. Then one day I thought "God is writing my story, I need to stop reading everyone else's". So I stopped reading all the stuff on the internet and just prayed harder. My faith grew a million times. 

Jump forward 10 weeks of bed rest to Friday, November 8th 3:30am I woke up thinking I needed to go to the bathroom because my stomach hurt. So I went... and the pain didn't stop. I wasn't really aware of what the beginning of contractions felt like since my labor with Mariah was so different. So I tried to go to the bathroom again and it still didn't take care of the pain. Then I decided to wake Larry up. We then headed to the hospital. Honestly we thought they would be able to stop my contractions when we got there so we didn't grab anything except Mariah and my tennis shoes:) On the way I was timing my contractions and they were 6 minutes apart. I got up to my room and the doctor came in and I was fully dialated. No stopping labor at this point! I asked for an epidural and they told me there was no time so I just waited for him to tell me to start pushing. They looked at me and told me that my baby would be on the 3lb range since I was still so small which I had prepared myself for. Labor was pretty interesting... I passed out in the very beginning which was great because I didn't feel any contractions for a brief moment and I had a very fast dream:). Mariah was sitting there on the couch right next to us and she kept saying "mommy, mommy". Poor thing didn't know what in the world was going on. We were trying to get a hold of someone to come and get her but everyone was at least 30-40 minutes away. Finally Larry's secretary came and got her. Once we told the doctor that they had to break my water with Mariah, he realized we had time for the NETS team (the NICU team from UVA) to get there. So then I asked for an epidural and I got a spinal tap (this works faster and for a shorter period of time). I was in HEAVEN after that. It was AWESOME!!!! I had decided before having Justus that if my labor was longer than my previous one, I wanted the meds so I could enjoy every minute of having him and I don't regret it one bit. I got to see the whole thing and it was priceless. After 30 minutes of pushing, Justus David was born at 8:29am weighing 5lbs. 2 oz. 18 inches long. UNBELIEVABLE! We all were in shock at how much he weighed!! Later on everyone in the NICU kept saying they thought we were off on my due date by at least a week but we weren't, it was God taking care of our little one! That's all!

An hour later after Justus was born, they rolled him into me in his incubator so we could see him one more time before taking him to the UVA NICU. So precious. I was so thankful. I wasn't scared, I wasn't sad, I wasn't mad or angry, I was thankful. Thankful God allowed me to carry Justus for 32 weeks and 6 days. I was thankful for an incredible NICU team that was able to be there for my delivery  and take such good care of him. I was happy, honestly I was. 

This video was taken after he arrived at UVA. Larry took my parents and Mariah over to see him. The nurse you hear in the background is Gigi, such a sweet nurse!

I was discharged from the hospital the next morning and got to go over to UVA to see him. By the time I had gotten there, he had already graduated to a different part of the NICU since he was doing so well! 

Since I didn't have Justus to ride out of the hospital with, they let Mariah ride out:)

10 weeks of bed rest

18 days of 2 hour round trips to the NICU

Tons of cafeteria junk food

One healthy baby boy

... yep, it was worth it all. Much to our surprise, he came home this past Tuesday and we were so thankful. I didn't even have his coming home outfit with me so we had to run out to Target and grab something. It swallowed him but he still looked so handsome!

And we had a wonderful Thanksgiving! (he's got on his original coming home outfit)

Justus is now a whopping 5lbs 10oz!

I don't know how people go through times like this without the Lord. God has certainly been good!

PS: I just finished folding my first load of laundry in over 3 months:)

Our Little Guy is Here!

Just wanted to announce that Friday morning our little guy decided to make a FAST appearance! I will come back and write more but for now we are spending our time on the road going to UVA visiting him in the NICU. He is doing VERY well!! The only thing we are waiting on is for him to gain weight and eat all on his own. Nurses were guessing him to weigh 3 lbs since I was so small and he came out weighing 5lbs 2 oz!! I was 32 weeks and 6 days when he arrived so he came 50 days early. We were ALL shocked! Thankfully he never needed oxygen, he has been able to breath all on his own:) We are VERY thankful at how well he is doing. Our God never ceases to amaze us!

