So, Virginia...

I cannot believe that after so many months of wondering and waiting, we finally know something! Pack and I are scared, excited, anxious, and eager in thinking about our upcoming move. This is such a big deal for us. Pack has lived in Florence since he was a very little boy and I have been in Florence my WHOLE LIFE! This is going to be a major change for us. I'm so thankful that I started this blog so I can organize my brain a little better around these circumstances.

Today we met with our second realtor and it's got me even MORE nervous! She seemed to think that our house will sell within days of showing it, which means I won't have a place to live while I do a maternity leave at DLC that I have obligated myself for. I really thought we had plenty of time before our house sold. I guess this would be a good problem to have, but still...

Pack and I are also in cahoots on what we want to do when we get to Richmond. Should we rent for a while until we get our bearings, or should we go ahead and buy something we like so we don't have to move again in a few months at our expense? ESAB is paying for our movers and helping out a lot with the relocation process, so I am not sure what we'll be doing. We're not exactly on the same page with what we want to do, so I told Pack I would leave the decision up to him. I'm praying that I'll be okay with whatever he decides (although, he can expect my input...).

This whole process seems to be going so quickly! It's only been a week since we found out he got the job and already he's ordered his company vehicle, we've been preapproved for a loan, realtors have been contacted, and our house is very nearly on the market! All this and we still haven't had time to tidy up our closets or do other little things around the house that we always said we would do before we sold it.

Please pray for calm nerves, understanding families, and discernment for us to do the right things for our family! This new change in our life is quite a roller coaster, but hopefully, we're ready for the ride!

Richmond, VA...Here we come!

Yay! Awesome news this week after a couple of months of big, fat nothing! Pack got the job he interviewed for at the beginning of the summer and it appears that we'll soon be truckin' it to VA. I'm on my blackberry now so I'll keep this short until I can update more later.

New Perspectives

When I first got pregnant with Jude, Pack bought me two books to read. Once was called Twice Blessed and the other was called Beyond One. Both books discussed the hardships and joys of choosing to make the decision to grow your family after already having one child. When I first read these books (especially at the beginning), I was terrified. Both books discussed the reality that with each additional child added to a family, more arguments take place between the parents. Also, they said that the stress levels of mothers tend to skyrocket and obviously the work load increases. I was really thinking that I should have read these books before we actually got pregnant. Well, that was not to be, and as I finished both books, I was left thinking...maybe we won't have those problems!

Months (almost a year) later, here we are. A family of four. I have noticed glimpses of the scenarios the books described in my own home...we didn't escape it. Simple tasks and disagreements can go nuclear and turn into all-out battles sometimes, and I'm left feeling ashamed and lonely. I would have liked to think that I wasn't going to give in to the stereotype of the nagging wife, but alas, I have.

Now for the good news...

This past week at Vacation Bible School, we were learning about Peter. One of the lessons I taught was about Peter and Jesus having a heart to heart about the depth of his love for the Lord. Without even realizing the words were even coming out of my mouth, I was instructing the class of adults to "Follow God now!" and I was asking them to think about in what ways Jesus wanted each of them (and me) to tend or feed his sheep. So I figure that God laid that on my heart for a reason, and I needed to really seek out what that meant in my life.

I was thinking that the best place to start this ministry would be in my own home. It seems that I have gotten so wrapped up in mothering and and my other roles, that I had become a wife that made very little effort to minister to her own husband. (I haven't talked to Pack directly about this because I'm wanting to see how any changes will affect our marriage, but I figure blogging about it is safe, because he rarely reads it unless I ask him to.)

It's actually kind of humorous. As my first step in becoming more like the wife I want to be, I asked Pack to start letting me know one or two things he would like done around the house during the day. Ha! He was floored! He mentioned something about making our living room look less like a playroom and sorting through/throwing away some toys, but immediately was suspicious of me. Our conversation went a little something like this after he had a few minutes to think about what I was doing:

Pack: Why do you want me to give you some things to do?

Me: I don't know, I just thought I could work on some things around here that have been bothering you for a change.

Pack: Ummmm....are you trying to trick me?

Me: What do you mean???

Pack: I mean, are you trying to get me to do your back at night or something?

Me: Well, if you did, that would be a bonus, but no.

Pack: You just want me to do whatever you ask me to do, right? Nevermind, don't do the toys, it's not worth it.

