Eek..another 3 months has already passed!

It is amazing, once again, how fast time flies. It used to be nothing for me to sneak down to the basement, hop on the computer and "blog" away for an hour or so. Anymore, any free time I get is spent washing bottles, soaking "blow-outs", putting toys away or falling asleep on the couch. Yes, I am my mother's child. I used to always make fun of her for falling asleep during a movie or while reading a book before 10 PM. Now, I can see why she had such trouble, and I just have one little guy to look after, not three!

Since becoming a mother, I have a whole new appreciation and respect for my mom. I am still amazed at how at one point in her life, she was able to raise three children, work full time and go back to school. Where she found the energy to do this all or time for her self is beyond me. But, maybe that was the key..she didn't have time for herself. She has spent her entire life selflessly devoted to others. Whether it be as a nurse at work, a wife to my dad or a mother to the three of us, she always put someone else's needs before mine. Heck, she even read a number of books for me in high school so that I could get my homework done. I am sure that was the last thing she had on her agenda! But, she did it, and without complaint. I can only hope to follow in her footsteps one day. Anyway... I am getting a little off topic here.

The last time I posted was October. Later that month, Matt and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary together. Hard to believe that three years have passed since our wedding. And yes, it is true what we have been told, we have only fallen more in love with each other since that day. We have learned what true love is and have tried to exemplify that to each other, every day. Later in October, Jonathan attended his first baby shower, this side of my belly button. My aunts on my mom's side of the family threw us a joint shower with my cousin Staci.

November brought a small Thanksgiving celebration with just Jonathan, Matt, Judy and me. Matt insisted on making a turkey and I had my first experience carving it...we were lucky to get three servings out of it!! My dad who was a meat cutter in his earlier days, would NOT be proud!

December was quite the month for us. Jonathan LOVED his first Christmas, and so did we. Santa brought Jonathan and Matt a train set, which continues to be up and running in our basement. Never mind the fact that it says "Santa Express." I think it will be up all year! We celebrated Christmas with Judy and were saddened when the ice storm prevented the rest of the Wogsland crew from coming for our family Christmas, to be held at our house.

On the 29th of December, we surprised Matt's cousin, Karl, in Madison, thanks to the genius planning of our cousin Barb. Barb and the girls knew what was coming, but Karl had no idea. Karl and Barb are JW's Godparents, who we are so blessed to have as family and friends in our life.

New Year's Eve was spent with Tiff's entire family on her mom's side, for Staci's wedding. Jonathan was quite the party animal, staying up until 10 PM without a nap! Once the clock struck ten, he hit my shoulder and was out for the night.

Jonathan is now sitting up on his own, eating some fruits and veggies and attempting to crawl. He amazes us everyday with his personality and charm. I still can't believe that he will be six months old this month. Seems like only yesterday we found out that we were pregnant. Oh how we have been blessed....

Fall is here!

Just as the leaves are flying, so is the time. Jonathan turned two months old on September 24 and continues to change just as rapidly as the weather. Jonathan seems to enjoy “talking” to us more and has informed us that he loves stroller rides, bath time and cuddling up with Mommy and Daddy. Jonathan is no longer the fragile newborn that we brought home in July, but has developed into a bubbly baby who loves exploring the world.

Last weekend, Matt and I took Jonathan to his first pumpkin patch. It happened to be Matt’s first trip to a pumpkin patch as well. Jonathan got to help pick the perfect pumpkins to cut off the vine, took a hay wagon ride, looked at all of the apple trees and saw a mini petting zoo. It was the perfect fall day and the perfect outing for the three of us. Days like that are what I always imagined being a family to be…

At the risk of jinxing us, I think Matt and I are getting the hang of this parenting thing. While we have yet to make it to work two days in a row on time, we are getting a routine figured out. Jonathan usually wakes up between 3:30 – 5:00 for an early morning meal, goes back to sleep and gets up again around 7:00. During that early morning meal, whichever one of us is not rocking Jonathan back to sleep, makes lunches, makes the bottles for the day, packs the diaper bag and picks up the house a little bit. We try to go back to sleep after that, but it doesn’t always work. My life as a night owl has certainly needed to change in order to adapt to the 3 AM wake up calls!

As we celebrate the changes in Jonathan’s life, Matt and I also celebrate the changes and growth in our marriage. October 14 will be our 3 year wedding anniversary. June marked our 6th year of knowing each other, which seems so strange! It seems like only yesterday that Matt came up to Decorah for his nephew’s birthday, when we met up for the first time. Since Jonathan was born, our love for each other has grown, just as our family has. We have learned to rely on each other a lot more and I have found some of my most treasured moments to be when Jonathan is asleep on Matt’s shoulder. It is so neat to me, to see Matt growing into the man and the father that God has always called him to be. He was meant to be a father and has taken on that role with such grace, humor and love.

