Introducing Aero Stuart

Hi everyone! I am so proud to show off our new little bundle... he is a beauty and sooooo handsome! Again, I will blame that on Andrew : )

Every person that has seen him has remarked that he looks like Donovan; I do agree, but see a lot of Marcail in him. I pulled some pics as a "blast from the past" to refresh my memory. What do you think? I think Aero is a beautiful mix of his siblings.

MARCAIL:

DONOVAN:

AERO:

This first week back has been a complete blur. Our church hosts a HUGE youth conference every summer, and Andrew, as the head Audio Engineer of course has to be present, and working. We hardly saw him at all. He came home at night to sleep from 4-6 hrs, and that was about it. Single parenting, when healing from a C-section, and taking care of a newborn plus 2 preschoolers, is not exactly something I would recommend : ) I definitely had my hair-pulling moments. Post-pregnancy women are hormonal enough anyways.

That is not to say that I had no help... I certainly did. Meals were graciously provided almost every night by our friends. I cannot explain how grateful I was that not only did I not have to cook, I also didn't have to make any grocery store runs! My mom took care of every stitch of laundry before she left (she had to fly back the morning after Aero was born), which gave me 3 days of no laundry duty! I also had friends who stopped by every day/every other day, just to visit for a couple of hours. I really needed some adult conversation. They really loved getting in some baby cuddle/ bottle feeding time, anyways. Which gave me time to do other tasks.

Aero is not much work though.... he is such a peaceful little baby. He sleeps a ton, and wakes up and cries if his diaper is dirty or if he's hungry. Otherwise he is content to look around and study everything he sees, and coo every once in a while. He is such a blessing, and he melts my heart already! I don't really mind the night feedings, either; to have that time alone with him and stare endlessly at his perfect features, is such a dream come true. And I really mean it; it feels like a dream come true and I have such strong emotions of thankfulness and gratitude to the Lord for being SO GOOD to us.

All of that to say: Andrew started his 2 week paternal leave TODAY!!! I am such a happy woman! We were both able to "sleep in" this morning, and I got a nap in this afternoon. Just to have an extra hand in handling Marcail and Donovan, has been truly refreshing. Tonight we plan on staying up late to watch a movie together (I love being married 5 years and still loving staying up WAY too late together). I love having time to breath and play a little bit. And having time to put together a blog posting : )

Here We Are...

We are getting a baby boy tonight! He will arrive via c-section in a couple of hours, so I have been tying up all the loose ends around here to prep for his arrival (mostly just finishing the luggage packing for me and the kids).

Everyone has been asking me if I am disappointed that it'll be a c-section, and not a regular birth like I was hoping. The short answer is "Yes." When the doctor finished giving us all his assessments on what the lack of progress was looking like, I asked for some time to talk with Andrew. As soon as the doctor walked out and shut the door, I burst into tears. I just needed a few minutes to re-adjust my reality perception from what I hoping, to what was actually possible.

I am still a little emotional about our decision, but given all the factors (which I won't go into right now), it is the best decision for our baby, and for me.

At the moment, I am growing excited with the anticipation of meeting our son in just a couple of hours! Who does he look like? What color hair does he have, and what color are his eyes? In just a little bit, I will know!!!

And his name, is:

Aero Stuart Makinson

Waiting

Surprise! I'm actually posting something on here after an eternity of silence. We are still waiting on the arrival of our son - he seems to be happy and content, cooped up in my belly, and not really interested in a new adventure quite yet. So he is taking his sweet time, even though we passed his due date yesterday.

Admittedly, I've been at the point of impatience, and managed to talk myself back into sanity, only to return to frustration with the lack of progress. This cycle goes round and round quite often, and I find that I still prefer to have everything happen on my time table. I have to laugh at myself in this, remembering the past couple of years and the heartaches they held, remembering waiting for the Lord's perfect timing for the conception of this pregnancy, and remembering this same familiar feeling of frustration with having to simply..... w a i t. And here I am again, waiting on timing that is out of my ability to control.

I have very real feelings of joy, realizing that we are SO CLOSE to meeting our little baby; this little life that we have so longed for, and desired; this little boy that has already restored so much happiness and hope. I think it is the very thing that also makes me feel so impatient! But, I would like to be able to see this waiting time as the blessing that it truly is - a pregnancy that has been the answer to many prayers and tears. None of this has been a process that I've been able to hurry along; instead, it has been a walk of trust and faith in God's timing that is not my own.

I suppose it is only fitting that this pregnancy should end in the same way : )