Happy Belated Birthday Hannah!

This past month did not go exactly as I had anticipated. No month ever does, really, but August held a lot more mental (and physical) adjustments than normal. Among these adjustments was the realization that the way I had planned to celebrate Hannah's birthday was not going to work out. I was planning for simple, just not quite so simple as it became. You see, my baby was due a week after Hannah's second birthday. Both of my girls were late and I had prepared myself for yet another late arrival. In fact, I had CONVINCED myself that I had a full two weeks after Hannah's big day before I even had to think about another little one's birthday. Ha ha. Enter Baby #3. A full two weeks EARLY and a week before Hannah's birthday. That wonderful little surprise coupled with the fact that he was jaundiced and had to be hospitalized on her birthday disrupted birthday plans a bit.

I did manage to bake her a cake the day before. The girls were delighted to help, but my midwife who had an in-home visit that day more than suggested I was trying to do too much. I think it was worth it - she's only going to turn two once! I would do it all over again for that look of joy on her face as she showed it to Daddy and proudly declared "MY bir-day cake!"

The first thing Heidi did when she woke up on her sister's birthday morn was retrieve her present from it's hiding place and run and give it to Hannah.

A couple of weeks prior we had spent one of Hannah's nap times making her a draw string purse. Heidi sat on my lap and directed the fabric through the sewing machine while I pushed the pedal.

She wrapped it right away,knowing exactly how she wanted the package to look, then hid it until the big day arrived.

How special to have a sister-made present!

I had managed to finish her hobby horse the day before Levi arrived so thankfully she had that for her birthday as well.

I sent the girls off to church with Daddy while I stayed home with Levi and called the midwife about his level of yellow. Of course they had to wear princess crowns - what's a birthday without them?

After church we quickly ate lunch then rushed off to the hospital to have Levi's bilirubin levels tested and start him on his little glow bed.

Then came the hard part. I hugged my little birthday girl goodbye and sent her off with Daddy while I stayed with Levi.

Daddy was wonderful and took advantage of the fact we were in town anyway to take the girls to a park to play.

And that evening, he even remembered to take a picture of Hannah with her cake for me. He forgot to do it while the candles were in, but I forgive him because he did remember to do ALL the dishes pick up toys, sweep and make beds all before my parents and sister arrived late that night. What a hero!

So, the second anniversary of Hannah's birth came and went without much fanfare, but I pray she'll always know how blessed we feel to be able to call her our own.

A Colored Baby

A couple of weeks before Levi was born,Heidi and I had the following conversation:

Me: Who do you think our baby will be?
Heidi: I think we will have a black baby.
Me: A black baby?!? Why a black baby?
Heidi: I would like to have a black baby.
Me: Well, usually babies are the same color as their mommies and daddies, and we're white, so the baby will be white too, just like you.
Heidi: Oh, that's too bad. Now I'm sad because I wanted a black baby.
I know! Maybe it could have black hair!

Then, a couple days after Levi arrived, I overheard her whispering to him:
I love you baby brother. I really wish that you could be a black baby.

Needless to say, she didn't get her wish, but she did get a yellow baby.
Our little Levi became quite jaundiced over the weekend. While the girls each had some mild jaundice as babies, Levi was yellow enough that I began to get concerned and put a call in to the midwife Sunday morning. She met us at the hospital to test his bilirubin level and sure enough his was high enough to warrant a night on a bili-blanket. So once again I spent Sunday night to Monday morning in the hospital with Levi. This time with him on a little glow bed and me not allowed to pick him up except for feeding times. I'm thankful that they now do the light from underneath instead of on top so his eyes didn't have to be covered and I could at least sit and talk with him while he was awake. By Monday morning his bilirubin level had gone down enough that he could come home and he was starting to look pink once again.
In other news, our little guy has started gaining weight once again and is looking much better and stronger. Thank you for your prayers! I had to start pumping and feeding him expressed milk in a bottle to get him to this point so my prayer now is that we'll be able to ease back into nursing soon and be able to skip all the pumping , bottles and sterilizing hassles. This time with a newborn is so precious and fleeting I'd rather spend it holding him than sterilizing bottles!

Little Levi

I'm anxious to post more pictures of our little man, but I've run into technical difficulties and need to get Karl's assistance with that.
For now I'd like to ask for prayer for Levi. He's lost a bit more weight than the midwife and I would like to see and seems to be having difficulty figuring out how to accomplish that taxing task called nursing. "It's just too hard, Momma" he wails, and yet I relentlessly push him to try and try again. Needless to say, I'm not on his good side at the moment. I'm sure I'll soon be wondering how he can eat so much, but for now I would appreciate prayers that he'll learn to eat. Thank you!

Introducing...

Levi Anton 7 lbs, 8 oz, 19 3/4 in long

Blessed surprise at 12:40 this morning

Perfect in every way





Awed by God's great faithfulness and grace