Halloween 2013

Mariah dressed up as a puppy this year! At first I tried to find a cow costume since she says "cow" about 100 times a day but there are tons out there but none I was crazy about. So her next favorite thing to a cow is a dog. We had trunk or treat at our church Wednesday night after church and this year she LOVED it! Last year she had no clue what was going on. Larry's going to have to hide her candy bag, not from her but from me:)

I had my appt. this past Monday and everything was good!! My midwife told me that I needed to do more activity so I didn't complain about that! She also told me I needed to gain more weight but I said no way:) I'm now 32 weeks. Four more weeks to go and little man can come whenever he wants. I'm hoping Black Friday shopping will put me into labor:)

My mother-in-law was here for the past three weeks and she went back yesterday. She spent a total of 6 weeks here helping us out and we couldn't have done it without her! We are so thankful for the time she was here and all she did for us! Since I am able to do more around the house we won't have anyone else come and help. My parents will come the week of Thanksgiving and by then I'll reach the 36 weeks mark! Really the only thing I don't do is go up and down the stairs, lift Mariah (I haven't lifted her in over two months, wonder how heavy she is??) and stand for a long time. My body let's me know when I'm pushing it so I try to rest when I'm home. I'm so thankful I'm not on 100% bed rest anymore. To be honest, that was probably one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. But I would do it to save my child's life. You don't realize how much you do around the house until you're not able to. 

So that about wraps it up for what's going on around here! Until next time, happy November! Wow I honestly can't believe it. I have waited for this month to come for 10 weeks!!

30 Weeks

So we've made it to the 30's! It's so hard to believe. I imagined this little guy coming sooner but I'm so glad he's decided to stay snug a while. We're praying he stays until week 36 but 37 would be GREAT! 

I have my maternity/family pictures scheduled for Nov. 9th. Yesterday I got to do a little shopping and I found the outfit I'm going to wear-let's just hope I don't "outgrow" it because technically, it's not maternity. I had in my mind all along what I wanted and I finally found it. Larry's mom is staying with us right now and she wanted to find a few winter tops so I got lucky with finding mine! So then I came home ordered Mariah's and Larry's and now we're all set!

My next appt. is a week from Monday!

FALLing Leaves

Yesterday I couldn't stand how cute Mariah looked in this outfit so I knew I needed to drag my camera out when we got home from church. I swear this kid makes the staring face so I will stop taking pictures of her:)

I'm really excited about the opportunity I'll have in November to take pictures for a daycare a lady in our church owns next month! I'll be going Friday to sit down and talk about setting etc. She's got over 160 kids! Yikes:) It's a REALLY nice daycare center! Will probably have to split it up over a few days! 

Room Changes

I have been dreading this for months but it's gotta be done! We are starting the process of changing up the rooms. Mariah will move downstairs and Justus will go in her room. I had my eye on a bedding set from Pottery Barn for a while but wanted to wait until it went on sale. Well, it never did and while I was waiting, I got a email form them showing all the bedding they had on sale. So I decided on this and I got it for $100!

I'm not the "beachy" theme type person and never really thought about using crab bedding but I thought it was cute and I've got other ideas to throw in it to not make it look like a beach. We're starting to paint the room in a couple of weeks using 3 diff colors and I can't wait to see how it turns out!

So for Mariah's room we are picking up her furniture this weekend for her new room. I'm so excited!! Here are the comforters I'm trying to decide between I haven't 100% decided on the colors but I'm pretty close.

Our BIG two year old!

I just laugh at this picture of Larry LOL!

