One month old

1  month old

  
     So Adalynn had her one month birthday today.  I feel like "man it's already been a month, and man its ONLY been a month" all at the same time.  I am not sure I'm totally taking it all in.  I feel like I walk around like a sleepy airhead most of the day.  I am realizing why I barely remember anything from life with Ansley before she was 3 months old.  You are just too tired to remember anything that is happening.  HA!  The first two weeks seemed to go extremely well, followed by a much more difficult 2 weeks.  We will see how things go from here.  I feel like Adalynn is sleeping fairly well considering, she only gets up once around 3 or 4 AM.  It's just I'm still not accustomed to waking up in the middle of the night.  Apparently I am a deep sleeper and when I'm out I would like to be out for a long time.  I typically would rather not sleep at all then sleep for only a little while. So I am not a napper, usually.  I say usually because I think I've napped more this month than at any other point in my adult life.  This makes for feelings of guilt when relating to Ansley.  I can't help but wonder what she thinks about me napping all the time.  I keep telling myself that it's ok because if I didn't nap I would be a much grumpier mommy and Ansley wouldn't like that either. :) The best part of the last week has been 2 of my other friends having their babies.  Ansley's MDO teacher last year Ms. Kayla had her baby on the 5th and another of my friends from church/MOPS who's oldest son was in Ansley's class last year, had her baby on the 7th.  We are still patiently waiting for Kathleen to have her little girl.  Her due date was today and I am dying to meet Jill.  I'm sure Kathleen and family are too.  But it's so sweet to see all these beautiful baby girls that have all been much anticipated for so long.  

Before church last Sunday morning

     Ansley is still doing very well and seems to love being a big sister.  Yesterday she found one of the "baby" movies that we watched when she was little.  When Adalynn was awake and playing yesterday evening Ansley wanted to watch it because she thought it was a movie she and Adalynn could both watch together.  I thought it was sweet of her to try and include her baby sister.  She hugs her all the time and wants to hold her as much as possible.  She also likes to help hold the bottle if we use one.  Her favorite is when Adalynn holds onto her finger.  Ansley has so many questions too.  I can't imagine what she thinks when I'm nursing and what she thinks about all the crying.  I do know she does NOT like the crying.  I don't either who can blame her :)  I feel bad saying this but I kinda think the worst part of newborn life this go round is Ansley trying to "help".  Sometimes I just want to tell her, "Don't worry about it, I'm handling it".  Also she seems in the way a lot and I know she is just curious but some things would go a lot smoother without a sidekick following me around.  I am grateful though for how understanding she's been because I am sure I've hurt her feelings a lot lately but maybe one day she'll forgive me.
     So thats life from the first month of life with 2 children.  I can't wait until I am well rested once again and can really start taking it all in and enjoying these beautiful girls the Lord has given me.  I am so blessed!

A new look :)

This blog is so titled because my family not only has a new look but this blog page is apparently going to have a new look because my background says it disappearing on Friday.  So, a new look it is. :)

It has been just over week since we had our baby girl, Adalynn.  She is beautiful of course and we feel absolutely graced by God to have her join us on our journey.  There are so many things to say that I'm not sure where to start.  I was almost shocked to see how much Adalynn looks like Ansley did when she was a baby.  It is almost like de ja vu but Adalynn was 3 inches shorter than Ansley.  I'm super impressed with how my 4 year old is handling everything so far.  I just hope it continues this way.  Ansley loves being a big sister and wants to help however she can.  She has even done really well staying semi quiet for her little sister, and anyone who knows my crazy kid knows what a feat that is.

I also have been given such a gift in my husband, Jay.  He is such a servant and so sensitive to the needs of his family.  I can not say enough about how thankful and incredibly blessed I am by him.  I just hope and pray that I am doing well at loving him too.

Yesterday was really the first full day of life as it will now be.  Jay was at work and I was at home with the girls by myself for the first time since Adalynn was born.  We did pretty good most of the day.  Ansley had a play date with her friend Victoria.  Thanks again Nicole!  But by evening I was exhausted still.  Adalynn had gone down for a nap and Ansley asked me to play "door" (a game that is a Jay Reed original) I just started crying because I REALLY didn't want to play "door" but I felt like I should take this time to spend with Ansley since I could.  When I stated crying Ansley just said I'll just go see whats on tv in the living room.  AWWW how sad. Luckily Jay came home just a few minutes later because God won't give you more than you can handle. :)  He played play doh with Ansley and I laid down for a few minutes until Adalynn's next feeding.

So my life has a beautiful new look.  My sleeping patterns do too, but I will continue to count my many blessings because God is so good, He's so good to me!

