Pictures

Sophie is now 21 months old and her baby brother is 11 weeks. Sophie is talking a lot and putting together sentences. She is so much fun and always doing goofy things. We love them both to pieces. Here our some recent pictures that include Sophie making a gingerbread house, Sophie in her new "Big Girl Bed" and our two dogs Misty and our newest addition Charlie. The bottom pictures are the most recent, from earlier this week. Sophie wasn't too happy with all the picture taking but her mad face is cute:-) Please forgive the poor formatting and the one sideways picture. I can't fix either problems.

Elliot David Potter

Here is the story of how my baby boy arrived in our arms... In March of 2012, Sophie was 9 months old and we were on a trip in Michigan visiting friends and family. I was exhausted the entire time and on the way home it hit me, I recognized this type of fatigue. I knew I was pregnant. We grabbed a test on the way home and took it immediately and I was in fact pregnant. At this point I was barely 4 weeks pregnant. We were so excited although I was a little nervous as Sophie was so young and I was still nursing her. I had some sickness in the first trimester and was very tired but the rest of the pregnancy proved to be amazing. I had a very different outlook this time around. I really believed that God designed pregnancy to be a beautiful thing and that our culture didn't see it that way. I chose joy this pregnancy and believed God for amazing things. This made such a difference in my pregnancy and I felt great all the way up to 40 weeks, when I STILL hadn't gone into labor. Sophie came a week early and I was sure this baby would be early and if not early at least on time. We did all of the same things to prepare as we did for Sophie, lots and lots of walking. But at 40 weeks this baby still hadn't made much noise. As the days dragged on I grew very impatient, tired, achy, nervous...etc. I went from being patient and at peace to nervous, cranky and fearful. I was worried something was wrong and at the same time certain that this baby would come when he was good an ready. I had prayed my whole pregnancy for a full term baby and God sure did answer that prayer. Each week at my appointments I wrestled with the decision on whether or not to have my membranes stripped but because I was GBS + and because I really felt like I was supposed to trust Gods timing I decided not to each time. On Wednesday December 4 (41 + 5 weeks) I had an appointment with my midwife. She was going to give me until Friday (42 weeks) to have my baby on my own and even though I had my moments of doubts I was confident that he would come by then. That morning I had lost some of my mucus plug and felt pretty crampy. I really felt like this baby was getting ready to make an appearance. That morning before the appointment I heard from God very specifically on why our baby was coming into the world in the next few dates. I realized that Gods timing was so perfect and that he had purposely held him inside this long. I was excited when I arrived at my appointment knowing that my baby would come soon and that God was in control. When she listened to my baby's heartbeat though my heart sank. The look on her face told me that what I was hearing was right. His heart beat was slow, it did not sound good at all. She said "how about today?". His heart rate was low, not seriously low but low enough that at 42 weeks it was time to get him out. So she sent me home with instructions to head to the hospital as soon as I could. I was very disappointed. I had waited this long and now I was going to have to face my biggest fear in childbirth: induction. I was bummed because I thought I would have to have an epidural with the pitocin and was afraid of all that could follow. I went home and got our stuff together, Mark was working at home and my mother in law was babysitting Sophie. So we were able to pack up and leave right away. I felt very emotional, a mix of excitement and relief that it would be over and fear and disappointment over having to be induced. We stopped and got Panera for dinner because I knew I wouldn't be eating for a while. About half way to the hospital it hit me- We are going to get to meet our baby boy very soon! Ah, the relief. It was almost over. And that's when I started thanking God and seeing this as a gift. I don't have to be pregnant any more and in just a few house I would hold my baby in my arms. Thank you Lord! We checked in and had a very slow start. It was a few hours before they would actually induce me but the good news was that I had dilated even further and was now 3 cm and 75% effaced. The nurse said I was very inducible. The hope was that I would need very little pitocin. And another funny thing, the baby's heart rate was perfect and was never low again. But at that point I was so happy to be getting ready to have my baby that I didn't even care that there was no longer a reason to induce. I FINALLY got my first dose of pitocin, along with my first dreaded bag of antibiotics (for GBS) at 7:30 pm on December 4. Contractions started right away and were about 2-3 minutes apart. They didn't hurt much at all and Mark and I found ourselves antsy in between them and not sure what to do with ourselves. They up-ed my pitocin every 30 min for the first 2 hours until they were strong enough. Although they did start making me feel a little bit yucky and uncomfortable they were never overly painful. Nothing compared to what I remembered with Sophie. I had more of a feeling of annoyance rather than pain. They were able to leave the pitocin stable for a while (I was on a VERY low dose) because my body was taking over. After about 2 hours I started feeling pressure and asked to be checked and I was 5cm and 100% effaced. Mark thought this was great, I thought it wasn't near close enough. My bag of waters was bulging so I went ahead and let them break it. With Sophie they broke my water and I pushed her out 30 minutes later so I was thinking "Yes, please break my waters so we can be done." However, it didn't quite go that way. It was still 2 hours before Elliot would actually make his entrance. Things started getting blurry at this point but what I do remember is that I was tired. I kept thinking over and over, "I want to curl up and take a nap." I was not in a ton of pain but just tired and mentally exhausted because it was work. I had them check me again because I was feeling lots of pressure and I was at a 9.5. SO close, but not close enough. And I stayed there for a LONG time. I tried getting on the ball, getting on all fours and lying on my side. I would get to a 10 for a brief minute and then go back to 9.5. It was driving me crazy. I was SO tired and SO close but not close enough. I wanted to be done. When I finally said I NEED to push and I am done, my midwife made me a deal. She said, "if you can push through some pain I will reach up and push your cervix out of the way." I said great I don't care about pain I just want to be done. So that's what we did. I pushed once to get past the cervix. Once to get his head crowning, paused to allow for stretching, one more for the head to come out and one for the body and praise Jesus it was over! Elliot David Potter was born at 12:59am on December 5,2013. He was born 5 and a half hours after being induced but only 2 of the hours was I in active labor. The hard part of labor was very short. Elliot came out very mad. It made us laugh because it was clear that he REALLY like being tucked up, all warm inside of me. No wonder he wasn't in any hurry to come into the world. He still, 11 weeks later, loves being cuddled and warm. I was given Elliot immediately while we waited to have the cord cut. He latched and nursed right away. I felt so relieved to have him in my arms. To see his sweet little face and finally meet my precious baby boy. My labor with Sophie was VERY painful, yet I was energized and in awe of giving birth. With Elliot it was mentally challenging and I was exhausted afterwards. Very different feelings following each birth. Elliot was a very healthy baby, and my placenta was healthy and didn't look like it was 42 weeks old. I think I would have had Elliot on my own in the next 48 hours but pitocin ended up not being anything to fear and I still had an amazing epidural free birth. Elliot is such a sweet little boy who has brought us so much joy. He loves cuddling and we love holding him. He sure does love his mama and I love him more than words can say. Children are such a gift and so is carrying them in my body and feeding them once they are here. What a miracle childbirth is and what joy it is to give life to precious children. Elliot David is our "freedom" baby and he has already taught us so much. God has big plans for our boy and we pray that he will always believe that the Lord is his God no matter what and that he would love and serve the Lord all the days of his life. Thank you Lord for our little Elliot David and the story you are writing with his life.

