Day 90- Easter!!!

Pancake breakfast, church, lunch, nap, cooking my first ham, friends over for dinner, a few potty training accidents, rocking the baby, bedtime. That pretty much sums up my Easter Day 2013.

Also, I think that it is amazing that all over the world people were celebrating the risen Lord today. One of my good friends posted a picture of a song they sang in China and we sang the exact same song this morning in our service. Powerful.

Here's a few pics of our mini-Easter egg hunt with Caleb and Silas.

Day 88- Easter fun!

Caleb and I made birds' nests this morning, then had an Easter egg hunt at the park with friends from church this afternoon. Asher came too :), but I didn't get a picture because he was asleep in my Moby wrap the whole time. Today was a rough day for bodily functions from my two boys, but other than that- it was a lovely spring day. And... Alan got home from work early for a 2nd day in a row, which was unexpected and wonderful.

Ps- don't show your two year old Veggie Tales if they are scared of monsters- who knew?!

Day 87- Spring

I've spent time outside for the past 3 days!!!! Spring is soothing to my soul...





(too absorbed in his bubble blowers to look at the camera!)



And- Easter is almost here!

"Who has believed our message?
To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?
My servant grew up in the Lord ’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him.
He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
He was despised, and we did not care.
Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!
But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.
He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.
Unjustly condemned, he was led away.
No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream.
But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people.
He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone.
But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave.
But it was the Lord ’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants.
He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord ’s good plan will prosper in his hands.
When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied.
And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins."
(Isaiah 53:1-11 NLT)

Day 86- Easter eggs

We dyed Easter eggs when my sister, Stephanie, was here. Caleb had a great time (and slightly dyed fingers). I'm hoping we can do a few more Easter crafts before the end of the week.

As a Christian, I have been searching for some Easter traditions that are actually focused on the resurrection. Anyone have ideas that they did as children or that they have done with their children?

Day 85- Am I crazy?!?!

Started potty training today, people. Wish me luck. Only 1 accident so far and it's almost noon. We gotta reduce diaper usage in this house!! I guess it's fitting because Caleb is 2.5 today!!!

Day 84- thankful

I'm so thankful to these two for letting me nap and sleep in over the past few days (or weeks if you are Alan). I'm going to be in shock when I actually have to get up and take care of both kids all day! Thanks for joyfully serving me and the 2 precious little boys in the house.

Day 83- Update on life with a newborn

Asher is now almost 3 weeks old! Sometimes it feels like he has just joined us, other times it feels as if he's been with us forever. He's a sweet, sweet boy who is a little more vocal than his older brother about being hungry or needing to be changed or being gassy. He's not really fussy at all, he just lets us know his needs :). He's eating well and knows days/nights He pulls between 2.5-4 hour stretches at night, but went 5 hours last night (although he didn't fall asleep til about 1.5 hours into the stretch). He is also finally sleeping in his crib for the most part. At the beginning, he only slept on me or in the swing with the sound machine on. He's now filling out his newborn clothes well, and I think he will be moving on to 0-3 month soon.
Caleb is adjusting well to being a big brother. He's very sweet to Asher, but is mostly disinterested in the new addition to our family. He still thinks he's the center of the family, and is in many ways :). He just had his last day of daycare at the center he has been with for a year and a half. They don't take infants and I'm not taking my kids to 2 different places if I go back to work. Caleb will start parents day out 1 day/week at a church up the street from our house next week. We may also venture to do potty training this week or next, depending on how much sleep Asher is letting me get.
Overall, life is good. I'm a little tired, but I've had lots of support to grab naps from Alan and visitors (Kayleen and Stephanie) over the past few weeks. My biggest challenge is making a decision about work. I'm so torn, but need to make a choice very soon to be respectful to my employer. I've set the end of March as a deadline. Any words of wisdom would be appreciated!!! Hopefully more to come soon!

Day 70- New baby, birth story, etc :)

It's hard to believe, but 1 week ago we welcomed Asher Alan Hunt into our family! He was born on 3/4/2013 at 5:20 pm. He weighed 7 lbs, 3 ozs and was 19.5 inches long- exactly the same measurements as his big brother!














I will probably write more on this later, but this labor/birth experience was very different from my first. To make a long story short: I went in at 41 weeks for an induction. I had them break my water at 9 am to try one last attempt to get my body to go into labor on its own. Alas, I barely had any contractions. I started Pitocin at 1:00pm and started contracting pretty good on the lowest dose. They bumped me up one level of the Pitocin around 2:00pm and my contractions started getting really close together and really intense. I was basically contracting for 1-1.5 minutes every 2 minutes- hardly enough time to catch my breath! The frequency of contractions from the pitocin is what I remember as killer from my first labor. I decided around 2:30 to get an epidural, since I was at 5 cm and barely making it through contractions. After a small ordeal with my blood pressure and Asher's heart rate, I was much more comfortable and able to watch HGTV for a little while :). My midwife came in to check me around 5pm and said, "Let's have a baby!" I was so surprised that I didn't believe her! They brought everything in and I started pushing. After a couple minutes, I started getting instructions that I really needed to push as hard as I could, then heard some snipping sounds and a couple pushes later, Asher was born! I ended up with a second degree episiotomy because Asher's heart rate went down into the 50's while I was pushing due to the speed of my labor. Thankfully, he came out with strong cries and I was overcome with amazement that my son was here!

I am so thankful that we have another healthy baby boy in our family! Sometimes I am still in shock that we are now parents of two children. That seems so grown up :). I mean, 29 and 2 kids is pretty much proof that I am now a full-fledged adult. Why do I still feel like a teenager sometimes???!

Caleb is doing well with his new brother. We have had a few more melt-downs and whiney moments than usual, but overall, he is dealing with this change as well as can be expected. He loves his brother and likes to give him kisses. I am so excited to see their relationship grow over the next few months and years.











We're a little tired around here, but doing well. Asher is still in the sleepy, newborn phase, so I just have to keep up with the 3 hr feeding schedule. We've been out and about already- we went to church and small group. Hopefully we can keep up the pace and hopefully Asher continues to be a good sleeper. So far, I think my placenta pills are helping keep me balanced and minimally hormonal. (more on my placenta encapsulation later) Well, I better get a little shut eye before the midnight feeding!