A Life of Gratitude

I cannot believe its been two weeks since Bryan and I received the biggest surprise of our lives! In the past two weeks we have grown accustomed to the idea of having a third son and we have fallen in love with Baby Tyson! He is the sweetest little guy who hates having his diaper changed and loves to hear his brothers sing to him. He has captured all of our hearts. There are several simple lessons that I have learned over the past two weeks. I thought I'd share.... 1. Life cannot be fully planned. We can try to plan for this or for that but in the end, we just have to take life day by day, trusting that God's plans are what's best for us. 2. My husband is the most supportive, loving man I have ever met. Through out the craziness of the past two weeks, I have seen a side of Bryan that I otherwise would not have seen. He does whatever it takes to lift me up and take care of me. He is a constant blessing in my life. 3. I have the best friends and family....

We got to do something very special at our house this evening....Tyson had his first bath! We had two very eager brothers helping us bathe Tyson. I was worried that Tyson would hate having a bath because he hates having his diaper changed but he actually liked it, for a few minutes at least. He watched his brothers intently as they washed his feet and legs with a little wash cloth. Dylan and Evan had a great time bathing their baby brother. Today I am thankful for the precious memories we are making together as a family. All of my little fellas have had their first baths in that little white bath tub. Its so much fun to look at items like that one and take a trip down memory lane. I am also grateful that my older boys are so excited about helping take care of Tyson. They have been looking forward to Tyson's first bath all day. They absolutely love being big brothers and that makes this Mommy's heart smile!

This morning one of my Facebook friends posted an article on my page called, "Delivery Room Surprises: When Gender Predictions are Wrong." I read it and was extremely comforted. I now know that the way I've been feeling the past 8 days isn't odd or shameful. Other moms who've given birth to a boy instead of the girl they were told they were having, or to a girl instead of the boy they'd planned for, also feel the same way. After reading the article this morning and thinking and praying about it all day, I think I've narrowed down a "name" for how I'm feeling... Indescribable Loss and Instant Love...all at once When you've spent months bonding with a child, calling it by name, decorating a room, buying clothes, and celebrating with friends and family, you feel like you know the child before its even born. When that child is born and is identified as a different gender, it feels, as the article says, "like a piece of me had go...

I never would have thought that I would be completely redecorating our nursery when we brought the baby home from the hospital. I am happy to say that it is done, all except one or two decorative touches. Re-doing the nursery wasn't as much work as sorting through all the clothes, towels, burp cloths, blankets, etc. It has been a lot of work but I have finally packed away all evidence of pink and purple. I was really worried that we wouldn't have any blue to replace all that pink with because we had recently gotten rid of all of our boy stuff (since we thought we were having a girl!) BUT my God has come through for us! We have had so many friends and family that have brought clothes, towels, blankets, etc. We have everything we need for Tyson now! The room is now painted blue and the drawers are filled with blue!  Look at all these baby boy items that we've been given since our "surprise" on Monday! This isn't all of it either! My little helper! ...

When we left to go to the hospital on Monday morning, the baby's nursery looked like the picture above. After meeting our precious surprise, Tyson, it became clear that we would need to change the room quite a bit! Bryan worked it out for painters to come this morning to paint the room blue. Dylan got to help too!  Bryan and the older boys came to pick us up at the hospital this afternoon. It was so sweet to leave the hospital as a family of 5 for the first time. It was even better to come home to Tyson's room painted blue instead of lavendar! Thanks to Bryan, my mom and my sister-n-law, Christie, we have been able to successfully make my littlest guy's room look very boyish! Instead of purple, pink and owls, we now have blue and gray whales! It is no where close to being complete but I feel so much better knowing that Tyson has his own room now! It's hard to see but the whales on the bedding are adorable! Coming home Our first day at home tog...

For the past 5 months I have been swimming in a sea of pink and lavender. We found out on May 1st that our third child would be a little girl and immediately started buying pink! We sold or donated all of our little boy items because we fully anticipated meeting "Allison" on the big day. Yesterday, after being pregnant for 39 weeks, we welcomed the most adorable baby BOY into the world! When the doctor said, "It's a boy!" I quickly asked, "It's a what?" She showed me the proof and there is no doubt about it! Our third child is 100% boy!  I have now been swimming in a sea of shock! I can barely believe it...I have three sons! It wasn't exactly how I pictured things going but I have to tell you, after seeing this little guy's face and holding him close to me, I wouldn't change it for anything! He surprised his mommy and daddy (and everyone else) but I am so glad God gave us this little fella. I have already fallen head over heels...