This weekend is my 5 year class reunion at Luther. Again, it seems like only yesterday that I was a freshman moving into Brandt 222. During the first two days at Luther, I can remember meeting some of the most amazing people. Barry lived in the “penthouse” of Brandt (which just means the top floor of the dorm) and Bridget was friends with my roommate. Now, nine years later, Barry, Bridget and 9 others of us are coming together again, staying in cabins, to celebrate our Homecoming. Barry and I lived together senior year, which seemed to be a year filled with a lot more fun than studying. On Tuesdays, we would float down the Upper Iowa River for “Tubing Taco Tuesdays”, J-Term brought “Drink of the Day” and every weekend seemed to bring a crowd of people to our house. When we left in May of 2004, all of our lives changed forever. Several of us have found the love of our life, three of us now have children and all of us have new stories to share and memories to make. I have no doubt that this weekend, like our college careers, will pass by too quickly.

As Autumn leaves change, so do our lives…

The Circle of Life

Time is flying by and Jonathan will be eight weeks old this Friday. I can’t believe how much he has grown in what seems like the blink of an eye for me. Every day I am noticing something new about our little man and falling more in love with the “mustard seed” that God has blessed us with. He is discovering something new in this world by the minute and likewise, he is teaching me something new every day.

This is Jonathan’s first full week in day care and the trauma of leaving him has seemed to lessen each day. The first day was rough for us...ok, probably more traumatic on me than him. He is the only baby in his room at child care that doesn’t cry, so I am sure he is a breath of fresh air. At the same time, it makes me worry that he is getting forgotten about since he isn’t causing a fuss. We are still searching for the perfect child care provider as we both feel that Jonathan deserves more attention than what he can get at a child care center. I have called over a dozen in home providers, but no one has seemed to “click” with me on the phone quite yet. I think when I talk to the right person; I will know it is right. In the mean time, he will stay where he is. My heart may break every time I drop him off, but I know in my heart he is in good hands.

Mother Goose predicted that Friday’s child is loving and giving. That is most certainly true. Jonathan has proved himself to love to others and most certainly loved by others. In the past month, my father has become seriously ill. On August 21, he went into the hospital because he was dehydrated. Two days later, I received a phone call that we “better get home” so we packed up the car and all of Jonathan’s stuff and made the 330 mile trek to Harvard. While home, Jonathan brought so much joy to so many people. My family also truly believes that Jonathan brought healing and hope to my father who had been unresponsive for a few days. While at his bedside, my dad woke up and was able to whisper “Jonathan.” We returned home to Des Moines a few days later, believing the doctors when they said Dad had stabilized. Two days later, we got another call saying we had a matter of hours to get home to see Dad. When that call came, my boss came over to watch Jonathan and a friend and colleague came over with her son to bring us food for the road. We loaded up and flew down the interstate. By God’s grace, Dad pulled through the night and was able to communicate with us that he wanted Jonathan to “snuggle” with him on his hospital bed. Once again, Jonathan was able to bring joy, hope and comic relief to what would have seemed like a grim time in our lives. Dad has now become a little stronger every day and has defied all odds. While Dad remains in a long term care center at the time, we have hope and faith that more miracles are yet to come.

If the circle of life wasn’t clearly enough laid out for us during our visits to the hospital and Care Center, Jonathan was baptized on September 6. What an absolutely perfect day it was. God was smiling down on our family that day as were Jonathan’s guardian angels. During worship, a song that was sung at both my grandfather’s funeral and Matt’s father’s funeral was sung. We all knew that they were looking down from Heaven, singing along with us:

You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord,Who abide in His shadow for life,Say to the Lord, "My Refuge,My Rock in Whom I trust." And He will raise you up on eagle's wings,Bear you on the breath of dawn,Make you to shine like the sun,And hold you in the palm of His Hand.The snare of the fowler will never capture you,And famine will bring you no fear;Under His Wings your refuge,His faithfulness your shield. And He will raise you up on eagle's wings,Bear you on the breath of dawn,Make you to shine like the sun,And hold you in the palm of His Hand.You need not fear the terror of the night,Nor the arrow that flies by day,Though thousands fall about you,Near you it shall not come. And He will raise you up on eagle's wings,Bear you on the breath of dawn,Make you to shine like the sun,And hold you in the palm of His Hand.For to His angels He's given a command,To guard you in all of your ways,Upon their hands they will bear you up,Lest you dash your foot against a stone. And He will raise you up on eagle's wings,Bear you on the breath of dawn,Make you to shine like the sun,And hold you in the palm of His Hand. And hold you in the palm of His Hand.

Pictures!

