Sunny Day

Our lil Irish St. Patty's Day Girl

Yesterday was the first day of Spring! In celebration of Spring we thought that we would give our blog some fresh color. I thought about taking a picture of our beautiful scenery here in honor of Spring but yesterday it was cloudy and rainy, today it is soooo windy and blue sky. We are getting there...

We are looking forward to some sun because Hallel loves going on walks and just looking around wide eyed and excited! I always think that she might fall asleep on a walk but she usually just looks around and coos. And she loves it when we go over bumps in her stroller, that's our busy little girl. I am finding that her womb personality is staying true. She was very active in my womb especially towards the end. And so far once she wakes up she is ready to kick and move! Josh's theme song for her is, "I like to move it, move it" from Madagascar. I love it, but I might get a run for my money when she is mobile.

Her new "trick" is that she can hold on to things so when she is on the changing table or in the stroller or wherever she can she grabs the side of it and smiles like she is so proud of herself. It's pretty cute.

Well, happy Spring all...

Check me out practicing my side style

Thank you Grandma Mathews for the cutey patootee outfit!

Daddy, aren't I the cutest thing you ever did see!!

Rock Stars

My two Rock Stars never cease to make me smile!



















First of all my rockstar husband saved us atleast $250 this morning by fixing our car with parts that he found at a junk yard, thanks baby!
And my little rockstar is learning so many new things!
They both have stolen my heart!

Singing into her mic which is her new favorite toy-hands are cheap too



















Sitting up in the Bumbo chair


































Hanging out during tummy time














Sacked out




























Making daddy laugh














Stretchy

good things come in three's

3 friends

3 bellies
3 babies

...maybe in less than

3 days

we can't wait for you Klont!

A mothers ponderings

My new favorite picture!!!!

One of my favorite lines of the nativity story is that Mary pondered all of these things in her heart. I love to think, probably over think too many things, and love to take in life and mull things over in the quiet. Since being home with Hallel, one of the ponderings that keeps coming up in my mind is that of a child's delight to her parents and unknown to her.

Hallel is so small and is learning such simple things as hand coordination. So that her flailing arms and fingers don't always end up in her eye or punching her face. One of her most common practices of the day are her cat like stretches (that have made Josh and I ponder stretching and how refreshing that is) that occur after every waking period. So in all of this simplicity, yet taxing and hard work for a two month old, is a sheer delight of her parents. Yes, we could watch her all day long with her many expressions and gestures even her sleeping posture is such a thing of beauty. Yet, she will not remember this segment of life, only through stories and pictures. But we, her parents, have her life being etched into our hearts as her personality is unfolding in front of us.

And finally, the main point of my pondering is this. Perhaps - and I will never claim to understand the heart of God - but perhaps, this is the type of joy that we get to bring to our loving Creator. A babe like innocence of how small we truly are in light of God. Yet a pleasure that only a Father could have of watching His image muddle through learning life. Ah the aspect of trust! That I would trust God like Hallel trusts Josh and I for life. And that I would realize that part of worship is just merely being who God made Stacy and that is a delight to my Maker. And that I would abhor sin for the simple reality that it hurts my Father's heart because He does know best.

Here is our little Hallel being the precious baby that God has made her to be and winning our hearts again and again!

Family

We went to Oregon for a visit with our families! A great time with those we love !!! Here's the proof.

Daddy's little girl

Sara and Stacy posing

Cousin Adri

Hallel captivated by Grandpa Ortman's funny faces

Sweet cousins

Funny cousins

Star struck

Cuddling with Aunt Annie

Uncle Mike don't tickle me

Cousin Elizabeth

Cuddling with Grandma Ortman

Cousin Luke and Aunt Christy

Smiles for cousin Ben

Chillin downtown with Bri

Uncle Jay and Grandpa Mathews

Sleeping beauty recovering from a cold after the trip

December 25th-the unforgettable day

I am going to write out Hallel's birth story mostly so that I won't forget it but for those of you who want to be amused here goes the unforgettable 27hrs.

On December 23rd Josh and I went to the mall and walked around for two hours while waiting for our movie to start. I started having some small contractions while walking and was pretty excited. We saw the movie Four Christmas's and laughed a lot and then had a yummy dinner at Applebee's where I continued to have contractions. We thought that we might even have to leave our dinner and head for the hospital but we managed to eat everything! We then came home and had a quiet night with no contractions and thank the Lord, some really good rest.

