From Ours to Yours

From our family to yours........

May you find peace, love & hope in the One who came as a babe to save us!  Praise His Name.

Tis the Season

Tis the season to deck the halls and spread some joy!  We love Christmas time & look forward to starting traditions with our own little family.  

Playing Christmas carols with daddy.

Deacon loved "helping" decorate the tree.

Little Bruiser

We had a first.  We got to take the 30 minute stroll to Children's Hospital on Friday night.  It was the first of many battle scars, I'm afraid.  Deacon was jumping on a pillow and hit the corner of a wooden box that we keep his books in.  Thankfully, Brent had just walked in the door, otherwise I'm not sure I could have handled it.  I didn't realize it was as bad as it was, until I went into the bathroom to check on them & there was blood everywhere.  This is not something a mom ever wants to see.  Her child screaming as blood runs down his face.  We chatted & decided we would take him to Children's to have them check him out.  We told Deacon we would stop and get him some fries.  (he liked that idea)  So from Troy to Children's he ate his fries & sang along with his songs.  My mom & dad met us at the hospital to help with Nora, which was such a blessing.  They checked him out and determined that he indeed should have some stitches.  Another event I hope I don't have to experience.  Him being strapped down on the table, wondering why people are doing this to him (and why his mommy & daddy won't stop them!)  It was heart-breaking to me, but we made it through.

The battle wound.

  

Patched up by mommy & daddy and waiting in the waiting room at Children's.

He enjoyed the waiting room.

Then we made it back to the room and they put on a numbing cream to numb the skin before they actually injected him with the lidocaine.

All stitched up with popsicle in hand.  Ready to go!

The next day, he's back to normal.  He's making his mommy a tad paranoid when he runs around!

Praying we don't have to go through that again anytime soon.

Last night we were counting a couple of blessings.

*Blessing Number One:  Brent was home.
*Blessing Number Two:  It happened on a Friday night, which meant Brent would be home 2 days with us.  This was very comforting to me.
*Blessing Number Three:  It was minor.
*Blessing Number Four:  My parents were there to help with Nora.

We are thankful to our Father for his abundance of Grace last night.  I'm not sure how I would handle anything major, but then I wasn't sure I could handle this either.  In having our own children, I have learned how much our Father loves me.  His love is amazing.

Farmer Boy

Last weekend Brent helped his dad in the field.  Deacon was quite excited to be able to ride in the tractor with him.  Apparently Brent had Pringles in the tractor, because the next day I was asking Deacon about his ride and he said, "Pringles!"

Life lately.

It's been a fast 5 weeks.  Much faster than the 5 weeks before Nora was born. :)  Deacon has adjusted well & I'm very thankful for that.  It definitely hasn't all been easy and yesterday I was ready to turn in my 2 weeks notice as a stay at home mom, but the Lord's mercies are new every morning!  Today has been much better.

Nora's first walk.

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Lost Creek Preserves Fall Festival.  Nora wasn't all that interested, but...

....Deacon had lots of fun.  

I was quite proud of him when he rode the pony all by himself.

Time to pick out a pumpkin.

20 months old.

The other day I was out in the kitchen cleaning up things.  I put in the movie Cars ( a new one for him) and came in to check on him a little later & I found this.  A first for him!

Nora at 4 weeks old.

Unlike her brother at this age, she enjoys her hair being washed & with all of that hair, she gets a lot of head  rubbing which results in lots of grease!

The last few weeks has once again showed that life is so short.  With the passing of Jerry a couple of weeks ago & then my brother-in-law's mom last Friday, the Lord brought a couple of things to my mind.  Do the ones I love, know that I love them? Do I tell them?  Do I show them?  It's something I've been pondering lately.

Meet Atti

Andria & I got to endure our pregnancy together & anticipated our 1 week apart baby girls so much.  Little did we know that our 1 week apart babies would actually be 1 month apart!  I still can't believe it.  With me going 11 days early & her 10 days late, it made our girls have birthdays in different months.  We are so thankful baby Atti Lynn arrived safely.  

Atti was much more interested in eating than a photo shoot.

So fun to have baby girls together!

4 Weeks Photos but.....

she's actually 5 weeks!  I decided to attempt to take my own photos this time.  Please excuse the non-professional look :)

Due Date

Today marked my due date.

Here she is looking quite beautiful.

I'm so thankful to hold her in my arms & not in my belly.

Meet Nora

We have begun our adjustment of life with two.  Thankfully, it's been easier than I thought it was going to be.  Deacon has been wonderful!  I was always one that wanted at least a 2 year age gap between our children, but God had other plans.  I'm definitely seeing the advantage of having them close together, because Deacon couldn't care less about her.  It's like she's just a new piece of furniture. :)  

Nora has been a great baby so far.  I hate to brag too soon, because you never know when the switch is going to flip, but she's been sleeping like a trooper.  

sweet, sweet baby.

Hanging out in the hospital.

We could have went home a day early, but I wanted to take advantage of being in the hospital.  I'm not like most people....I actually enjoy being in the hospital!

Flowers for Nora & I from Brent.

Ready to go home!

All packed & ready.

daddy's arms.

Peaceful baby.

Kisses from brother.

I'm feeling great & counting my blessings that labor is OVER!  Brent went back to work on Wednesday & I was a tad nervous about that, but my mom came over & helped, which made it easier.  We were out of the house by 11 today....I was wondering if I was going to be able to do that. :)  I wouldn't change a thing.  We are so thankful that she's finally here!!

Announcing.....

We are quite pleased to announce to you all the arrival of our sweet, baby girl.  Nora Kohl decided to make her appearance 11 days early on September 21st, which was just fine with her mommy!  Although the means of her arrival I would not have chosen, we are so thankful she's here, healthy & safe. 

From family of 3 to family of 4.

Taking her all in.

All chubs at 7lbs. 12 oz & 20 1/4 inches long.

thumb sucker already.

I'm not an all-natural girl when it comes to child labor & delivery.  I quite liked the effects of my epidural when Deacon was born.  I did not get that luxury this time around.  At around 3:30am, I started feeling cramp-like contractions coming every 7-10 minutes.  Finally at 5:15 I decided it was time to wake Brent up & head to the hospital.  Mom Sink came over to stay with Deacon & we walked out the door around 5:30.  As the contractions got more painful & closer together, Brent put the pedal to the metal.  I think he topped out at 95 on interstate.  I'm also wondering how many tickets we'll get for running every single red light.  We made it to the hospital with my contractions coming every 2 minutes or less.  After skipping registration, being in triage less than 5 minutes (after discovering I was between 6 & 7 cm) we made it to the delivery room.  At this point I had the feeling that my chances at receiving an epidural were very, very slim because of how far along I was.  We arrived at the hospital at 6am & a mere 42 minutes later, Nora joined our little family in person.