Balancing

I am three weeks into school and I have survived. It was a rough transition. I don't always handle change well. It was hard leaving Sophie several days a week, even if only for a few hours. It was hard adjusting to having homework and using my brain again, and it was hard finding the motivation to just plain be in school. But I have survived the first few weeks, I am motivated and have also found it refreshing to have more of schedule and routine each week.

I appreciate my days with Sophie more now that I have to leave her a few times a week. Sophie is at such a fun age. She is about two seconds away from crawling and she manages to roll all over the living room if we let her. She is always smiling and laughing and talking. She grabs at everything and wants to taste anything we give her. She sure is feisty though. She gets upset when she can do what she wants and will yell out her frustration. The poor girl wants to crawl so badly, I am bracing myself for when she does because she is going to be a mover.

I am taking a sewing class next week that I am very excited about! Learning to sew feels like a fun and exciting skill to have. I like to create things! I also like to be practical, sewing is both of these things!

I know its not even November yet, but I am getting excited for the holidays! Fall came so fast! Sophie is going to be 5 months this week. Time sure does fly!

Meal Plan

So, one of my goals is to have a dinner plan each night. I am bad at this and I really don't like it. But I am going to attempt a meal plan this week. Its somewhat vague at this point because I didn't go grocery shopping but this is it. If I post it here I am thinking I might remember what my plan was because I know where to look for it. And maybe it will give you some ideas, I love getting meal ideas from blogs I read.

Monday:

Tilapia and squash

Tuesday:

Spaghetti (need to go to the store for pasta)

Wednesday:

Chicken in the crockpot with rice

Thursday:

Chicken Nugget Salads and something else...

Friday:

Cheesy Chili Mac (need to go to the store)

Saturday:

Free day---Mark and I will figure something together

Sunday:

A crockpot meal to have after church and then just something easy for dinner.

