The fastest month of my life...

So let's try to recap the fastest month of my life...

Valentine's day, I began active labor. Feb. 15, my sweet baby boy was born. My labor and delivery was a very peaceful and joyous experience. I was happy to have all of my immediate family be able to see him hours after he was born. So much love and happiness filled the room. I hope it's a feeling I never forget.

Memorable moments:

-   Feeling of relief once the epidural kicked in.
-   Having a church friend be my nurse.
-   Logan having the hiccups while being 6 cm dilated.
-   Travis praying for me moments before I began pushing.
-   My doctor sharing a verse in the middle of my labor: God works all things to the good of those who love Him.
-   Looking at Travis's face after they placed Logan on my chest and both of us managing not to ball.
-   Travis and I singing Logan happy birthday during our alone time.
-   Snuggling my little one on my chest for the first time.
-   The fire alarm going off as a practice drill.

So what they say is true. A baby changes your life. I hated hearing some of the negative aspects everyone seems to remind you of while you are pregnant. Do you loose sleep? Sure, but coffee becomes your best friend. (Thank you whoever invented the keurig.) Hey, I had to make up for not drinking any for 9 months somehow. Right? Logan, you have quickly taught me how to be selfless (or at least not as selfish) and how much of a time waster I am. I thought I knew how to put others before myself, but not until you have a child, do you fully understand how to really do that. Hot meals, showers, trips to the bathroom all wait to quite your little one who seems to be fighting gas pain or sleep. But once you are in the most peaceful looking sleep, momma is able to get anything she wants during that hour or two done. Not to mention, you've taught me how to use my left hand and do things one handed that I never could before. I'm sure you will teach me about time, because I don't know where it went this past month besides feeding, sleeping, and diaper changes. You are also teaching me a different kind of love. A love that I have for no other. Thank you Logan for the lessons you already teaching me and the changes in life already. I can only imagine what our new life has in store.

The newborn stage is hard and difficult, but when your beautiful big eyes meet mine while I'm rocking you, I know the sleep I have lost is worth it. When you snuggle up on my chest and place your head on your arms and make the sweetest face because your belly is full, I know the pain and time of breastfeeding is worth it. When I see that smile, I know helping you fight through the gas pains is worth it. Even though you are probably stretching the neck on some of my shirts by gripping it tight, it's worth it to give you content. The countless times we put back on the one sock you manage to always loose (even while swaddled) but it keeps those toesies warm, so it's worth it. The fact that you are not a fan of baths, it's worth it, to keep that sweet soft smooth skin clean. The fact that you literally scream the entire time your diaper is being changed until that last button on the onsie is snapped and you are lifted up, magically you are content. It's worth it, to know I've met your need. Even though momma has only been out the house a couple of times thus far, your needs are being met, so it's worth it. In case you don't know, momma loves you lots.

Memorable Moments:

-   Almost one week old - sleeping in - having skin to skin time with mom and dad.
-   First time we gave you a bath, you screamed the entire time. Then when momma wrapped you up in a towel, you proceeded to poo. Once momma removed the towel and was about to put a diaper on you, you peed all over me - in which I had JUST took a shower and put on clothes other than pjs. Crazy thing is that I hadn't changed a single diaper and yet I got peed and pooed on...
-   First walk around the block in your stroller - you hated the sun in your eyes. Then screamed half way home since you barely had a wet diaper.
-   Taking newborn pictures at 2 weeks old.
-   Most used word to describe you: adorable.
-   Momma's sleep deprive moment: almost every night, waking daddy up saying, "Take him" because I'm thinking you are still in my arms after feeding, and I want to sleep. Some nights, this happens multiple times.
-   Your name suits you well, since we have had to clip your "claws" at least 5 times so far and your scratches on your face heal quickly (very similar to Logan the Wolverine) and you look just like your Poppa (Travis's dad - Dwain, Logan's middle name) when he was a baby.
-   When you are eating sometimes you make a fist with just your pinky up, so momma says you are having "tea time." 


