So, for those of you that don't know, I HATED being pregnant.  Like, really hated it.  It is so funny because when people say, 'I miss being pregnant' I honestly don't get it.  I was sick constantly (throwing up the morning of giving birth!), my emotions were all over the place, my back hurt, etc...towards the end, I had all those symptoms plus I was constantly contracting and peeing literally every ten minutes.  It was ri-dunk-u-lous.  A week before I had my son, I went to a rather large mall here in Michigan, whilst having contractions to 'walk on labor'.  I had the pleasure of progressing VERY slowly until the day I had my c-section.  Anyway, whilst at the mall I made it to one side and starting having pretty extreme contractions.  I VERY slowly walked in and out of stores until I sat on this couch and took deep breaths and called my husband to let him know I might not be able to make it home:)  I waited an hour, the contractions subsided and I went home so frustrated that I would, once again, not be having my child.  


Flash forward two months later, and I returned to the same mall, this time with my beautiful baby boy.  We sat in the middle of the mall and I fed him his bottle.  From there, we went in and out of stores.  I bought him some super cute polo onsies on sale, and huge picture frames for our new family photos.  Just for kicks and giggles, I stopped at the couch where I had sat two months before praying for labor to REALLY begin and I held mr. man close to me.  I told him about how I was so frustrated waiting for him and how very glad I was that he is a part of our family now.




The moral of the story folks, is that every second of pregnancy that I hated (and I hated every second) was TOTALLY worth it.  It is bizarro that I have a child.  A SUPER handsome child that my husband, myself and God created.  I look at it now, and think, what a small price to pay for the glory of this gift that is my son.  During the pregnancy, I thought it was a lot to go through, but in actuality, it was a SUPER small price to pay.  It doesn't even seem fair that for so little effort, I get to hang out with this awesome little boy for as many days as God will let me.  And I would do it all again, and again, and again, to experience something as awesome as being at the mall with my sweet baby boy:)

Reflections on a year

A year ago yesterday, Aaron and I were married. It seems so funny to think that at this time last year, I was probably relaxing in our room by the sea, listening to the sounds of the ocean. We were aware, even then, that our honeymoon was one of the last times that it would be 'all about us'. On our honeymoon, we talked a lot about getting pregnant, we wondered if we were already pregnant (in my family that would not be unusual) and discussed how fantastically bizarre it would be to be parents. Flash forward 365 days later, and that fantasy is now our reality.

We are new parents in every sense of the word. Trying to navigate through parenthood. We are used to getting by on less sleep than our sleepless nights used to provide. We are dealing with a baby who is 100% adorable and yet cranky 50% of the time:) We are planning for our future and getting used to new work schedules and trying to keep on top of house cleaning/laundry/etc...We have already had our child admitted to the hospital and we are set to go see a pediatric cardiologist in three weeks (not a big deal, heart murmur). These things have showed us that life is probably never going to be about 'just us' again. In fact, 'just us' has expanded. It now includes a sweet baby boy, who spits up so much I am considering carrying around an extra shirt at all times. He is also the sweetest boy ever. This morning, he looked at me and smiled for a solid 3 minutes..my heart melted!

God's plans are amazing. Aaron and I are still very much at the beginning of our journey together, now joined by a sweet baby boy. My prayer last night as I went to bed on my first year anniversary is that we can keep our 'eyes on the prize'. The prize being growing in faith together through learning how to selflessly love each other. Currently, I suck at that...I might always suck at it- but thankfully I have someone to walk with on this path.

Thank you Jesus for my husband :) Happy anniversary to him and praise God for our little boy!

So behind...

...On blogging:) I have written Mr Lil' Aaron's birthstory- but I have to make sure it is readable before posting. In the meantime, I thought I would just riff a bit!
Tuesday, we took our first trip to the ER. Tuesday morning started rough, maybe it should have been a sign? We went to Mass at 6:45 pm (I love the fact that our Church is within walking distance), and had baby boy in his car seat/stroller thing. He hates being buckled in, so on our way home, I figured I would just set him in the seat. We had a great walk home, and as we got to our house, I did what I normal do, I elevated the stroller to bring it up the stairs into the house. When I did that, baby boy went tumbling out of the stroller, on to the ground, the sidewalk. I have never had a sensation of wanting to throw up because of sadness or horror until that moment. It was by far the worse experience of my life, so that is all I will say about that. We took him to the ER, because he had a bump on his head- all is well now, but it turns out he did have a skull fracture. Can you imagine? On a 3 week old? I shudder when writing this...but it reminded me of something I want to document. Things I didn't realize about mommyhood.
- I didn't realize that love actually hurts. Like, loving my child is going to be a truly painful experience- but a good reflection on the Blessed Mother
- I didn't realize what a good man my husband was. Whether it is his calm head in times of crisis, his helpful attitude, the way he sings to baby boo and makes up words. I always knew I married an awesome guy, I had no idea that he was SO awesome.
- :)

The worst part of having a colicky baby isn't the crying, that I can easily block out...the worst part is holding him, when he is screaming, knowing that he is in pain and there is very little you can do to help.
- I didn't realize that a kid so young, could make me laugh out loud so often. Real laughter. It might be because his hat has fallen in front of his eyes, or he makes a silly face when going number 2 :) It might be that he is looking at me with such wonder, or that he is doing his big boy stretches in the morning...I just never knew how much I would ADORE the times he makes me laugh.
- I didnt realize how much he would change, so quickly, and that I would want it to stop...lol:)

There is more I will write later but alas, he has woken up and needs his mom.

