January 20, 2013

Today we remember Grace.



And we dedicated Griffin.


Thank you, God, for full arms today. We are so blessed. That makes us happy. At the same time we miss Grace. That makes us remember and grieve our loss. We also get super thankful for the chance to see her again in perfection.

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, (Romans 5:3, 4 ESV)

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Location:4th St,Correctionville,United States

Family Photo Book

I made a family photo book. Hopefully I've done this right so that interested parties may view it.


http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AYuGTZszZtWLpA&cid=SFLYOCWIDGET

Life with Three under 3.

Hope is two. She will be three in November.
Olivia is 15 months. We thought she and Griffin would be 14 months apart. Turns out they are 13.
Griffin is almost two months old. I couldn't ask for a better baby. All of my babies have been great.

A few pictures of our life...our new normal...our lovely crazy...

This is a sleeping Griffin. Please compare this early photo to more recent sleeping pictures further down this list. He's getting bigger!

This was taken during our process of packing up toys. We are trying to sell our house and our realtor said we need to pack up more toys. The girls got in one more play time. I don't know why Hope likes to pat Olivia on the head. She does it a lot.

 

 Olivia can put those shades on top of her head and walk around. It is pretty funny to turn around and see her entering the room like a cool dude.

 

 Olivia sleeps in this pack and play now. We removed the crib to open up some space in this room. I plan to tear down this bed before a house showing. I'm hopeful that will help people see that the room isn't that small. Still small, just not that small. It's funny to see babies looking out a window.

 

 Luke wasn't really sleeping. Capturing a moment...

Olivia sometimes gets to play with toys in her bed. Lots of times it happens because Hope opens the door when Olivia is sleeping, Olivia wakes up, Hope laughs and is excited to play with Olivia, Hope gives Olivia a toy, and the two of them play until I come to get Olivia out. I have had firm discussions with Hope about entering this room when Olivia is sleeping. Now most of the time Hope enters only after I say something like, "It sounds like Olivia is awake!"

 

 Some sleeping pictures for size comaprison.

 

The girls love to play together. Hope talks a lot, runs, cries, 'reads', sings, plays, pretends, imagines, and helps a lot. Olivia grunts, yells, laughs, cries, crawls, and WALKS. Hope is a big girl and walks on our walks through town. We have a double stroller, but that's not good enough with three little ones. So, Hope walks with me and holds my hand when we cross the street. She resisted walking in the beginning. Yesterday I put Griffin in a carrier and left room for Hope in the stroller, but Hope wanted to walk instead. She does such a good job with everything. She helps Olivia get a drink from the refrigerator, or more food during meal time without being asked. 

 

 Hope takes a nap on Mommy and Daddy's bed in the middle of the day. I move Griffin's bed out, and Hope's pillows/blanket in. Olivia stays in the bedroom for nap time.

 

 We put a dresser in the closet. We needed to move it out of the front room, so this is where it landed. This dresser has clothes for Olivia and Griffin. The other dresser (seen in the picture above) holds clothes for Hope. In these dressers are clothes for summer, fall, and winter for the next year.

 

 This is a common sight. I sit in that black chair with Griffin multiple times during the day for 45 minutes at a time and the girls play around me. It's so fun to take every book down from the shelf to have a book party! It's also great to take all the toys out of the basket to find the two miniture kangaroos. It's also great to do this before 10 am, and to clean it up at 9 pm.

 

 Some days I have to fold laundry during nap time. Some days I take a nap too. This room is also a play area while I sit with Griffin.

 

 Hope's book party! I'm not sure why she has no clothes. She often decides she does not want her clothes. Notice she is still in a diaper. I'm not ready to push potty training right now (though I tried quite a few times before Griffin was born), but I think I will be soon. I think Hope is ready too. She knows what it is all about, but she really doesn't want to. I mean she REALLY doesn't want to. Maybe the next time we try she will act a lot differently.

Yesterday I changed four diapers in 10 minutes. Olivia was the repeat offender.

 

 Olivia is playing with a tape measurer in the bathroom. She has a sippy cup in the bathroom. I concluded that Hope gave her that drink.

 

 Hope thought it was a new fun play place underneath the counter in the kitchen. I agree. I think I'd like to play there if I were little. She decided to have a book party under the counter. Olivia joined in. I'm not sure why Olivia has no clothes. Well, yes I am. It was after bath time and we hadn't gotten to the pj's yet.

Sometimes Griffin sleeps while the girls are napping, other times he doesn't. On days that he is awake during nap time I power through the day with very little time to myself. When the girls go to bed for the night, usually I would get some time to myself while Luke watches Griffin (if G isn't nursing), but it's then that I get ready for bed and lay down. To everything there is a season...He's a sweet little guy.

 

 It's so great that Luke usually does bath time.

 

 Lots of days we will take a walk from 10 am to 11:30 am. Sometimes we will walk with Daddy after supper.

 

 Another sleeping picture for size comaprison. This was taken at church.

I submit this in an effort to give you an idea of life at 122 Jones Street since July 7, 2012. I'm not sure how it compares to yours or other busy moms, but it is what it is. I am overwhelmed at times, tired a lot, but not exhausted (yet). I often feel like a triage nurse, assessing the crying babies to see who needs my attention immediately and who can wait for a bit. I pray that even though I am spread thin at times, that my kids will know my love for them and see my joy in their presence.