This summer so far

       This has been one crazy summer and I can hardly believe that June is almost over!  Ansley had her first ever swim lessons and it was incredible how much she learned in just 4 30 minute one on one sessions with her teacher, Ms. Staci.  I was such a proud momma and still am because she just keeps getting better at it.  Jay is convinced she can be an athlete if she wants to be because she picks things up very quickly and has good coordination.  Of course, I wouldn't know anything about being an athlete but if he says so. :)          

       Adalynn got lots of stuff she will need at the shower that was held at our church.  My sweet friends and hostesses had planned a lunch for the guests and it was such a great day and I felt very special to have so many people in my life who are supporting Jay and I as we raise these 2 girls!

       Next, we stayed a week in WF with my parents while Jay and the HS kids were at camp.  It was a good visit and that week went so fast.  The following week we went to Port Aransas Tx to stay at the beach with my family.  This was Ansley's first trip to the beach and she had a blast.  Of course we stayed very busy so now every day she asks "what are we going to do today" or "where are we going now".  She needs to snap out of vacation "GO" mode because this momma is worn out.  It was a lot of fun and really the first time that my family has been together more than just a couple days over Christmas.  My brother, sister-in-law, and nephew Ridgely were there too.  It is so funny how things change like adding spouses and kids but so many things stay the same in family situations too.  I feel like I have changed the most and unfortunately not really for the better.  Being an adult doesn't wear well on me HA!  At least I'm aware of this though, and I'm working on it.    

       Two weeks from tomorrow we are expecting to meet this precious child that been sharing life with me for the past 9 months.  I am getting very excited to meet her and a little bit worried about the change all at the same time.  I find myself being sentimental about things with Ansley and am praying that she will still feel just as loved and adored as ever even when her mommy and daddy have another baby to love and adore.  My due date is July 26th but we are inducing on July 12th.  I really do feel like this induction is an answer to prayer.  I have friends that have shared their concern about inducing, but I also have friends that have had nothing but positive things to say about their induction experiences.  Like I said I feel grateful to have been given this option because I would never have just asked to be induced but my doctor is going to be away at a conference for over a week and since Ansley was born a week early my doctor gave me the option to be induced so she could be there for the birth.  We thought and prayed about it for a couple of weeks before deciding for sure what to do, and in the end we agreed to do it.  Like I said I really feel it was an answered prayer to an extra detail God allowed me to praise Him for.  Ever since I was having the ligament pain (which was worst between weeks 8-15) I've been talking to God about having this baby early.  HA  I'm sure lots of pregnant women pray this prayer because no one wants to have their baby late.  But I mostly said God whenever you're ready so am I.  Anyway, all this to say I will be induced exactly 2 weeks before my due date at 38 weeks.  I was kinda induced with Ansley because my water broke and nothing else labor related happened until they started me on the pitocin.  Seriously, I think I was only dilated to 1 or something when they started it.  But everything with Ansley went well and I loved the birth experience with her so that is keeping me from having reservations about inducing with this one too.

       Sorry that was a really long story about nothing of interest to anyone but me probably but I just got carried away writing my thoughts.  I am exhausted having started month 9 but I am going to try to make the most of these 2 weeks in preparation for Adalynn joining the Reed family.

short story

Sometimes, I underestimate the mind of children.  I really try not to because I learned a long time ago they are smarter than we give them credit for (even as infants), but still I'm amazed at what my child (and other kids too) says sometimes.
     Jay, Ansley, and I were on our way to the track as we have done a lot this spring/summer.  Jay was going to run of course while Ansley and I were gonna walk.  Anyway, out of nowhere Ansley asks, "Mom, why doesn't the track have a mailbox".  So in all my wisdom I said because no one lives here.  Without any hesitation at all she replies, "no one lives at the church".   I mean come on that is some serious quick thinking.  I just said back to her, "you are so right" and had to laugh.  Then of course Jay tells her that people work at the church and they send mail there and yada yada yada.  Obviously she had noticed at some point that the church has a mailbox and the entire block where the track is does not.  But it just had me amazed first of all at the random question and then how quickly she responded.  I have a feeling that this ability to think so quick on her feet will not be as astonishing when I am trying to discuss curfew (and other similar topics) with a teenager in a few years.  But for now I am going to marvel at God's precious creation that He is allowing me to parent and thank Him for His goodness in our lives.  

This picture is from a month or two  ago.  If you notice her arms she is pretending to be holding the reins of a horse.  I think she thinks that it makes her faster.  She runs with Jay on his warm up and cool down laps.  

Splash Day

   Ansley had her last day of MDO for the year.  She had a great class this year, and I think she will miss getting to see Ms. Kayla's and her friends.  Since MDO is at the church I'm not sure she comprehends that MDO is over because we are at the church all the time.  I bet next week she'll be asking when she gets to go to Ms. Kayla's class though, because that usually happens at least once a weekend already.  The MDO teachers always send home a scrapbook of the year, which are always SOO cute.  It was funny to see how different Ansley looked this year, mostly because at the beginning of the year her hair was really long.
(this video is from the week after Thanksgiving and you can see how long her hair is!)

