Toddler

Some of you more experienced mom's know that when you hear silence you should be nervous. Well...I am new at being a mom of a toddler, so sometimes when all is quiet I like to pretend that all is well too.
The other day, Luke's best friend, Talya, came over to play. Talya's mom and I were hanging out in the kitchen when we realized too much time had past without a peep. As I headed to Luke's room, I was expecting to find every book and toy on the floor, but instead, I found the room perfectly clean.
Well..almost perfectly clean, Luke and Talya had put every book, toy, and puzzle into the crib, and then somehow, they climbed into the crib too. It was so shocking it made us laugh.
I hope you enjoy the pictures and please notice how sweaty Luke is from all his hard work.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

We Are Family...I got all my sisters with me

I hope all my readers are old enough to know this Sister Sledge classic. The month of September was spent visiting both sides of our family. Here are some of the pictures.

Psalm 127:3

"Behold, children are a gift of the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward."

What a true statement. It has been really fun to start to see the different personalities of Luke and Abel.
Luke has always been a little bit shy. All our friends laugh because Luke is notorious for greeting them with a scowl. He is quiet and mild tempered. He laughs and plays hard with the one's he loves. He is sweet and gentle.
And now there is Abel. Although too young to know for sure who he will be, he is a big smiler. He giggles in a newborn way. I just can't help but think he will be full of joy.
Thank you Lord for these two gifts.

My life today

So...I have not made a lot of time to blog lately since Abel has been born. It has been a little nutty since his arrival. I just thought I would recap some of the joys from yesterday.
1. Luke helped me clean. What this looks like is while I dust, Luke makes me pretend spray his rag with Pledge, and then he dusts right beside me. He is pretty cute. =)
2. Abel ate, slept, and pooped.
3. We had spaghetti last night, and when Luke was done with his plate, he stuffed the spaghetti in his high chair. Then Lee's garlic bread burnt during the whole process...of course.
4. Abel kept eating, sleeping ,and pooping.
5. Luke and I read Go Dog Go, The Wheels On The Bus, Children's Bible, First 100 Words, and I am sure others...he loves to read. This he did not get from his mother.
6. Abel stayed up to midnight while eating, sleeping, and pooping.

Cousins

Introducing one of Abel's many cousins, Adda Elizabeth Gonzales. She was born on July 24th weighing in at 7lbs and 7oz. Here are some pictures of the two cousins. They are exactly three weeks apart.

Family Pictures

Here are some pictures from a recent photo shoot with Bre Taylor from In Our Life Photography.

The Birth Story

I have been wanting to take a minute and type up the birth story, and since Abel is sleeping, Luke is heading home from his grandparents, and Lee is putting in our new flood light, I have time.

So...after a long pregnancy of me announcing that I would never induce, we induced on July 3rd. It is funny how I am always learning to eat a little humble pie. =)

Lee and I arrived at the hospital at 7am on Friday morning. We were admitted immediately, and I was put on pitocin within the hour. About an hour after that, they put in the epidural, and then the labor really began.

My doctor came in and broke my water. While doing that, she realized there was meconium in the fluid. Immediately, I could feel my heart drop. Our doctor advised us that he would have to go to NICU after birth just to be checked. As I was trying to guard my thoughts from going to the worse, and I began to pray. I prayed the Lord would not let any fluid get into his lungs.

As the labor progressed, I kept trying to change positions to get comfortable. Unfortunately, Abel was unable to keep his heart rate stable if I moved so I was told to remain in one position. Once again, I kept asking the Lord to protect him.

By 2:00pm that afternoon, I was 7 centimeters dilated, and all of sudden, my epidural began to fade. The thought of pushing out a baby without an epidural is a very scary thought to me, so I began to beg the nurse to increase my epidural. At first they didn't want to because they were afraid I wouldn't be able to push him out, but after a small nervous break down, I was given more.

Less than one hour later, Abel William Lewis was born at 2:51pm. He is a beautiful, healthy, big boy. Although this labor was a little more stressful than Luke's, it was well worth the work. He ended up not needing to go to NICU. I am so grateful to the Lord for his protection over Abel throughout this pregnancy and birth.