Without having too much time to write a blog post, I wanted to be sure to at least upload some pictures. Our camera has been going non-stop, and it only promises to continue! The first picture here is my first time getting to hold Jonathan. He was already about 30 minutes old by this point, due to my C-Section. We wasted no time bonding and getting to be good buds :)
This is Daddy's first time getting to meet Jonathan. He was lucky enough to get to hold him about two minutes after he was born. He is a natural Daddy. He was so afraid of dropping or breaking Jonathan when he held him. I think he did just fine!

Jonathan's grand entrance into the world! We call this his "Praise the Lord" pose. This is how he came out of me and this is what he does after nursing, after getting his diaper changed and when he wakes up from a nap. Yesterday we took him to church for the first time and he did this several times... Sure they are probably just reflexes, but we like to believe he is really saying "Praise the Lord!"

These were from the morning my water broke. Matt was a little more anxious than I was. I was ready to get the party started...and Matt was thinking "oh my gosh..now what!"

More to come!

He's Here!!

It only took me two days short of two weeks to get on the computer again to report to the world that Jonathan has arrived! To say that the last two weeks have been the most stressful, yet most rewarding of my life would be an understatement. Through it all, I never knew how amazing it would be to be a mom.

July 24 is a day that changed my life, Matt's life and our marriage forever. Matt and I have both commented that we have grown even closer over these past two weeks than we have in the past three years. We thought we had it pretty dang good before, but there is a whole new level of closeness that we have been blessed to develop. I am sure it is not like that for every couple, but I am so thankful that God has blessed us in this way. The stereotypical idea of labor, where the wife tells the husband "you're never touching me again" never happened. In fact, our labor experience was quite the opposite. Through every contraction and every scary moment we shared trying to have Jonathan, I kept telling Matt how much I loved him, how thankful I was that he was there with me and how every contraction brought us closer to holding Jonathan in our arms.

After weeks of encouraging Matt to pack his hospital bag, he finally did so about 11:00 PM on July 23. He kept joking as soon as he packed, I would go into labor. Oddly enough, 8 hours later, my water broke. The day was starting as typical as a Friday usually would. We were getting up to go to work when our lives changed. Matt had just hopped in the shower and I was rolling out of bed. I knew without a doubt what happened...my water had just broken. I waddled my way into the bathroom and told Matt "You better make it a quick shower, my water just broke." Matt got so flustered that he put a whole glob of shower jel into his hair! I called my mom, who was getting ready to head Up North on vacation and told her she may need to change her plans. I called our doula, Clorrisa, to let her know the scoop and then called the doctor's office to let them know. Matt made a quick breakfast, knowing I wouldn't be able to eat once we got to the hospital and we enjoyed one last moment in our quiet house. I even had enough sense in me to call our friend Jami to take care of Clyde!

We got to the hospital around 8:30 and found that I still had not dilated past 2 cm, which I was on my due date. They moved me into our room and prepared for the long day ahead. Around 11:00, Dr. Keller came in, heard that I had not dilated and told us that we had to start on Pitocin to get the contractions closer and more intense. This was not what I had hoped and planned for, but I didnt have much of a choice. I begged for one more hour to let labor progress on its own, and he obliged. An hour and a half later, he came back, saw I hadn't yet progressed and started the "Pit." When people say Pitocin makes your contractions stronger, they aren't kidding! Progressively over the next 8 hours, they upped my dosage of Pitocin, until I was contracting between 80 and 90 percent of the peak, at every minute and a half. While contractions were the most difficult bodily pain I have ever endured, I was able to hold true to my desire to not have any pain medications. We had music going, watched a Michael W Smith dvd and even watched Wheel of Fortune. (Yes, even during contractions, I kicked Matt's butt!)

Around 8:30, Dr. Keller came in and told me that I still had not yet dilated further and that we had no choice but to have a C-Section. This was the one thing I had feared the most. Throughout my pregnancy, I had an overwhelming fear (probably irrational) that if I had to have a C-Section, there would be a complication and I would not make it through surgery. I don't know why this fear was there but my fear kicked into high gear. I was so tired and emotional after my day of contractions that I lost control of my tears. Those I had around me were so wonderful though and we all began to pray together. Dr. Keller, our nurse Jenny, Matt, Clorrisa and I prayed together before they wheeled me away. One of my other big concerns was Matt being able to make it through surgery. He has a very active gag reflex, to put it lightly. Several times we had discussed this concern we both had, which further served as the reason we hired Clorrisa. To overcome his anxieties, Matt has found sucking on hard candies to help. While the operating room is a sterile enviornment, we didn't know what he was going to do!! Jenny, our nurse, took a handful of jolly ranchers in her scrubs and told Matt she would look out for him in there. He was a trooper.