What you love:
Daddy rocking you.
Momma singing to you. Especially, "Some Where Over the Rainbow."
Your hands. You love to put them by your face while eating and sometimes squish your face - meal time gets intense for you. They are a big comfort to you by sucking on fingers or knuckles.
Meal time.
The way daddy swaddles you.
Ceiling fans - moving or not moving.
Holding your head up. Everyday in the mid-morning you have to have some time to do this.
Being held. You let anyone hold you.

What you are not a fan of:
A little pee in your diaper. Dirty ones are ok though. We don't get it...and this makes us go through A LOT of diapers to keep you happy.
Diaper changes.
Bath time. (But you are getting better)
Changing clothes.
Being naked?
You have a love hate relationship with the pacifier.
Fighting your sleep.
Gas pains. (No one blames you for this one)
I'm going to say the microwave because every time momma decides to use it, you decide otherwise...

Weight
Birth: 7 lbs. 11 oz
1 month: 9 lbs. 12 oz

Height
Birth: 20.25"
1 month: 22.25"

Thank you, God, for choosing me to be this little fella's momma.

Love you, Logan.

Peace, Love, and a New born baby,
-Miche

Sitting in a Tree...

Our Facebook announcement. I wanted to do something creative to share the news with the rest of our family and friends. So I naturally went to Pinterest for some ideas. I found one idea that I thought was cute. A couple was sitting in a tree holding a calk board with a check off list from a nursery rhyme. I didn't like the chalk board idea, so instead I decided to act out each line in pictures. Enjoy!

 Sitting in a Tree...

 K-I-S-S-I-N-G

 First comes love.

 Second comes marriage.

 Then comes...

 Proof of our little one. :)

Peace, Love, the secret is out!
-Miche

And then there were.....3?!?

Ten months. Some months were easy. Some months were hard. Some months were busy. Some months were long. Lots of stress, crying, understanding, relief, joy, arguing, hopeful, judging, grateful, hopelessness, comfort, comparing, feeling free, learning, and sharing.
In which all lead up to...

I am happy to announce that my husband and I for (4 1/2) years will be expecting our first little blessing in February!

We surprised our families with the news in person. It was so hard to keep that secret from them every time I talked to them on the phone.

My family was surprised by a last minute thrown together birthday party for my husband (his birthday was the following weekend). My family didn't suspect anything since they knew I was surprising my husband with a little get away to Biloxi, MS for his actual birthday weekend. Our plan was to bring out a cookie cake with writing saying that "We are pregnant!" after lunch. Once everyone arrived and started filling their plates with yummy food, it felt like f-o-r-e-v-e-r until everyone was done eating. I could barely eat, I was so nervous. I wasted no time after I saw empty plates. I quickly cleaned the table and said, "Time for dessert!" A friend of ours (who was aware of our news) placed the cookie cake in front of my husband, and my husband tilted it so everyone could read it. Everyone's mouth literally dropped! Their reaction was priceless! Clapping and cheering and excitement exploded in the room.

His family was surprised by a late Father's Day present to my husband's dad. My husband managed to get the whole family on the couch as he opened his gift. The gift was a box with a picture of a tree with hearts and the saying "Our family grows with love," on the cover. Inside the box there were pictures of my husband and I holding the positive pregnancy tests with looks of horror and then very happy faces. I also included the phase, "The only thing that's better than having you as parents is having you as grandparents!" They were surprised and excited as well.

The wait was so hard, but worth it to witness their reactions in person.

Peace, Love, and a baby.
-Miche

Looking Back on 2012

I wrote a blog about my Top Ten Resolutions for 2012, and today I want to reflect on those resolutions as my 2012 chapter comes to a close.

Here is the short list version:
1. Read the Bible in a year.
2. Pray throughout the day.
3. Write in a P-journal - 4 days a week.
4. Maintain a healthy body.
5. Get to know my neighbors.
6. Continue to work on loving people in my everyday ordinary life.
7. Continue to pray for my friends in Zambia, Africa.
8. Volunteer more often at our church's food bank.
9. Quit biting my nails.
10. Grow my hair long enough to donate to Locks of Love.
  New Tradition: "Memory Jar" kept in the kitchen.


Here are the grades I've given myself:

1. F    Once I fall off this horse, I feel like I can't get back on.

2. D    I still struggle with praying throughout the day. Beginning of my day and end of my day, I got it. But there is SO much in between! I'm a work in progress on this one.