   I will miss getting to talk to her teacher about our pregnancy adventures because our due dates are like a week apart.  Two other moms of Ansley's classmates are pregnant also.  I love having people to talk to about it that you know aren't thinking in the back of their mind... I really don't care about your pregnancy stories. HA!
  Anyway, I am trying to motivate myself to have a "learning time" throughout the summer with Ansley.  Well more convince myself that she will cooperate than motivate myself.  She is doing well with sounding out words and writing her name but we still have lots of practice to do too.  I know she likes doing those things in class but will she let mom be the teacher is the big question.
   In other news, Ansley is doing well on her quest to sleep through the night without pull ups and not wetting the bed.  She is not a fan of pull ups anymore (which is good) but this meant a lot of changing sheets for a while, but she is doing a lot better (not perfect, but better).  And lastly, 2 more months until Adalynn's arrival.  I think we decided to induce the middle of July because my doctor is planning on being gone and since Ansley was a week early she mentioned having the baby the middle of my 38th week.  So, thats the plan and we will see what happens.
              Enjoy some pictures of Ms. Kayla's class and splash day.

4 years old!

A blog to Ansley:

I can hardly believe you are four now!  I just stare at you sometimes and I am amazed at how incredible you are.  Beautiful, smart, and so loving -- You must get that from your father. ;)  I just wanted to be sentimental sense we only have a few more months of being the Reed family of three.

Your first birthday will never be forgotten because the night before there was a tornado in Clovis.  We were having your party at the youth building and hoping it would still be standing so that we could celebrate your first year of life.  Sometime soon after your first birthday we were inside while your dad was mowing.  He had found a tiny little turtle and brought it in for you to see and placed it in a box.  I don't remember if I knew this information before I walked in a saw you with a turtle in your mouth but none the less I let out a shrill that had your father thinking you were dying or something.  Praise the Lord it was just the turtle but I was extremely freaked out that you had put it in your mouth.

Your second year (07) was so fun because you were learning to communicate back to us.  You also learned to sing songs which is still one of my favorite things to hear from you.  We moved that year and you were such a flexible, happy girl no matter what we were doing.  On the road for hours, making lots of short overnight visits, living with friends for a while, and finally settling into a new home.  I praise God for how well you handled all that transition because kids love routine, but what a blessing you were to your stressed out mom who didn't handle all the change near as well as you did.

Year three (08) was extremely funny and extremely challenging.  You were such a good talker and would say the greatest things that always made us smile.  You were also potty trained during the third year which made this time of my life a huge "chance for growth" and "character development".  I am looking forward to having you around to help me with this task for the next baby girl!  :)

Finally, this past year (09) has been so great because I feel like you will begin to remember things we've done now for the rest of your life.  Because you've grown up and matured we get to do lots of fun things with you.  You also play pretend a lot now, which is such a sweet thing to see your creative mind at work.  You have become very efficient at doing things for yourself.  I'm just so proud that you can dress and undress yourself shoes and all, brush your teeth all by yourself, and you've even started learning to read.

You are such a blessing and I thank God for you everyday.  I love you Ansley Grace! (born March 24, 2006)

Come praise the Lord with me!

The prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective. James 5:16b

I know I've heard the verse a million times, but God is just showing me the truth of it over and over recently.  Not only am I seeing this personally in my life, but also in the lives of others as men and women join together, sometimes from all over the globe, and pray.  Should I be surprised?  Our God is a good God and He loves the prayers of His children.  I guess, I just feel so blessed to witness his mighty power so much.  There was a time, probably about 6 months ago, when I was talking to God and I just said, I know you are God and if you want to be silent then I am going to keep trusting you, but I feel like I've prayed and seen nothing.  If you see fit, please make me aware of when you answer my prayers.  I tell you what, I never expected that He would answer that prayer so obviously.  I just wanted to publicly give Him thanks for blessing me with answered prayers, and give Him praise for being such an awesome God.  That verse in James would still be as true as ever had God decided not to respond the way He did in my life, but I am so grateful for the glimpse of His glory!  I've got to go get my child from MDO, but to give you a short list of answered prayers...
- The Godwin family and Isaac waking up from a 2 week + coma 
- Providing financially for our family and the fact that we are expecting a new baby in July and were able to get pregnant
- Easing my worry over the babies development and the physical pain I've been struggling with this pregnancy
- Restoring a marriage of people we love that was very near ending
- The spreading of God's glory and fame through the situation Matt Chandler's walking through
Obviously I could keep on listing, but you get the idea.  "The Lord has done great things for us.  And we are filled with joy!"