Once in the operating room, I was blessed to have an amazing anesthesiologist who I was able to joke with during the entire operation. We dissed each others football teams and talked about his garden. At the same time, I kept my eyes fixed on Matt, knowing that he was going to be just fine. After what seemed like an eternity of pressing and pulling, I heard the most beautiful cry in the world. All I could do was cry and say "Jonathan?" I asked if he was ok, found out that he was, and watched Matt become a Daddy. I will never forget them handing Jonathan to Matt and seeing the look on his face. I fell even more in love with the man I had married as I knew he was going to be the most amazing father in the world.

When I finally got back to my room, they brought Jonathan in for me to hold him. Words can't describe the feelings of holding him in my arms for the first time. They laid him on my chest, skin to skin, and almost instantly, he began curling his mouth to eat. I could not have asked for a more beautiful moment. That night, my parents, sister and Grandmother came to visit us and meet Mr. Jonathan for the first time. It was hard to put him down that night to let him sleep. I knew my life, Matt's life and our life together truly had changed forever.

Since coming home, we have been to the doctor twice, ER once and have called the experts countless times. This child has kept us on our toes, to say the least! We know no matter what challenges we face, Jonathan will have guardian angels watching over him throughout his life. Included in that band of angels are my grandfather, Grandpa Hassel, which is where Jonathan's middle name comes from. Jonathan's first name comes from Matt's father, John Wogsland, who never had the chance to meet any of his grandsons.

More to come later...but first I must go cuddle some more with my beautiful bundle of joy.

Due Date...has come and gone

So July 22 has come and gone. After so many weeks of the doctors telling us that Baby Wogs is measuring FIVE weeks ahead of schedule and that we could have a baby as early as July 1, they were wrong. July 1 came and went. July 11 came and went. July 22 has now come and gone, too. Last Friday, when I was 39 ½ weeks pregnant, the doctor gave me the less- than- pleasant news that I was only 50 % effaced and not yet dilated.

We had another appointment on our due date, which was only five days after my previous appointment, and we found out that Baby Wogs has been stirring things up! I was 80 % effaced and had dilated to 2 cm. This is definite progress! We did make another appointment for next Tuesday, July 29, but Dr. Casper didn’t think that he would be seeing us in the doctor’s office. He was feeling pretty confident that Baby Wogs would be here by that point…let’s hope so!
Now that the day is certainly upon us in the next week, I have taken the final steps in getting ready.. My bags are packed. Baby Wogs’ bags are packed. My birth plan and hospital papers are packed. Matt’s snacks are packed. Everything is loaded in the trunk ready to go…except for Matt’s bag. Guess who still has yet to begin packing for the hospital!! The mom in me must be coming out already as I went ahead and packed a few of the essentials in my bag without Matt knowing. If Baby comes today, Matt will at least have clean t-shirts and shorts, a toothbrush and deodorant at the hospital! Everything else he can probably do without for a little while. My good friend Angie had similar experiences with her hubby before their son was born, so I am attributing this to “being a guy.”

Some days, it still hasn’t sunk in that I am going to be a mother and I will be bringing home a child within the next week. While I have carried him for the past nine plus months, reality still hasn’t caught up with me. Just like when I found out I was pregnant, it didn’t seem real to me for a while. If I were not feeling like a blimp right now and having little elbows and knees protrude from my stomach every once in a while, it still wouldn’t seem real to me that I am pregnant. I am sure it will all seem real enough once we get home and are faced with the question of “What do we do now!?” Friends and family can be prepared for some phone calls from us asking “What do we do!?”

No Baby News..but new pictures instead

While I just updated the blog yesterday, we had an appointment today, so I thought I'd update it again. Unfortunately, there is no baby news to report! Baby Wogs hasn't made any progress as far as effacement or dialation since last week!! I guess our little Mustard Seed is just too comfortable chilling in the Mommy Suite. I can't say that I'd blame him. Life must be pretty good, although getting rather cramped right now. He has a constant hot tub to relax in, plenty of soft cushioning to take naps on and daily massages from Mommy, Daddy and Big Brother Clyde. However, if he decides to extend his stay too much longer in the Mommy Suite, he may get an eviction notice! I would much rather cradle our little one in my arms and not just my womb!

We also drove our new car home tonight. Here are some photo updates we have been falling behind on... You will see our new Impala and the nursery before and after pictures. The cutest picture has to be Matt with his two favorite nephews (Lucas is the baby and Sawyer is the older one) and his sister Kari. I guess Matt and Sawyer are teaching Lucas early to be a Star Wars fan!









And this would be Clyde, showing that he is ready to be a big brother. After hours of not being able to find the cat, I finally thought to search the nursery. Sure enough, hidden behind the bedskirt, underneath the crib, in the tuck under drawer where the clean baby blankets are tucked away...so was Clyde.