Timothy Daniel's Birthday!

Born November 21, 2012

Weighed 6 lbs 15 oz, 

Measured 19 & 1/4 inches long

Sweet Timothy announced rather obviously that he wanted to be born on the 21st of November when my water broke at midnight!  We didn't have to scurry off to the hospital quite like those crazy birth moments in movies, but we probably didn't hang around the house as long as we would  have if I was just contracting.  We arrived at the hospital at about 2:00 a.m. to find out I was 2 cm dilated.  The start to this labor (water breaking) reminded us of Andrew's birth so much, that the temptation was to worry about a long, drawn-out, failure-to-progress-kind of day that could end with a c-section. We  refused to worry about it too much though, even when I tarried at 4 cm for hours upon hours with no progress!  Instead, we had confidence in all the prayers going up by folks who knew about me having this strange tendency to stall out mid-way through like that (it has happened 3 times).  Several hours of pitocin eventually helped progress things along.  I finally was 5 cm at about 2:30 p.m., 8 cm at 3:15, and complete by 4:00.  Timothy Daniel made his grand entrance at 4:29 p.m. YAY!  We got to have some nice cuddling/skin-to-skin time which was a blessing.  Our hospital has adopted much more natural "policies" regarding this semi-recently which is just so great!  They didn't even weigh him for quite a while and we just got to be in awe of God's sweet blessing to us, without having to "share" with equipment and nurses and bed-warmers, etc...  Meant more to me than words could say, so I just... cried....

HUGS.....

Whitley blessing our baby with his name, Timothy Daniel.  Timothy means "One who honors God" or "The Honor of God."  Timothy was Whitley's paternal grandfather's name.  

Daniel means "God is my Judge" or "The Judgment of God."  

We chose this middle name for our 6th child to honor my grandparents and their 6th baby (my mom's brother) who was still-born.

My husband doesn't ever cut the cord with something he doesn't keep! :)  

The Leatherman worked just fine!

Whit snapped this shot of us with Auntie Amber, who took all the birth pictures!  

We were so blessed to still have Dr. Rakov be a part in our family's journey!  He has now delivered 5 of our babies.  Even though he works in a different town now, he kept privileges to be able to deliver in Snyder.  

Timothy's first picture of Daddy holding him.



More photos coming soon!!
Love from our family to you and yours,

Headed to the Hospital...

This prayer/song means a lot to me.  It definitely made my labor play-list.  I hope you will read it and pray it with & for us.  I really enjoy Keith & Kristyn Getty because of their simple focus on Him.  May we have that same worship experience today!

"Jesus Draw Me Ever Nearer (May This Journey)"
Music by Keith Getty; Words by Margaret Becker
Copyright © 2002 Thankyou Music 

Jesus draw me ever nearer
As I labour through the storm.
You have called me to this passage,
and I'll follow, though I'm worn.

May this journey bring a blessing,
May I rise on wings of faith;
And at the end of my heart's testing,
With Your likeness let me wake.

Jesus guide me through the tempest;
Keep my spirit staid and sure.
When the midnight meets the morning,
Let me love You even more.

Let the treasures of the trial                                  
Form within me as I go - 
And at the end of this long passage,
Let me leave them at Your throne.

Abigail's Pins

Abigail got these pins taken out last week and she got a new, pink cast. :)  

She's our brave sweetheart!!

Andrew's Birthday

Andrew, our strong-willed, loving, sharing, nurturing kiddo turned 6 on September 16th.  He's our guy who likes a party!  He always has such a giving heart for those around him, and he loves everyone to have a good time.  He's quite the host!  We weren't able to celebrate his birth on THE day, so on his actual day I asked him what little something he would like to do special.  Oh, no big deal, you know.... Uhm... here is part of my facebook status for that day:  He wants the neighbor kids to come over and have cupcakes and dancing. He wants really loud bluegrass music in the background, and truth be known, probably wants a gazillion other kids to randomly show up, wants balloons and streamers and disco lights. But I guess he'll have to settle with kids who probably could care less about dancing (who knows?), cupcakes on napkins, and I can muster up the banjo-pickin' music for my Andrew, the party animal! Come on over everyone! Maybe God will multiply the 12 cupcakes!  This was Sunday, mind you, but thankfully I already had the cupcakes thanks to my dear friend, Linda Miller!  She just thought it might be a great idea to bring lunch over and some cupcakes earlier in the week.  Thankfully, the cupcakes hadn't been devoured yet so we could at least have those ready!  It's hard to say "No" to a kid who doesn't really ask for a whole lot usually.  ...except for maybe when it comes to random parties on a Sunday!

Photos of the family party:

 

Love from our family to you and yours!

Abigail got her cast!

I have alluded to writing a post about Abigail's arm, but was waiting for some more picture opportunities.  Blog posts are much better with pictures, don't you think?