The next morning I had the urge to clean the house so Josh and I spent the next few hours working our little hearts out. Right after Josh made us some scrumptious ramen soup (my craving) I started having contractions and these were definitely the real thing. I knew right away that I wanted to have an epidural and Josh started helping me breathe through the contractions. They came on strong and never stopped until she was born. They started out about 5min a part and within 1/2hr Josh called the hospital because the contractions were already 2min a part.

We both remember feeling like the city was farther away then usual and traffic was the heaviest we had seen. I was just closing my eyes trying to breath and looking up at the trees and sky near Sausalito trying to concentrate.

At the hospital they put me in a wheel chair in the emergency room and I immediately burst into tears. I don't know if it was the pain, the reality of labor or the emergency room where every one was staring at me. Josh was so fast at parking I couldn't believe it and he almost never left my side the next 24hrs. He was the best coach and husband I could have asked for!

We were in triage for what seemed like forever with another couple. All I remember were intense contractions, lots of breathing and counting, and nurses asking for my ID which was in the car. Finally, we were moved to our own room and they gave me the epidural. Relief at last! We spent the night watching the monitor for contractions almost every 2 minutes as mine were the strongest out of any one's on the monitor all night long. Thank the Lord for epidurals!!! Because it was Christmas eve the Dr's and nurses had shorter shifts so through out the night we met about 6 different Dr's and 6 different nurses. The awesome part was that they were all soooo nice and amazing at their job, we were well taken care of. One of my favorite memories of the night wait was hearing Hallel's heart beat on the monitor so steady. It brings tears to my eyes to think about it. The nurses kept saying that she was such a strong baby to have such a healthy heart beat through some strong contractions. We were already proud parents of our little girl and couldn't believe this miracle was happening. I also remember feeling a sense of family and friends praying for us through the entire experience, a great support!

I was dilating a cent. per hr, right on schedule, and we were to deliver at 1 or 2 am. I just kept praying for strength and calm nerves and trying to sleep. Josh and I were both adrenalized. Well, 2am came and went and we were stuck at an 8 until about 9am and the epidural wore off. Then came pain and potosin to get me to a 10. Oh the contractions! I got to a 10 and my water finally broke. They realized that Hallel was turned sideways so the nurse had me start pushing on my side, more pain. She turned, thankfully, and we then pushed for the next 4 1/2hrs. most of the time with the bar doing sit ups. (I don't understand why my stomach still has flab because I have never done so many sit ups in my life:) I kept getting the hiccups I guess from gasping air, weird stuff happens in labor.

The Dr's. were discussing the options while I was trying to breathe and just plain exhausted from pushing and no food for 24hrs. While my dear husband knew I was getting to the end of my rope would lean down and tell me in a calm voice, "Stacy, the Lord is with you, you can do this."

Dr Lamar made the final decision to head to the operating room and try one time with the vacuum and if that didn't work than go ahead with a c-section. My nurse, who was in a hurry was trying to be expedient as I was still having intense contractions bumped into every wall the whole way there. I wanted to revoke her gurney driving license then and there. The next thing that I remember were about 15 heads huddled around me saying, "push as if it is the last time that you will ever push again. I pushed and they were able to get enough of her head out for the vacuum to work so I pushed through 2 more contractions and suddenly her head was out and there was much excitement in the room. The next second was like a huge relief as I could feel her body just slide right out and at last the contractions stopped! I could take a breath and actually talk. They put Hallel on a cart and cleaned her up while they stitched me up. It was one of those priceless moments when I looked over to see my baby and saw my sweet husband wiping away tears of love. After awhile they brought her to me and we had our first official meeting. All that I remember was that Hallel opened her eyes and just looked straight in to my eyes as if to say, "You are the one whose voice I have been hearing, hello mother." It was a special moment and Josh and I can't get over her yet!

Well, that's our story. Or rather, just the beginning...

Brand new baby Hallel

Our little sweet pea

Friends

Hallel was born into good company here on campus as there has been a recent baby boom in the last year! There are a lot of baby girls and a few little boys. I only have a few pictures of Hallel's new found friends but I am sure as she becomes more social she will want to gurgle and spit up with the others too.

A few cute things that she is learning.

-Trying desperately to find her thumb, she works on this every day.

-Smiling at us more and more.

-Loves to cuddle.

-Trying to say mommy(just kidding).

Zoe(left) and Sadie(right, at Sadie's 1 yr birthday party)

Carsyn(4 months) and Hallel(chillin together)

Hallel's buddies(she grabs elephant by the trunk and can swing monkey)

And my personal fav "wooly" her lamb that she loves to bounce around and talk to. She was really sleepy in this video so not as much action as usual.