OK, hopefully I can stick to this. Did I say how bad I am at sticking to a plan?

P.S. if you are subscribed to my blog and were thinking you would get more interesting posts--not my goals and meal plans--I am sorry :-( Feel free to unsubscribe however these will only be one day a week (if I even keep up with it)

Goals

I got this great idea of writing down some goals for each week from another blogger. I did it last week and I actually got a lot more accomplished. I thought I would put my goals on here this week for a little more accountability. Here they are:

Sophie Goals:

Read Sophie at least one book each day
Work on getting her to take all naps in her bed

School Goals:

Read my first chapter for business law (who gives homework before school starts anyways)
Spend a few hours this weekend studying (no sense getting behind the first week of school)

Personal Goals:

Read my bible each day
Stay calm and not stressed
Be in bed by 10 each night and going to sleep by 11
drink more water ( I am drinking hardly any which is really not good and I can tell by the way I feel)

House Goals:

Have a PLAN for dinner each night
Spend time every morning picking up and keeping things clean

Wife Goals:

Work on being in a better mood (even though I am tired my crabbiness wears on Mark)
Be active in finding fun things to do together so we have good time together during the week

Ok, so that may seem like a lot but some of these I have been working on for a few weeks. So I will let you know how it goes next Monday and will make new goals. Maybe you should write down your goals too.

What we have been up to...

Every day around here starts out the same. Somewhere between the hours of 7 and 9 am I here little noises coming from Sophie's room. I assume i get out of bed at this time and shuffle in to retreive her, however I rarely remember doing this. I climb back into bed with Sophie cuddled up next to me, I feed her and we both fall back asleep. Sometime shortly after that we are rudely awakened by marks alarm and we all begin to wake up within the following two hours. And somehow we all manage to get up change diapers, make smoothies, brush teeth and put on some form of clothes that aren't pjs and get out the door in about 20 mins. I drop mark off at work 2-3 days a week so Sophie and I can have a car for the day. Then Sophie and I come home and I make breakfast while she plays happily on her playmat. Misty whines at me the whole time. I often brew a pot of decaf coffee that I never drink because after i eat breakfast and check my Facebook, Sophie is ready to eat or do something other than her playmat. I then don't return to my coffee until approximately 1:00. And then our day is off...

The rest of our day has been filled with lots of things, here are some ideas of what the potter family has been up too...

We have happily welcomed fall and football season with our windows wide open, pizza, and football on Saturday's.

Sophie and I have had many playdates with friends and their kids although it is much more of a play date for me and Sophie just tags along.

We have gone to the Dr, what feels like a zillion times for different infections, screaming and not eating baby and a diaper rash that never goes a way.

We have done a ton of laundry because Sophie has an awesome talent of peeing and pooping on everything.

I now feel like an official mom now that i cut all my hair off, even though I said i would never do that. But really, there just isn't time in this crazy life to deal with massive quantity of long hair.

While I cut my hair off Mark is growing is hair back out from his buzz cut, this makes me happy.

We spend countless hours laughing at Sophie because even at 4 months she is one funny little girl.

We may have finally found a small group at church that we like. It is chuck full of kids and crazy parents. Way fun.

We are trying to get healthy together. One step at a time. Right now we are focusing on drinking more water, I think we are both bad at it.

We are in a stage of life where we are trying to enjoy every little thing we have even though there are some things we would change but can't. We are trying to figure out what our life with God looks like. It seems like our whole life got thrown in the air and we are catching each piece one at a time and figuring out how it fits. It's a crazy beautiful kind of thing.

Right now we are cuddled up on the couch watching football while Sophie sleeps in her crib. All is right in the world.

Fall...new seasons

I always love fall. Im not sure what it is because I love things about every seasons but fall seems to be especially exciting. Everything seems new in fall. New school year, new activities, new routine, etc. Fall is also very nostalgic. I don't know why this is but it always brings memories flowing in like crazy.

When a new season starts I am always reminded that no matter how hard or uncomfortable a season of life is a new one always comes. Life is full of good seasons and bad seasons and I love that fall always reminds me that a new season ALWAYS comes. So when you are in the midst of bad one, hold onto the hope that there is always a new day, new grace from God and a new season in life yet to come. And when you are in a really awesome season, enjoy every moment to its fullest because chances are at some point things won't be so awesome.

Having a baby has showed me how incredibly fleeting our days are. They come and go so fast. I am on a mission to enjoy each and every moment, good and bad. :-)