We had a quiet evening at home hanging out in the hammock in the back yard and then watching family videos together. It was so much fun to watch all of these precious memories dancing across the screen in our living room. I absolutely loved watching Dylan on his first birthday and Evan laughing hysterically at 8 months old. They were both so cute singing songs and playing drums and using the potty for the first time and doing puzzles. I could have watched those videos all night! Today I am thankful for family videos. I have so many wonderful memories of the boys being babies and toddlers but there is nothing quite like seeing the videos to help me remember those little details that I have forgotten. I am so glad that we've videoed so many of the cute things our little guys have done. It's amazing to see how much they've changed and grown. I am also grateful that we have so much to look forward to with our little girl, who will be born any day now. Seeing all these vide...

I got to go on a date with my littlest guy today. When I asked Evan what he wanted to do, he said very adamantly, "I want to throw rocks at the park." So, that is exactly what we did! We went to Oak Hollow Park and threw rocks into the lake. I just can't explain how much joy this boy gets from throwing rocks into water. He is a cheap date! We also went to Mayberry's for some chocolate ice cream with sprinkles! Evan was so sweet. He said, "You sit right beside me Mommy." So of course I did! He had to take his shoes off while we ate our ice cream and play peek-a-boo with the people sitting at the table in front of us. Evan is really so much fun! I loved spending some alone time with him! Today I am thankful for a date with my little guy. Our time together went by so quickly but we had a lot of fun. I love listening to him express himself and his little laugh is contagious! Although I have been hoping Allison would make her appearance, I am g...

Since this sweet baby girl seems to be taking her time entering the world, Bryan and I thought it might be a good idea for me to spend some time with each of the boys, by themselves. Pretty soon Allison will be getting a lot of my attention so we figured they would enjoy some one on one time with their Mommy now, before little sister arrives. Today Dylan and I went on a date. We ate lunch at Chick-fil-a and then watched "How to Train Your Dragon 2" at the Dollar Theater. It was so much fun hanging out with my big guy! He wanted to sit right beside me at lunch, which totally fine with me! He taught me a lot of interesting Civil War facts while we ate our chicken and waffle fries. He is such a smart fella! We both really enjoyed the movie and the chocolate chip cookies we smuggled in (shhh, don't tell anyone!) Today I am thankful for a date with my big boy. The more kids we have the more rare times like these become. I enjoy spending time alone with each of my boys...

It's hard to see what my new Alex and Ani bracelet says in the photo above but it was the perfect gift from my husband today! It says, "Completely Blessed!" That is the way I feel on today, on my 32nd birthday! I would have loved for Allison to have joined us today to help me celebrate my birthday but I guess she wants a birthday of her own! Giving birth to my baby girl is the only thing that could have made today better. I enjoyed my day with my boys so much. We spent the morning strolling through the farmer's market and the Botanical Gardens. We had our favorite cheese fries for lunch and had yummy gourmet cupcakes this evening. The boys were so sweet. They've been hugging me and telling me "Happy Birthday" all day long. Look at my gorgeous flowers!! As I was outside watching the boys play tonight, feeling the breeze in my hair, I couldn't help but thank my Heavenly Father for the many amazing blessings He has given me in the past 3...

Dylan and I have been reading Charlotte's Web together for the past couple of weeks. Today we were reading about when Mrs. Arable went to visit Dr. Dorian with concerns about Fern and her fascination with animals. She asked Dr. Dorian if he thought the writing in the spider's web ("Some Pig, Terrific, and Vibrant") were miracles. Dr. Dorian responds with a really wonderful response. He said that he actually saw the spider web itself as the miracle. Mrs. Arable thinks his response is ridiculous until he asks her "Can you spin a web?" She replies, "No, but I can crochet and knit." He says, "But someone taught you those skills, didn't they? No one teaches the spider to spin a web, it just knows how. That is a miracle." I paraphrased their conversation but you get the point. I loved that answer! I've never really thought about it. A spider's ability to spin a web is truly a miracle. It's proof that God equips even his sma...

Today we celebrated Labor Day by having a picnic at the park and then hanging out by the lake. The boys had so much fun throwing rocks into the water. The would have thrown rocks all afternoon! When asked if they wanted to play on the playground or continue throwing rocks, they both chose rocks. It was 90 degrees outside but the breeze on the lake was nice. It was a beautiful afternoon!  Today I am thankful for a peaceful afternoon at the lake. It was absolutely gorgeous. The boys had a terrific time throwing rocks and spending time together. I enjoyed the breeze and beautiful scenery. I am also grateful for the simple things in life. Rocks, trees, waves, and wind are simple, free gifts from our God that we often take for granted. Seeing the boys enjoy themselves today made me incredibly thankful for these simple gifts.