This past Monday Mariah turned 2! We celebrated with my family this past Saturday. VERY small party. I promised myself after last year's big first birthday bash that I would NEVER do that again. So we had a little bday Hello Kitty decor, a Hello Kitty cake (which I didn't get a good picture of :( It was so nice having a low key party especially since I can't do much. 

I will be taking more picture of her in her outfit but for now, the first one is what I could do without being able to pull all of my photography stuff out.

For some reason it tagged my logo on all of the pics oops:)

Daddy's Girl

This child absolutely adores her daddy! When the back door opens she runs (and a lot of the times, falls LOL) Larry got a new pair of Doc's the other day and she wanted to try them on. What a ham. I love that she's so close to him. I think it'll make the transition a lot easier when the time comes for her brother to arrive!

Yesterday I turned 31. This birthday came REALLY fast! But I did get off the couch long enough to fix myself up and go out to eat for a couple of hours. Then came back and got back in the recliner and opened gifts. I got several necklaces, a jean jacket (I'm obsessed with jean jackets right now), a charm for my bracelet, a top, money, and some photography backgrounds that I CAN'T WAIT to use!! And Larry got me a new flash for my camera!! I was so excited.  Hopefully I won't be spending too many of my birthdays on bed rest! I honestly had one of the best birthdays, Larry made it extra special since I couldn't do much. Larry's mom has been here for almost 3 weeks helping and she made me a pound cake. OHHH I LOVE pound cake!!! Wow. So yummy. I was very blessed by all the calls, txt, fb messages I received yesterday! 

Oooops! She Dropped the Pink!

Yes! We found out Tuesday it's a BOY! I was 99% sure it was a boy all along. With the way I was feeling and how different things were with this one, I was certain it was! My appointment went pretty well. He's very healthy and looks really good. We are so thankful for that! We're just praying I can keep him in there until he's at least full term! Mariah was 37 weeks-considered full term so hopefully this little guy will follow in her footsteps!

He was all over the place. I can't believe how much he moves! He's way more active than Mariah was. I guess that's just part of being a boy:)

Halfway There!

Time is passing so quickly! Tomorrow morning we find out what we're having!! I still have no preference-either way I'll be just as happy!

So far I'm up to 112lbs and I feel GREAT! I work my tail off every morning before Mariah gets up trying to keep my weight down and so far, it's worked. Some days if I feel like squeezing in another workout I do. I'm trying to stay within the 20-25lb mark because I feel so much better around that range. 

We're starting in the next couple of weeks turning our basement into two bedrooms and a bathroom but also keeping the man cave for Larry's sake:)

Next month we'll finally be getting around to going on vacation. We are going to the Destin, FL area with my parents for a little over a week then it's back into full swing of things here! It's going to be nice getting to spend that length of time with my family. Can you believe it's August already?? I can't! We're going to celebrate Mariah's birthday while we're there since it's pretty close. We had to get in our vacation before she turns 2 so she could still fly free:)

A couple of weeks ago we went to Charlottesville and went apple picking. We had two things going against us-Mariah had a double ear infection and it stormed like a beast on the way up there. But we had a lot of much fun! Larry managed to squeeze a smile out of her:)

Family Shot

My inlaws are here in town for two weeks canning up our garden! So far my mother-in-law has canned over 105 quarts of green beans!! Wowza. So I had my mother-in-law snap this pic for us yesterday right after church. You can see my hair. I absolutely love it! The color is just what I wanted!! FINALLY!! This was the best we could do considering it was Mariah's nap time-see what I mean?? Nice picture blooper

 She's been running a fever since Thursday night so she's been pretty sleepy and not feeling well. Finally this morning she woke up fever free!

So I think we're through our busy summer. VBS was crazy last week. Our biggest night we had 141 kids. Such a blessing. We had such a great time!!

I don't remember the last night we didn't have anything to do. Tonight Larry has a deacon's meeting but we're at home making blackberry jelly. So I have a free night:)

In this pic I'm 18 weeks. Pregnant! So hard to believe I'm almost half way there!!!