Welcome, Wyatt!

*Oh man, I am rusty at this. Y'all, I didn't even know my blog password when I tried to log in. This place used to be my outlet and my happy place and then the blog world got all crazy and I got disillusioned with it and kind of just gave up. But, I love having memories here and I'm feeling the desire and need to write again so here goes!*

Wyatt David Barry joined our little (kind of big now) family on March 23rd, 2015. His arrival was not expected or planned on that day but it was so perfect and such a God move!

Monday, the 23rd I went in for my 38 week check up. We had scheduled my induction for March 30th so I wasn't thinking that day would be the day. However, when my doctor checked me he realized that I had been leaking amniotic fluid. I had called his office the Friday before concerned about this but the nurse assured me I was probably just in early labor and that unless my contractions became close together not to worry. Well, as my doctor looked at me solemnly after checking me I knew something was up. Shawn was an hour and a half away, my mom was watching Easton and getting ready to pick Lauren up from school and I was alone in office when he said, "You are not going home, you are going straight to labor and delivery. You'll have a baby in your arms today." I, of course, freaked out and started to cry. They got me a wheelchair and a nice nurse wheeled me to the hospital as I frantically called Shawn and told him to GET. THERE. NOW. He didn't believe me at first, but it didn't take him long to tell that I was serious!

My mom called my brother, Jared, and he rushed over to be with me so I didn't have to be alone. My mom packed up my bags and my kids and brought them to the hospital as soon as she could and then Shawn made it right before my epidural (thanks to Matt's driving!)

My friend, Kasey, came up to take pictures for us and I'm so glad she did because everything was kind of crazy and I didn't have to worry about doing it myself!

Because my water likely broke the Thursday before there was concern about infection for me and Wyatt. They got the pitocen started right away and I was sure thankful for my epidural. It was spot on. I could feel and move my legs and I could tell when I was having a contraction because I could feel the tightness but I had no real pain.

Wyatt's heart rate was kind of going crazy so I had to lay in one position most of the time. That was a bit annoying, but it made him happier so I obliged!

One awesome thing was that my mom got to be in the delivery room with Shawn and me when Wyatt was born. It was really special and something I will always remember and treasure.

Everyone took turns guessing the birth weight. I was hoping those 7 lb guesses would be the most accurate!

Right before I needed to start pushing the kids came in for one last kiss and hug. I couldn't believe that we were so close to becoming a family of 5!

And, then, everyone gathered around (even my most awesome nurse) and my dad prayed over me and the baby before everyone had to leave the room.

At 11:42 PM Wyatt David was born and it was so amazing. He weighed 8 lb 7 oz and was 21 inches long. He had a head full of long dark hair and he was just the cutest thing!

By the time the kids got to come into the room it was LATE and Easton was so tired!

It was such a special and unexpected day and our family is so very blessed!

Kindergarten Preview Day!

We woke up with butterflies in our tummies Thursday, March 20th, knowing we would be going to see Lauren's new school!!!! I can't even go into how much I cannot believe my baby is going to Kindergarten this year....or the heart-wrenching process Shawn and I went through when trying to decide what we were supposed to do as far as education. It's all too tender and honestly it makes me cry. So - instead I want to share and remember this fun day!

My awesome mama came up to watch Easton so Shawn and I could have a special morning with our big girl! I had to snap this picture of us walking into the school because she initiated holding my hand. Usually she likes to walk independently beside me, but this morning she reached up and grabbed hold and it was a special moment.

I took a ton of pictures because my friend Caitlin gave me the idea to create a special photo book for Lauren and I to read this summer leading up to Kindergarten. I ordered it from Shutterfly last week and I can't wait to see it!

When we first arrived at the school we got to explore the library! Lauren was so excited that her school had its very own library and that she could check out books. We had a fun time looking at some of the picture books and she spotted several characters that she already knew!

After the Library, we headed to the cafeteria where Shawn and I filled out some forms and Lauren got donuts and juice! The Kindergarten teachers had put together a fun little learning packet for each child and she got a picture book too! She loved looking at the alphabet chart with Shawn.

We got to meet Mrs. Hood, her principal, and boy were we impressed. If there is anything at all that helps me have peace about sending my baby to school, it's knowing she has a great staff of educators there.

After the cafeteria, we got to take a tour of the building. Lauren was very excited about the Art room and the fact that there was so much art displayed throughout the building! She has talked about hanging her art at her new school a lot since then!

We also got to peak at the gym and Kindergarten playground.

Then, we made our way down to the Kindergarten Pod area! I LOVE that they have Pods! I think it is so neat that they are in their own little area and that it's away from the bigger kids! :)

We got to visit a Kindergarten room and show her the cubby area.

One of the Kindergarten teachers talked to us a little more about what they will do in K next year and what we can do as parents to help make sure our babies are successful.

And I happened to get a picture of Lauren with the school guidance counselor and four of the Kindergarten teachers. :) They were so sweet to humor this mama!

 We had a great day and the staff made us feel so welcomed which was very helpful! :) This whole going to school thing is huge! We still have her Kindergarten screening to get out of the way, but we all feel a whole lot better having this under our belts!