Me: Pack really, I'm not being tricky!!!

Pack: This is awesome!

So this same conversation has gone on several times besides this initial one and he still thinks I'm trying to get a gift out of it or something. We'll see how long I can hold out without telling him what's up, but he might be getting wiser since I asked him where the UNREAD copy of Love Dare was that I got him for Christmas...haha!

Just in the few days I've been doing this, I've seen us fight less and I've been able to do things for my family and especially my husband with more of a willing heart. I am thankful for the changes that I am already able to see and I can't wait to see how this goes!

Tickle Time

I can't believe how fast Jude is growing! In a few days, he'll officially be four months old and I'm trying to soak up every baby minute. Pack's been getting frustrated because he feels like we don't take as many pictures or videos of Jude as we did with Penn (I'm pretty sure this is not a problem unique to us, though.). Anyway, I took this this morning as documentation that I'm trying, and you can see this precious laugh that Jude's been practicing lately. So cute!

*Note: Please excuse my singing at the beginning of this video...maybe that's why he's laughing!*

Oh yeah...

I almost forgot...Saturday night is mine and Pack's first official date night with no kids for the whole night, since Jude was born. I'm really nervous about leaving Jude so young (Penn won't even miss us), but I've been pumping every morning for like two weeks so I've got a stash of milk built where we could almost take off for the whole weekend:)

My husband is super-amazing, but I've been getting really stressed about housework, childcare, and no sleep lately and he's gotten the brunt of it all, so we're really looking forward to a night for us. The man deserves it after putting up with me for so long! Just wanted to share the excitement!

Bathtime Solution!

So one of my "new mom again" dilemmas has been with bathing Jude. I cannot for the life of me remember how we bathed Penn when he was Jude's age. I know we didn't have any special bathtub for babies or anything (because we didn't have the space) and I know we actually did bathe the kid! I remember that we showered with him sometimes, but Pack and I had to do it together so one of us could hold him and the other could wash him and get him in and out. This is not feasable now that we have an active set of little feet running around the house unsupervised. I've even tried bathing him in the sink in the kitchen and I just can't figure it out. I'm so worried I'm going to drown him until he can sit up!

Well, as I was thinking about this a few weeks ago, I had an idea...maybe I could bathe him and Penn together while Jude is in the Bumbo. For those of you that don't know what that is, it is one of my favorite baby thingies. Here's a pic:
Well, as wonderful as the Bumbo is for most circumstances, it sucked in a bath. This is because I found out that a Bumbo floats...very dangerous in a tub with water and a wiggly toddler. I still thought that there might be some way to use the Bumbo for bathtime though. This week, I figured it out. When Penn was in bed, I put the Bumbo in the tub and took a shower. I was able to bathe the baby with me and not have to hold him the entire time! It worked like a charm:)

So now that that problem is solved...I can actually bathe Jude more regularly and more peacefully. I just though I might not be the only one dealing with this problem and thought I would share.

More breastfeeding

I just thought this was funny. I had Karen take a picture of me at the zoo because I was so proud of how far I've come. I went from chasing down fitting rooms and finding places to sit comfortably when I was nursing Penn to walking through the zoo, not wanting to miss seeing anything. It's amazing what having a toddler and a newborn requires you to be able to do. Maybe I AM a breastfeeding snob, Karen:)


Oh and PS...that's my cute, super-simple nursing cloth that I bought when I was preggo with Penn...15 dollars very well spent!

Anyhoo...as "experienced" as I think I am, I'm definitely not an expert. Recently, I don't know if I've enabled Jude to develop a lazy latch or if something bigger is wrong, but for some reason, feeding him is soooo noisy lately! I'm not just talking about slurps, gulps, and sighs (that's always been noisy), but he's started clicking while he's eating almost the entire time! It's really driving me crazy because I know he's not nursing properly, but I can't figure out how to correct it.

One option I found out seems like it might be the root cause. I discovered early on that I had a very strong letdown ejaculation reflex that actually gags him while he's eating. Basically, when my milk lets down, it pretty much chokes him and causes him to gasp for air and even makes his little lips turn blue...scary! I tried some different nursing suggestions and positions and I figured that it corrected itself or that Jude just adjusted to it. Now I'm thinking that may not be the case. The clicking is him losing suction time after time after time... This in turn causes pretty sore nipples and aside from that, the noise is driving me crazy! Any advice?