Welcome Henry David!

We are thrilled to announce that …

Henry David


made his grand entrance into this world on
Friday, April 20th at 7:11 pm.

 

weighing in at a record breaking
10 lbs 5 oz
(nope… that was NOT typo)

 

We are beyond smitten with him, and are so thankful to the Lord for another sweet Blessing to our family!

Daddy is super proud of this 10 1/2 lb chunker and
already has football scouts calling!  Go Offense!

We can’t wait to share a little more of the birth story with you as it was truly amazing, and  we saw many signs of God’s great provision and protection over us and Henry.

Yes, he looks like a 2 month old.  But don’t let his size fool you…
He is still every bit full of newborn goodness as they come.  


And we just get more of it…10lbs of Newborn Goodness!

Thanks for celebrating our newest arrival.   We are beyond thankful for this precious life God has given us!  More pictures, stories etc to come! 

The Zwischen

Did you forget I was pregnant?   Well… I sure didn’t! 
Did you forget I had a blog??  Well…I almost did. 

But back to being pregnant---which I certainly have not forgotten about.

I have officially entered The Zwischen.  
I read a great article this week by a midwife coining the phrase “The Zwischen”.  Zwischen is German for “In Between” and this is the name she has given this special time towards the end of a woman’s pregnancy until delivery. 

That time when you are ready,  but simply waiting.  

 

The in between…. The Zwischen.  
Well, I am there friends.

Baby Boy Russell is due in 5 days and we are SO ready.  I have been busying myself with nesting and getting projects done as well as taking it easy, enjoying my family, and preparing my heart for his grand arrival!

We tend to to bake our babies longer than “the norm”.  So though I am due in 5 days, we are fully prepared to be waiting little longer.
In the mean time I have completed most of my necessary nesting (babies room, clothes washed, carseat installed ,etc) and now I am moving on to projects to keep me busy.  Sometimes these projects get me in trouble… like when I got poison ivy all over my belly because I decided 40 weeks pregnant was good time to weed our garden. 

Mainly, I am trying to enjoy this week.  Enjoy the easy schedule we have with our children, make easy dinners, go on dates with my husband, get my house cleaned, get a pedicure.   I have some fun projects to do and might even blog again (I know—crazy idea). 

I am trying to prepare my mind and heart that the waiting may be longer than just this week… usually once I get past my due date my perspective and attitude starts getting really skewed.    So check back with me next Friday and I’ll tell you if I am still this positive and at peace about the wait. 

I am praying that God would give me grace and patience as we wait for His perfect timing for this little one.

We can’t wait to share the news of Baby’s arrival, but in the meantime, we simply wait with great anticipation….. 

             The Zwischen … that is where we are friends! 

Bring it on!

We love our little herd of 3, but cannot wait to add Baby #4 in April. We were excited to find out what we are having on Monday.
We gave the kids cupcakes with icing on them to tell them what it was….and they opened up envelopes that read BOY!!

We were all thrilled!! All the kids, wanted a boy… maybe we all kind of wanted a boy.  To even things out a bit.  Of course we would have been just as excited with another precious girl, and to be honest I am wildly in love with the girl name we had picked that will now be benched until later use (if there is ever a time for later use). 

 

But we can’t wait to add another rowdy little guy into the mix!

I mean, how amazing is technology today?  At not even 20 weeks, this little babe is almost fully formed… just growing and growing.
Every time I see an ultrasound picture (mine and others) I am reminded of the amazing process of growing a little life inside of you.  

Little Man….we cannot wait for you to join our family!  You have a big brother who can’t wait to show you the ropes (and for you to get big enough to wrestle on the floor!)  and 2 big sisters who will dote all over you!  And a mommy and daddy who think they are SO very blessed that God gave YOU to us!  What a blessing you are already!  Grow away little babe.. plump up, and join the ranks of Heavy Weight Russell Babies.  However, mommy won’t mind if you decide to break tradition and actually come on or before your due date.  Until then, Snuggle in safely son… 20 weeks to go!

What would it be Like?

I have 3 children and I assure you…I have never looked back and thought… “Man, I wish we’d only had 2” 

I simply can’t imagine our life without these three sweet children. 

However, I do imagine there are many out there who wonder...
            ”What would it be like to have just one more?”
            “Could we really do this again?”
            “Do we dare?”