Hello

As soon as I wrote the title for this post I immediately thought of this:

source: Pinterest

Does that just not crack you up? Anyway, hello. 

It's beginning to look at lot like Christmas around our house. Am I the only one, or does it seem like December just completely snuck up on us? The last couple of months have just flown by. We haven't had anything particularly interesting going on but still, the day to day has kept us moving forward. On that note, I hate it when people ask me what I've been up to. I feel like I am a deer in the headlights. Well, should I tell them about the four hundredth load of laundry I did? Or that I woke up early to exercise and spend time with God before the day got away from me? Or perhaps I should share about the new recipe I tried? Ugh. It seems so small to say that I've just been being a mama and wife. Like maybe I should have some amazing side project going on?!? Anyone else feel that way? 

Elfie made his appearance this morning in our home. I had planned to write a sweet note from Santa but that didn't happen last night. Good thing Elfie travels to the North Pole each night to check in with Santa wink, wink. I am going to be better about taking pics and recording our December here. :) 

I'm working on Christmas presents right now. I've got a few ideas for the kids that I am excited about. Mostly learning based toys, because I know they will get lots of the fun stuff from their awesome extended family. They are so loved and spoiled. :) 

(Hi, Papa and Meme! Thanks for being my loyal blog readers. :) Look at the moon....)

Even though I haven't posted pics in a solid forever, I've been diligently pressing on with Project Life. I am one week behind and I still cannot believe I've kept up with this project for almost a whole year. Y'all that is humongous. I love it SO much but I need some help figuring out where to store the huge 12x12 albums so that we can see and look through them. Looks like I might be needing (ha) a deeper bookshelf. If you are wondering, I am totally going to do Project Life again next year. 

Lauren will start Kindergarten in 37 weeks. Yes, I'm counting. I heard about this app called Legacy. It lets you put in an age or date or whatever and it tracks how much time until then. It helps me be more consistent and purposeful because I know I only have 37 more weeks until our lives change. :) Yes, we are planning on sending her to public school. 

Easton is so big. I still see him as a baby, but he isn't. I hit a deer with my car this week and he was so worried (the kids weren't with me, thank goodness!) He kept asking if I broke the deer in half! Hahah!

Is that enough randomness for you today? Much love!!!!!

Also, I love my new blog design! It is SO me! Thank you, Miranda!!!!!!

Five on Friday!

Hey there! Thank you to so many of you who had nice things to say about this post yesterday. It was a kind of bare-all post, but I am so glad to know it resonated with so many of you fellow moms in the trenches with me!

Instead of my normal (well, can you even call it that considering how sporadic it usually is) Five on Friday post about the highlights of my week, I thought I would instead share my favorite five resources for us moms in the trenches!!! Are you ready?

1. The Bible. Okay, not to be all cliché here, but it really is the BEST resource for us mamas. God's word is FULL of encouragement and conviction and I know that when I am IN His word, I am a better mama. His word has a way of healing my broken pieces and giving me strength to do this mama job day after day after day. If you are looking for a new study Bible, I recommend the ESV Study Bible.  I use my NIV thinline for BSF and to take with me to Church, but the ESV Study Bible is great for personal in depth study. :)

2. 52 Things Kids Need From a Mom by Angela Thomas. My sweet friend, Bethany, posted about this book on Instagram and I immediately ran to Amazon to purchase it. It is AMAZING! Short, doable chapters that are so encouraging! I honestly love this book so much and can see myself revisiting it over and over in the years to come!

3.  Desperate by Sally Clarkson and Sarah Mae. I wish I'd had this book back when I struggled with depression...even though it STILL speaks to my heart every single time I read it. Its real and shares the ugly parts us mamas sometimes don't want to talk about, but gives hope and wisdom from the perspective of an older mama who's been there and done that.

4. Loving the Little Years & Fit to Burst, both by Rachel Jankovic. These little gems are tiny but hard hitting. Rachel doesn't baby you...she tells it like it is, and sometimes that is just what I need.

                      

       

5. Trendbreakers, by my very own real life friend Kelly! Okay, so this book isn't necessarily all about motherhood, but it is about friendship and how important nurturing those relationships is to our mental health. It's a great book full of practical advice and ideas.

The other resource I use every day is Pandora. Music is powerful for me and can change my state of mind and attitude immediately. Some of my favorite stations to have playing (that I don't mind my kiddos listening to) while we are going about our day are:

Indelible Grace
Enter the Worship Circle
Sara Groves (my favorite EVER)
Kari Jobe
All Sons & Daughters
Hillsong

Of course, don't for a second think I don't have a John Mayer, Luke Bryan, or Pistol Annies station going while I'm making dinner! :)

Hope these were helpful! Press on Mama Warriors!

Dear Older Me

Dear Older Me,

Hey you with the highlighted hair and the quiet house. I see you looking at the scrapbooks and crying and wishing you were right here where I am. You see the cute smiles and the funny things those kids of yours said and you are wanting it back. I get it. I do! But, can I just jog your memory for a moment? Then you can go pick up your book or take a bath and stop all the crying and just enjoy your time.