First, I'll catch you up on the story in case you didn't hear it.  Abigail fell off our porch railing.  Before she fell, her bottom would have been about 4 ft from the ground.  By the time I realized she was hurt, she was laying flat on her back.  I found out just a couple of days ago that she didn't actually fall straight back.  She was straddling the railing, so she actually fell on top of her right arm.  It took about 30 minutes to figure out if we needed to go to the emergency room or not.  She wasn't exactly crying like I would expect someone with a broken arm to cry, but in hindsight she was in shock.  Her lips were white and she was falling asleep.  I kept saying, "Abigail, you cannot fall asleep until I know what all is wrong with you!"  Whitley was working nights, so when I spoke with him, he suggested putting her in the shower to wake her up. It was the shower I'm sure that made the swelling escalate and then I knew something was probably broken. She also then began favoring the arm like someone with something broken would.  I called my sister-in-law, who promptly sent my brother over to watch the other kids while I took Abigail.  My parents had left that day to go to Lake Amistad (about 4 1/2 hrs away) to check on their property there, and I didn't even call them until I had details.  

I don't have a smartphone like everyone else on the planet,but if I'd had one attached to my hip like everyone else, there would have been video of Abigail deep breathing and quietly closing her eyes for her i.v. in the emergency room.  There would have been video of the radiologist saying things like, "Now Abigail I know this must hurt, but I need you to hold your elbow right here."  And her reply, "I'm fine, I'll do it..."  Things this mama will just hold in her heart.  

Abigail needed to take an ambulance ride to the hospital to see an orthopedic surgeon, so Whitley got coverage at work and showed up at the e.r. just before 11.  It made the most sense (although it was painful for me) to send Whitley with her to Lubbock and for me to go watch over the rest of the kiddos.  So many people have asked why I didn't call and ask someone else to stay, but diabetes at night time is a full on-call job!  My son takes care of himself mostly during the day, but I could have only left him with one other person at night... my mom!  I didn't even know yet that they had been at the lake house only half an hour, and decided to come home to help!  I thought they were crazy because now there would be 4 sleepy adults trying to take care of our kids!  However, I know I'm just as crazy because as soon as they showed up at my house at 4:20 a.m., I got in our minivan and drove to Lubbock.  I was so relieved that Abigail wasn't going to surgery without me there!  They took her back for surgery at about 7:30, where she had 3 pins put in her arm.  She had one main break to her humerus bone, with some splinter-breaks too.  The surgery didn't take long at all, but recovery in her room was quite long.  She was in a lot of pain for about an hour.  It made me so sad because I was now fully aware of her high pain tolerance!  Once they got her comfortable though, she went to sleep.  And slept, and slept and slept!  We came home that day with instructions to make her appointment to get the cast put on in 7 days.  She wore a splint and sling during the wait for her swelling to go down.  

Yesterday was cast day.

Waiting...

Getting the splint off

Sticky, yucky gauze off the pins

  

 

The pins

Heeebeeegeeebies!

They covered the pins back up with fresh gauze and I took this shot with her sympathetic brother!

I was surprised she chose purple instead of pink, 

but maybe this event was just unworthy of her ultimate favorite color!

Her x-ray was great and she will get another in 3 weeks.  

If all is still well, the cast will come off and the pins will come out!

Baby Shower!!!

Some sweet friends threw our little sweetie and I a baby shower on September 8th.  I enjoyed so much the opportunity to be with some close friends and to celebrate the life that is bubbling around inside of me!  It was a gift card and frozen dish shower, which made for a fun little twist to the normal baby shower!  My freezer is full, but not near as full as my heart!  It was such a fun day!! 

Amber, what were we thinking not having you in the family shot!?!  It's only because of you there were pictures in the first place!!  Blame it on mommy-brains, I guess.

Our sweet girl, hours before she broke her arm!  Little did we all know how much those frozen meal-gifts would come in handy very soon!!  We got home from Lubbock the next day at about 4 after being up most of the night and a surgery for our princess.  Needless to say, it was a wonderful blessing to not have to cook or order-out the day after the shower!

Side shot of the hair-do

Our bigger baby being loved on at the shower too.  Luke turns 18 months in a few days.

Some sweet gifts

The hostess gift.  Such a thoughtful, sweet idea!

The hostesses and I from left:  Jeri, Stacy, Nancy, Me, Megan, Kathy

A close-up of the hostess gift in its new spot

 Okay, okay, so I'm kinda PROUD of it!!! :o)

When I got home from the shower, I took all of the Walmart gift cards and any cash gifts and purchased two much-needed items.  Did you know that play-yards don't really last past about 4 babies!?!  One of the mesh sides of our most recent one had a hole in it that over time little fingers made get bigger and bigger until it eventually got ripped out.  Not that it mattered at that point anyway, I couldn't put a new baby in it!  Did you know that I now find infant carrier-style car seats unnecessary?  The infant car seat we have expires in May, but I've no doubts that it already needs replaced.  I find that I never carry the seat around anyway because when I get my littlest out of the car I always put it in a sling or front-pack carrier so that both of my hands are free to hold a hand or two or just stuff!  Whitley's mom bought one new car seat for a shower-gift and I purchased with those aforementioned gifts another one exactly like it.  So now David, Luke and the new baby all have the same brand & style convertible car seats that should last them a long time!  YAY!  Obviously I really like the Evenflo Symphony, in case you ever wondered anything about my favorite baby equipment!  The funniest part about that is the first one we got for David a couple of years ago and Nana purchased simply because I liked the name!  Of course, my violinist mother-in-law thought it was great too!  HAHAHA!  They knew how to market to Gayla Bradberry and I.  Turns out it is really awesome!

Such blessings & love back to you all, 

from our family to you and yours!