Griffin Dale (the entry that took two months to write)

I've been wanting to write about Griffin's birth story for WEEKS now. I have found a free hour to record the happenings of July 2012.

Griffin Dale Demarest was born on July 7, 2012. It was a Saturday. My sister Liz and her family were staying at our house for the weekend. I was really looking forward to having a free day to spend with her and our husbands and kids. I was 34 weeks pregnant. Doctor appointments were showing that there was reason to take things easily, and don't push it. Well, no one had said bed rest yet, so I decided I would continue to get our house ready for the "For Sale" sign. And I was still going to venture to the city with Liz and the families. Our plan was to go to Sam's Club and lunch, send everyone home for naps while the two of us went to Hobby Lobby. Pumped!

I got up from the kitchen table to start cleaning up the breakfast Andy had helped me prepare. During our preparations I told Andy that I felt great! If the Smith family reunion were that very day, I would go and have a good time. An hour later I was standing in the kitchen after my water broke, six weeks early. I was not scared. I wasn't worried. I gave an apologetic look to Liz, and told Luke we needed to go to the hospital. We hurriedly packed some things (forgetting our camera), and drove to the hospital. Andy came to our rescue an hour later by driving our camera to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital around 10 am. We sat and chatted and watched "The Walking Dead" marathon--a very boy thing to watch. Around 2 pm my doctor came, removed the stitch, checked the baby's position, and decided we would schedule a c-section for Sunday morning at 8. Griffin was breech. I wasn't having contractions yet, but I knew once I did, it would not be long at all before he was born. I hoped that our c-section would move up to Saturday night, and I wouldn't have to experience labor pains. From 5-7 the contractions started and got stronger, and my doctor decided to start things up at 8pm. Griffin was born at 8:20 pm. I thought the c-section was horrible. I felt so nauseous. When Griffin was born he was crying loudly. Luke watched them clean him up, and then whisk him away to the NICU. We got to see him again around midnight. I was too tired to see him long, so we went to our room, slept, and spent the next two days recovering and seeing Griffin as often as we could.

Griffin is a miracle; every baby is. He was planned and prepared by God, and this is why I was never worried or scared. On July 7, after my water broke, I thought, "OK. He'll be here six weeks early, he'll be in the NICU for a little bit, but he will come home with me some time soon after. He will be ok. We are far enough along. My heart can rest assured in God's care because I have not been in control of one little thing through Griffin's whole life. It has been God's timing and God's way." I'm so thankful I spent that day in the arms of God's peace.

 

I think Griffin was born at just the right time. Nobody wants to have a preemie baby, or a baby that needs to be in the NICU, but I still think God's hand was in Griffin's early arrival.

• A c-section requires lots of rest and relaxation to recover well. Since Griffin was in the NICU, and I was with him all day, most days, for two weeks, I was able to sit in a really big chair and do practically nothing. That was great for my recovery.


• Griffin was born in early July instead of the middle of August. Luke's BUSY time at work is the middle of August. It would have been so ridiculous if Griffin was born when he was due. Luke would have been able to take very little time off.

• I knew that I was going to need lots of help with the kids when Griffin was born, and immediately after he was born. My sister and mom were here the weekend he was born. Luke was able to be home with our girls for the next two weeks--the two weeks that Luke's mom (our usual babysitter) was not able to help out with childcare. Then when Luke had to go back to work, Grandma Jo and Grammie were available whenever I needed them. My mom did come visit us for about four days at the beginning of August and was a huge help.

Because I know God's timing was absolutely perfect with Griffin's birth, I am relying on that to help me rest and trust God as we are trying to sell our house.
Oh, our house. That is a whole other issue.
Our time in the NICU was challenging and emotional. But, everything is emotional the first few weeks after baby comes. We are so thankful Griffin got well so quickly, and was home with us after just two weeks. Praise God!
We are so in love with Griffin. He is beautiful, and is a great baby. He sleeps really well, and isn't fussy. We love his name.
Griffin: because it was a cool sounding name that we could agree on. Unique enough and common enough.
Dale: because it is a family name on my side of the family, and because it sounds a little bit like Ardell. Ardell is Luke's middle name, and his dad's middle name, and his dad's middle name, and his dad's middle name...  I felt a little strange about stopping the tradition, but neither one of us loved that name, so Dale it is.
Griffin Dale sounds really cool too. I think it sounds like something out of Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter*. (*Gryffindor...am I right or am I right?)
Here are a few birth pictures to look over.
Thank you, God for a healthy baby boy! Thank you for your care and provision of a healthy, long enough pregnancy. Praise God from whom all blessings flow! Thank you, God, for all of the prayer warriors far and near--more than I will ever know. How AMAZING to know that each of my children were prayed for and loved fervently...all FOUR of them.
We are so incredibly blessed.

20 years

Wow, I can't believe it's been 20 years this week since my dad's passing, 23 since the accident.
He is never forgotten, and always loved. What a joyous reunion we will have some day.