3. F    So this one lasted 2 months...but I still really like the concept.

4. A-  My husband and I joined a gym in February and decided to make some lifestyle changes in making exercise a priority, eating out less and eating healthier meals more often. We had blood tests done for our health insurance and our numbers came out awesome. To date, my husband has lost 45 pounds! I am SO proud of him. You can read about an experience I had at the gym HERE. Also, I ran my first 10k ever! It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed running it with a really good friend of mine. Why the minus? Because since Thanksgiving, I've been to the gym once. The holidays killed my routine...

5. D+  I know this one will take time, but I feel like I could have done a lot more. You can read about an opportunity I took HERE. Also, my husband and I did make Christmas goodies for some of ours neighbors, but when we had time to deliver them, no one was home. There's always 2013! Right???

6. D+  I'm probably being harsh on myself on this one, but it leaves a lot of room for improvement which I think I need. Lately, I feel like selfishness has crept back into my life big time...ugh.


7. C+  In 2011, I went on a mission trip to Zambia, and it impacted me in a way I never expected. You can read ALL about my trip HERE. I kept in touch with a couple of people through email and facebook. I do not message them as often as the beginning of the year, but I think about Zambia and the people often. And when I do think of them, I say a prayer for them. God Bless Zambia and the gracious passionate people I met.


8. F   We didn't volunteer. Not once. I'm sadden about that. However, we did volunteer work with our church for other occasions throughout the year, which I am happy about. If I change this resolution to do more volunteer work with my church, I'd give it a C.


9. C-  This one was hit or miss. I would quit, and then start up again about every month. I've been working really hard on this one lately, and I can honestly say that my nails are the longest they have ever been! Seriously, I don't know how to use them. For instance, I'm having trouble typing this blog right now because my nails are in the way. It's driving me crazy and making me tempted to bit them, but nail polish has been my friend lately.


10. A+  Almost 12 inches donated. Feel free to read about it HERE.


So I didn't completely keep my resolutions, but I'm happy that I made them. I think we should all have goals to strive for. An amazing man once told me, "If you don't have a target, you will hit it every time."


Cheers to a new year and new targets!
-Miche

P.S. 2013 resolution post to come soon...

The Neighborhood I Had Hoped For?!

This past week has been a whirl wind. Hurricane Isaac decided to completely change it's path and make it's debut to America by sitting on Louisiana for a couple of days. This was my first hurricane experience apart from my parents and in my own house. I'm very thankful to report that my house sustained no damage nor flooding. This was a great learning experience for my husband and I if we ever experience another hurricane and decide not to evacuate again.

I'd like to focus this blog on my neighbors. I've blogged about neighbors before Here. I'm sad to report that I hadn't really focused on getting to know my neighbors like I intended - see failed New Year's Resolutions Here. But....

As we began to board up our windows of our house - we decided to take no chances since there are plenty of trees around our neighborhood - we had a little chat with our neighbor about their experiences with hurricanes. It definitely calmed me down a bit of what to expect in our neighborhood. During the conversation, he had mentioned that they had a generator and wouldn't mind throwing an extension cord over the fence so we could plug in our refrigerator. Isn't that awesome?! How nice of them, since we had no generator or any way of saving our food if we were out of power for some time. Apparently, a neighbor at one time did a similar deed and they wanted to pay it forward. It was only a matter of time before we were out of power. After some time of no power and starting to worry about loosing some food, we decided to take up our neighbor's offer about borrowing some power. Once the weather died down a bit we exchanged some gas for some power. The funny thing is that after finally setting up our refrigerator not an hour later and we had received power again. In fact, we had to inform our neighbors that the generator was not needed anymore. Thank you, Rick, for this is the neighborhood I had hoped for...

After Isaac definitely out weighted it's welcome, it was time to start the clean up process. You know, rake up leaves that came from every tree in sight and clean up yards of tree branches and other debris. My husband and I have had very small conversations with our neighbor from our front doors in passing before, but this was the day when we were dirty, stinky, and sweaty when we finally introduced ourselves! How's that for first appearances?! We had a small convo and exchanged "if we can help at any time, let us know." Thank you Brittany, for this is the neighborhood I had hoped for....