Musings...

This morning, as Aaron left for Church, I said...
'This could very well be the last time for a long time that you attend Mass alone, without a newborn'. It made me smile.

Then, when I was taking a shower, I looked at the shampoo bottle which is still half full. And I realized I will be using the same shampoo bottle when the baby is here.

These things make me happy.

Dum dee dum dum....

So- rumor has it we might be induced next week! It is CRAZY to think that the little dude could technically be sitting here in the family room with me in just one short week. Yesterday morning, as we were waking up, I said to Aaron, 'How crazy that at this time next week, we might have a little baby in the bassinet next to us'. We are so excited and of course, completely scared (not of the baby part, just the labor part!). It is funny to think about how long I have wanted to be a mom and now, he is about to be here. DUDE, I cannot wait to meet him....there are also other things I am excited about- I thought I would list them.
- I am excited to get in and out of bed without the use of my step stool
- I am excited to flip from one side of the other in bed without it being a MAJOR production, complete with groans and push-offs
- I am excited to sleep longer than 2 hours (I know, I know, it will still be awhile) vs waking up every 45 min-1 hour in order to use the bathroom
- I am excited to have something to look at, read to, sing to, when I am up in the middle of the night unable to fall asleep
- I am EXCITED to drink caffeinated coffee again!
- I am excited to walk downstairs with a basket of laundry without being out of breath or thinking i am going to fall
- I am excited to have cloths that fit!!!!! Right now I am down to 2 shirts and 2 pairs of pants.
- I am excited to drink beer. OH MAN have I missed Bud Light:)
- I am excited to stop thinking about what life will be like, and actually knowing what life will be like
- I am so excited to see my husband hold his son
- I am excited to shave my legs AND be able to see them
- I am excited...SO EXCITED to not be sick all the time!
- I am excited to take the baby on walks in his stroller
- I am excited to pray with my child every night
- I am excited to be a mom!

SO MANY THINGS TO BE EXCITED ABOUT...I AM JUST SCRATCHING THE SURFACE!

One Month Left...

I am sitting in my family room right now looking at the baby swing that my husband set up yesterday. To my right are boxes with a Pack and Play, a High Chair, a Bassinet, and a Bouncer. On the floor are boxes with bottles, breast pumps, bedding, etc...Yes, my friends, the baby is almost here!

This weekend, we were blessed to have our final shower. It was an amazing day in so many ways. There were too many blessings to count, too many awesome gifts, and I know our baby felt that love that was radiating in the room.

My cousins and aunts from out of town (all the way from Wisconsin) got up at 4:30 am to drive in for it! Can you believe that? The day was such a joy.

The night before, I was telling Aaron my biggest concerns were that we didn't have enough baby clothes and we didn't have enough books to read him when he was born. Well, trust me, those needs were taken care of. The day was so very very special...and once again, my husband surprised me and woo'd all the women in the room by being a total rock-star. I shall explain...

For the past week I could tell he was working on something. He told me I couldn't look at his emails (yes we are THAT couple that has each other's passwords and such), and that he was working on something. I wasn't sure what it was, but once again, decided I would just let myself be surprised. After I had opened all the presents, Aaron said there was one more. He gave me a card with very nice words (he writes very nice words occasionally) and as the room of people looked on, began to give me his shower present. Before I started opening, my aunt said, 'I have been to a TON and I mean a TON of showers, I have never seen a husband give his wife a present.'. He began to hand me a series of books, 'How to be a happy mother' and 'How to Raise Men of Character' for me; and 'Better fathers, better sons' and a book about fathers raising sons for him. He had ordered these books for us, so that we could read together about the important things. Not things like, 'how long should I breast feed', or 'How should I diaper my child'- but really important things...how to raise children to be GOOD. Needless to say, I started to get teary eye'd.

However, there was one more gift, he pulled out a tiny box and at first I didn't know what it was (an ipod to replace the one he bought me and I lost 3 months later???)- and once I knew I started to cry once again. He had got me a Sony Bloggie, otherwise known as a video camera. We are quite tight on money right now (Uncle Sam came calling for for over four thousand dollars)- but I kept telling him how we really needed to get a video camera, so we can capture all of our baby boy's moments. Once again, my rock star husband made it happen.

I completely started bawling at that point, because that is what he makes me do all the time. And, I'm not gonna lie, there was a tear or two in his eyes as we hugged. I think an advantage of the love that we found is that occasionally, we have these moments when we are SO very aware what a gift we are to each other, and what a gift God has given us through our soon-to-be-here child. We were in my mom's basement, surrounded by so much love for our child, and I was so very aware of the love I am blessed to have.

One thing I know for sure, my baby is so VERY lucky to have Aaron as his daddy. Dads are so very important to their sons, and I spend a LOT of time thinking about how blessed our baby is:)

YAY God!

This song is bringing me great joy at 4:46 am

If you want to smile...you should listen to this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Tyee5d87c8