This taking care of kids gig is hard work. Hard. Work. The laundry never ends. In fact, I believe it multiplies in the washing machine. It has to because otherwise the massive amount we have just defies logic.

And let's talk about the kitchen, shall we? Clean floors? Hah! An empty sink? Hah! Oh, hi there little one, you want another snack? Another meal? Another cup of water or milk? You wash dishes and prepare meals and clean it all up just to mess it up again. It's maddening.

Your kids need disciplined. They aren't perfect. They sin and you've got to come up with consequences that mean something and that will help them change their hearts. You have to be on it and ready. Even when your kid does something incredibly weird and unexpected and you just shake your head and wonder why they even thought that was a good idea. You're on. Always.

You have no quiet time, no personal space, no choice on how you are going to spend your day. You are with the kids. The kids are with you. And on you. And in your face. And some days you just don't want to be touched one more moment. Your poor husband.

Some days you feel like you are the biggest failure ever. I mean surely the monkey at the zoo would do a better job mothering these hooligans than you. There is too much TV and not enough reading. There is too much yelling and not enough leading. There are days when you are too tired to even put the effort forth to mother well and then you lay your head on your pillow at night and feel the guilt (oh, the guilt) creep up and suffocate you. You pray for God's new mercies the next morning and then you wake up and fail again. It's hard on you, the failing. You question yourself and spend too much time in the pit.

These are the trenches of motherhood. These are the poopy diapers and snotty noses and whining and time outs and these are the days of locking yourself in the bathroom. Its day in and day out and its real and its hard and I'm praying it's worth it.

Because you there, older me, I hope you have few regrets. I really hope you can look back on these years with great joy. I hope you can remember the hard times and know you gave your all. You fought when it would have been easier to give in. You gave when you were totally spent. You cleaned that dang kitchen one more time and folded that hundredth load of laundry for the week. You read to your babies and listened to them even when you felt like zoning out and you made a million memories and only a few mistakes.

I hope you can look back and cry because it was so good and laugh because it was such a mess. I pray you get to see the bigger picture and that all your years of sowing and planting and watering and  praying reaps a good harvest.

So go ahead, remember the good times. Just do me a favor, remember the hard times too. And send some young mama a card of encouragement, okay? Oh, and don't cut your hair super short.

Love,
The Younger You

A Big Change & PL Week 31

So, this past week was pretty much UGH to the max. We had been praying for over a month about whether or not Shawn should accept a position with another engineering firm in town. It was a tough (to say the very least) decision, but ultimately we decided and felt peace about him leaving the job he'd worked at for eight years. Monday, he told his employer he would be leaving and after 24 hours of back and forth offers, Tuesday morning it was a done deal. I won't share all the details here, but by Tuesday at 8:00 am he was home. By noon that same day he was at his new employer and I had the sickest tummy the entire week. We trust that this was the right step for our family and we are humbled and blessed by this huge opportunity for Shawn. And each day further into this new chapter we get a little more excited. Because of the nature of the situation, my PL for week 31 is a little more private than I'd like to share here so I've blocked out some of the journaling. ;)

Week 31: I went with the Midnight edition this week. The colors just seemed to fit the mood of the week. The insert is from when we went to STL to see Matt, Desiré, and Caleb. That was definitely a huge highlight to the week!

I wanted to include this card from our sermon on Sunday....it was like God was saying, "Listen!"

*sorry the right page is blurry*

I really love journaling on the lines of these striped cards...it makes me happy. Also - I am obsessed with these two iphone photo apps: A Beautiful Mess & Rhonna Designs.  

This week finished out my first album for 2013. I'm excited to start on the next one and still can't believe I've finished this much and that I STILL love it....even on the weeks that are hard to journal.

*Linking up to The Mom Creative*

Wishing For Wednesday

Here are a few things I've been crushing on lately....

1. Missouri Show Me baseball Tee from Creator Designs. I stinking love this company and their quality tees. You can get yours for ONLY $15 here.

2. This amazing crock pot from Target.  Isn't it darling? I absolutely love my crock pot, but it is narrow at the bottom (just the style I have) so I would love this one that is more oblong shaped! Plus it's only $34!

3. This Americana scarf from Old Navy. Vintage looking and precious. In love!

4. The new Sunshine kit from Project Life. I know, I know, like I need any more PL kits. :) Of course I do!

5. Sunnies case from The Pleated Poppy. Just darling. And practical. And darling.

6. John Mayer chalkboard quote for the master bedroom. We are in the process of pulling inspiration for our remodel of that room. This has to be in there somewhere!

7. A blog re-design by my friend, Miranda! We are working behind the scenes to revitalize this blogging space of mine! I can't wait!

8. This is more of an, "Oh my goodness I love this how did I not know it was around before now and I drank all mine and now am out" kind of wish. Have you tried the Hiland Iced Coffee? It's amazing. Like life changing. I might even love it more (in the summer) than my regular Kcup coffee with lots of cream. So. Good. Wish my fridge had some in it right now.

I think that's it for today. Hope you have a great Wednesday!!! It's nice and rainy here so we will be cuddled up watching movies and playing tractors and dolls I'm sure! No plans to go anywhere or do anything feels just about right!