And I am certain there are those who look back and think 
           “I wish we’d had more.”

 

I am thrilled to announce that we no longer will be one of those families wondering “What would it be like to have just one more”.  Because our “just one more” is arriving in Late April!

That’s right, dear friends! 

                                   We’re PREGNANT!     

And look at that picture—while it isn’t the best picture, that is a little head and 2 hands popping out.  At 10 weeks.  Isn’t Life amazing??

Thanks for sharing in our joy and for praying for our Little Babe who is being knit together as we speak!!  We are praising God for this sweet gift, and we will surely keep you updated!

Five years ago…

It seems like just yesterday…
But it was almost 5 years ago.
This picture was almost exactly 5 years ago when I was 1 week over due

 

That we went from us… just us…



to US---- a family!



Little did we know that this little lady was about to change our lives forever… making us no longer just a young couple

But a family.

How has it possibly been 5 years? 

 
And while we welcomed this addition, and the next 2 to come…
The days of it just being us were gone.
And we wouldn’t change that for a million dollars

So this week we celebrate Miss Charlotte
and the 5 years of fun she has brought us!

Spit on This...A Watched Pot Never Boils!

Well, A watched belly never births. Once again I am overdue...and I do NOT like it!

This counts as a Spit on This Post.
(click on the link to read more about what Spit on This is all about)

We are officially 1 day overdue. My first 2 babies were both 10 days over due, so this should come as no surprise to us that our baby did not come early. But we just don't think she will come 10 days late either. I mean really... she really needs to come soon.

But we joked the weeks leading up to the dues date....
-We wanted to get through Carson's B-day party...Way Done...that was a month ago!
-She needed to wait until we had our Valentine's Date...Done!
-She needed to let me watch the big Cross Over Grey's/Private Practice Episodes... Done, and was a 2 week ordeal!

Only we do the unimaginable and ask our baby to wait.

And then I was really ready for her to come. Really. Then a week ago, I broke out in Poison Ivy. So we prayed the unimaginable again.... that she would just wait until it cleared up. Who asks their baby to wait?

I had a few patches on my arms, a really bad patch on my face, and the worst of all was very bad reaction on my...BELLY! Yep... someone (who would do this?) pulled their pants up (over their big orgenant belly) with their garden gloves on and somehow spread the poisonous death trap all over her not so little baby bump.

I was put on steroids (safe for baby) and super cream... but with all the great changes a woman's body goes through in pregnancy.... my reaction was pretty bad. My hormones are up, my immune system is down, and the skin on my stomach has been stretched beyond belief.

Thankfully, everything has cleared up quickly, except the stomach and it is alot better...but still healing. The poison Ivy is cleared, but it is still very sensitive.

Wednesday, I go for a lovely day of pampering. Pedicure. Haircut. My house is in order, my laundry is done. And it is a great day for a baby to come. And she doesn't.

Then Thursday, I start hacking up a lung like a chain smoker. David calls it the thunder cough. No cold, no congestion...boom out of nowhere I have phlegm in my chest from Lord knows where (maybe another one of those pregnancy phenomenas) and I am losing my voice and hacking up a lung. Not to mention all the oddities that come along with being 10 months pregnant and coughing really hard.... anyone who's ever been pregnant out there know's what I am talking about and can give me an "I hear ya!"

So... I think I am getting better. Come on Helen! The hacking is subsiding... a little.

And boom.... after beautiful 65 degree weather (hence the gardening and the poison ivy) Our little corner called home is getting hit with an ice/snow storm tonight. Nice. Thankfully we live only 2 minutes form the hospital. But it does make it a little challenging for our sitters and mothers to get to us if needed.

So, we do the unimaginable again... and kindly ask our overdue baby to wait until this all melts.

We think Wednesday would be a great day for a baby. The snow will be melted, my cough will be gone (please Lord!). Though we have been told something about a full moon and Tuesday being "the day" she will come. I am just praying we have no more reasons to ask her to wait.

So in leau of our request for Helen to wait till this Snow is gone, I have shelved my "labor inducing tricks". Once we feel really really ready, I will pull out my bag of tricks and go to town trying to evict this little womb-squater.

And I will share my tricks with you.... and all the funny (and not so funny) things people have said to me as I tick away baking this little turkey.