Blessed

I wanted to take a moment to reflect on how our friends and family have really helped to make the transition from one to two children smooth. We have had many people bringing us dinners, coming over to watch Noah while I tend to Micah, then trading so that I can spend time with Noah as well. Also, I would like to thank everyone for the congrats and well wishes. I really appreciated everything that has been done for us.
Right now Kurt and I are doing a devotional on finances and giving. One of the activities is to count the times that people do things for you, that save you money, as blessings and to take that into consideration when you are giving back to the church or to missions or to a charity of your choice. So when people have been bring meals and such, that saves us because we aren't using groceries that we have bought and it is already prepared for us so it is more like eating out, plus we get to fellowship with friends.
Right now we(along with many people) are going through a tight budgeting time with Kurt being laid off AND going to school, and me on maternity leave (mostly paid, but not all). We have really had to re-examine our spending and how much we are relying on God to provide for us. It has definitely made us more appreciative of what we do have. It is funny I feel more content about "having things" now than I did when I was younger and had more money to spend on myself. It is almost as if life gets more realistic as you gain maturity.
Speaking of blessings, Micah is napping, Noah is with Daddy running errands and I get some free time! I am posting and doing devotionals :)

Noah is doing so well with the change from only child to big brother. I can tell he has a little bit of jealousy, like when I am taking pics of Micah, he says, "take a picture of Noah?" So I have been doing my best to keep him in the loop. I can also tell that he is developing feelings of love for Micah, he always wants to know where he is and be in the same room as Micah. He regularly hugs and kisses Micah as well. So here are some fun pictures.



Noah wearing one of Micah's hats


Noah giving the pump a try! lol

Baby #2 Micah!

Micah Alan Barman is finally here! He arrived Monday evening at 7:00 pm. My water broke around 11:15 pm on Sunday, but I was going to labor at home, so we waited for active labor to begin, but my contractions didn't get more regular, in fact they were all over the place. We went back to bed at like 5 am, slept till 8 or 9 am and were totally puzzled. My water waasnt really comming out any more and active labor had stopped? So I called my doctors office, and they said to go to the hopsital to get tested to see if my water really had broke. Of course I didnt want to do this because, If I were to go in and my water had broke, even though I wasnt in active labor they would not send me home. Meaning I would be domed to spend however long labor was in the hospital. Blah! So we were praying on the way into the hospital, that if my water had broke, for labor to pick up, if it had not broke, for them to send me home.

Well we got to the hospital @ 10 AM. They checked me and said that my water had not broke, that it was all(i did not know that the mucus plug could be so much!)just my mucus plug. I was only 2 cm and still not effaced. So the nurse called my doctor, who then said to have me walk around an hour then make sure my water had not broke. Ugh. So, I stayed to wander the halls. Needless to say, they tested me again in an hour and my water had broke?. So from 10-2 pm or so I was just waiting around, praying labor would start (hubby ran some errands). Then around 3 contractions started again, 5 pm contractions were a strong 5 min appart, then a t 6pm I was 6 cm, by 6:50 I was pushing! Yay! 7:00 Micah was here! It was a very fast labor, once it finally picked up. So no complications or anything. I did do skin to skin with Micah, something I didnt know about with Noah, it was very cool. You would maybe think gross, but i didnt care what was on him, just his warmth and being able to hold him and not a blanket was awesome.It helped us to bond right away. He latched on right away also, something I struggled with at first with Noah.




So everything was going great...then they told me that Micah and I had incompatable blood types ( not the Rh factor, which they have an injection for) he is A negative and I am O negative, thanks to hubby. Therefore the bilirubin in his body would try to break down to fast and give him jandice. So we spent two more days in the hospital with him under the bililight most of the time. The thing I didnt like is that I couldnt hold him that much and his eyes had to be covered with these little "sunglasses" because the lights are like a tanning beds.




All in all I am very happy to have a healthy baby, a wonderful husband helping me all along the way, and a willing big brother to help along the way. Noah is just great with him so far. He wants to share with him and is always saying "Hi, baby Micah". Wanting to help and gives him kisses alll the time. So on with recovery and getting into a schedule.

Yes...I am still pregnant!

Well obviously I haven't posted in a while, but now that I have off work for the holidays and for personal time that I needed to use, I have time to write! How depressing, I come back to my blogspot and first thing I notice is my little ticker that says "you are 40 weeks and 5 days pregnant". This baby just does not want to come out! I had a non- stress test this Wednesday, everything is still healthy, but I am only 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. So my doctor said that I will probably make it to my next appointment on the 7th of January! I am totally puzzled. They say that your second baby comes earlier, not later than your due date!

Here are the positives and negatives. Positive- I will have more space between Noah and the new little ones birthday's and in fact they now officially have different birth months. So when I go to pick out my mom ring I will have a different stone (garnet) Plus the baby wasnt born on Christmas or New Years...avoiding the holidays. I have had PLENTY of time getting everything ready. And I do mean everything, bottles, clothes, bedding, hospital bags, nursing supplies, post pregnancy clothes, car seat,etc.

Negatives- I have an allocated amount of time off from work, due to my teaching schedule for the schools. I must go back to work March 9th due to having 4 classes to teach that week and the next week. SO, I am starting to cut into my time to bond with baby and get into a good routine. Also, hubby is going back to school, starting on the 5th. So we have missed his bonding time as well over the holiday.

So I guess I need to look at the positive side of things, in that my baby is healthy, but I am getting anxious to meet it and start bonding. I do plan to wear this baby more than I did with Noah...mostly because I will have a toddler to keep up with as well.

We have tried to prepare Noah for our new little one, He keeps saying "In a couple days baby is coming". He often wants to rub my belly and give the baby a hug. I am not sure how much he understands but I guess we can only try and see how it goes when the baby actually arrives. He is definitely getting into the role of helping ,mommy because I can hardly bend over and pick things up or take a load of laundry out. So he hands me the laundry and pushes the basket where it needs to go. lol.

Here is a little pic for entertainment. He got these boots for Christmas, while we have only been outside a few times with them he loves to wear them around the house, even when he is brushing his teeth. My little brother used to do this alll the time, it was like a flashback when I saw what he was doing. Also some Christmas and Birthday pics. He had a wonderful birthday and Christmas. Being the only grandchild he tends to get spoiled, which is fine because it wont be that way for long!