As my husband and I began to take down our boards, a young man that lives next door didn't think twice to help my husband with the heavy wood. Thank you Nick, for this is the neighborhood I had hope for...

While my husband and I began dragging broken tree limbs from our back yard to our front, I noticed the same young man that helped us, help another neighbor. He was also dragging tree limbs to the front yard. Once we were finished with our yard, I thought, why not see if they need more help? I'm already dirty, stinky, and sweaty. We walked over and picked up rakes and didn't skip a beat. The owner of the house appeared with ice cold water and we introduced ourselves. She was a young woman who had surgery for skin cancer the day before Isaac made landfall and wasn't supposed to do any physical work. She had a huge tree in her back yard and the storm cause many limbs and leaves to cover her back yard. With five people helping, we had the back yard cleared in no time. We finished right before the sun went down and the mosquitoes could come out of their hiding. She was so thankful, and I was happy to discover that we had a lot in common. Thank you Debbie, for this is the neighborhood I had hoped for....

It may have taken a hurricane, but I was able to discover that this is the neighborhood I had hoped for, a community, helping each other out in times of need.

Peace, love, and community
-Miche

And for your viewing pleasure, this was part of Day 2 of hurricane Isaac at our house:

Locks of Love

I'm so excited to report that I've met one of my New Year's resolutions. Unfortunately, I haven't kept all of them, but I still have a little less than half a year to work on them. I'm really happy that I made this list, because it has helped me want to attain the goals that I set for myself in 2012.

The resolution I've completely met is donating my hair to Locks of Love. This is something that I've always wanted to do. What a simple way to give back to the world. It's quite funny that I'm using these phrases - always and simple because I'm not a huge fan of change. All my life I've had two haircuts: long with bangs and long layered with no bangs. My hair was of various lengths, but always past my shoulders. Having long hair is something that has always made me feel feminine, and I've always feared how I would look with short hair. So when I discovered that locks of love required a minimum of 10 in to be donated, I knew that this was going to be an extreme change for me.

I'm really happy that this was the year that I decided to donate my hair, because I feel that this year I have been more open to change and trying to be less controlling. What a great way to represent this change in my personal life by changing my outward appearance. Besides, if I don't like it, it's just hair right? It will eventually grow back....well, I faced my fear of short hair, and I love my new hair cut! Oh, and it doesn't hurt that it now takes me no time to wash and dry my hair, and it's a lot more pleasant to deal with in this record breaking summer heat.

Before....

During....

After!

Peace, love, and change,
-Miche

Up-rooting Weeds

Today, on a beautiful spring Sunday, my husband and I decided to attack our much neglected flower beds. If you know me then you know that I'm not a fan of yard work. It really is hard work, and I would much rather scrub a toilet than do yard work. (You can read about my experience raking leaves Here.) Today, we focused on the weeds.  As a new homeowner, I've learned today that you don't want to neglect your weeds for too long, since you may end up with unwanted trees in your yard. That's right, trees.

As my husband cut the grass in the front yard, I decided to walk around our back yard and pull up some of these mini plants that were growing sporadically in our yard. To my surprise, it was the beginnings of an oak tree. The tiny oak trees were about 4-5 inches tall and once I pulled out the tree it's roots were coming out of an acorn. Our backyard neighbors have an oak tree that not only shades our back yard but also drops it's acorns. I was shocked that we also found a few oak trees in our front flower bed growing amongst our bushes - these were hidden very well.

After yanking out unwanted weeds and trees for three hours, I'm very pleased at the look of our yards. Despite the back pain, it was well worth it. We even got a compliment from a neighbor on their way out. :) I'm happy that the plants that we want will now have the soil all to themselves! At least for now... Maybe our tomato and bell pepper plants might start to flower. *fingers crossed*

During this time, I couldn't help but reflect on my life. Wikipedia defines a weed as, "a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance...Generally, a weed is a plant in an undesired place." What "weeds" have I neglected in my life and let it start to take root? Bad attitude, negativity, gossip, selfishness, language, etc. Maybe it's time to start uprooting these characteristics so that I can make room for characteristics that are pleasant and desired.

Peace, Love, Weedless,
-Miche