Snow Day

On March 1st, Isaiah experienced his first snow.

(I haven't added pictures to my computer in too long.)

Where we've been

Things are a bit crazy this week at our house. D. is gone on a Spring Break trip to Eastern Kentucky, and my mom, brother and niece are here to hang out while he is gone, so the craziness that is a two-year-old and a 7-week-old has been multiplied. But we also have more helpers.

So far, we are cooking many fun things that D. doesn't like. Tonight we had Greek Salad, Tampa-style. So yummy.

We went to story time at Square Books, Jr. and to two parks today.

Anna and Isaiah took a bath together, which involved a lot of splashing and fun.

Pictures will come later.

the big announcement

Things that are gross...

This is a cartoon mouse. His name is Jerry. He is cute. D. has told me to imagine Jerry when I think of the real, live mice that are coming into our kitchen. They are not cute. They are nothing like Jerry. 

Yes, it is true. We are having a mouse problem. Over the last two weeks, we have killed five (5) mice, all in our kitchen. Last Friday, I called the exterminator. Last night, we killed two more mice. I don't think the exterminator did his job very well. 

What is it that really freaks you out? For D. (and for my brother) it is snakes. For some people, it is spiders, roaches, or other creepy crawlies. For me, it is mice. I hate them so much. I just think of them scurrying around in the night and I get all creeped out. Ewww... 

Hopefully, our mouse problem will go away soon. All I need is one more thing to worry about. 

Feeling Better

We just wanted you all to know that Ezra seems to be feeling much better over these past two days. He had been having trouble keeping his milk down, but he has been nursing more often this weekend and he's been spitting up less often. The breathing treatments seem to really help with his congestion as well. 

Thanks for praying for us! 

We have so much to share with you... pictures of Isaiah playing in the snow, photos of our trip to the Zoo, and some funny quotes... but we are behind on our blogging for obvious reasons. Expect more soon! 

Quote of the Day

Me: "Isaiah, are you eating dirt?" 

Isaiah: "YEAH I'm eating dirt!" 

Pray for us

Please keep us in your prayers these days. 

Ezra has been congested for a while, and on Monday night he was coughing so hard we thought he was having some trouble breathing. We took him to the Emergency Room. Thankfully, he tested negative for RSV, which is a cold-like virus that is very dangerous for infants, but they still wanted to keep him and observe him for 24 hours. We returned home from the hospital yesterday morning. He is still very congested, and still vomiting several times a day. We are continuing the breathing treatments they were giving him at the hospital here at home. 

He is strong, and we all think he's going to be fine, but please pray for his congestion to go away and for him to heal. 

We are exhausted, especially me, so please pray for me to be able to catch up on rest and that I won't worry too much. 

Thanks, friends. 

Mardi Gras

We decided to participate in a Louisiana/Mississippi tradition this year. We made a King Cake for Mardi Gras, which is the Tuesday before the beginning of Lent. I found a recipe online for making the dough in my bread machine, which made it really easy. The tradition is to make this round yeast roll and decorate it in the Mardi Gras colors, which are green, purple, and yellow. You're supposed to put a little baby Jesus doll somewhere in the cake, but we didn't have one, so we didn't do that this year. As you can see, it was a lot of fun! 

Sweet Boy

Quotes of the Day (already)

It is 7:30 am, and we already have several notable quotations from Isaiah today: 

1) Me: "Do you know what today is? It's Valentine's Day!" 

Isaiah: "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you..." (sung, of course) 

2) Isaiah: "I wanna cuddle" (My favorite) 

3) D.: "Isaiah, no jumping on the bed!" 

Isaiah: "I wanna hold you." 

That boy can be tricky. 

Happy DTR Anniversary

Our wedding day--July 24, 2004

8 years ago today D. Merricks and I had what all good Asbury College students know (or knew) as the DTR. Maybe they don't call it that any more. 

Our first wedding anniversary--July 24, 2005

DTR stands for "Define the Relationship." D. and I took the time to discuss the status of our relationship on February 13, 2001. On that day we went from the ambiguous friends who hang out ALL the time to boyfriend and girlfriend, and we have been falling in love more and more every day since then. 

September, 2005--our first 5K together 

(yes, my race number was 666)

We like to celebrate February the 13th as our own special day instead of celebrating on Valentine's Day. You might think it's very romantic that we chose this day to begin our relationship. You might think that D. is a very romantic kind of guy. This is not the case. For our first Valentine's Day as a couple, he got me a bunch of bananas. No roses or chocolates. No poetry or love songs. You'll have to ask him to tell the story of why. He is learning to be more romantic as time passes. Maybe I'm weird, but I don't think there is anything more romantic than a man who almost always washes the dishes, who spends hours playing with our children, who holds my hand while I am in labor, and who makes me laugh every day. I don't need chocolates. (I do like flowers, though.) 

October, 2006--pregnant with Isaiah

The past 8 years have been such a blessing. I am grateful for D. and his love and friendship. He helps me grow, he encourages me, and I am so blessed to share my life with him.

I also have to add an extra thank you to John Morley for introducing us, to Gigi Bell, for helping me find out whether or not D. had a girlfriend, and to David Bush for telling D. that he better have a talk with me on that day 8 years ago.

2 weeks

We've been taking lots of very fun pictures of both boys... I promise! But the battery on our camera died yesterday, so I can't put them on the computer. You'll just have to wait. 

I wanted to update you on Ezra's 2-week checkup and Isaiah's 2-year checkup, which were on Monday. 

Ezra weighs 11 lbs, 6 oz. He is obviously getting plenty to eat! He is doing great and we are starting to figure out a little bit more of what his personality is like. So far, he seems to be more laid back than Isaiah was at his age. He mainly likes sleeping and eating. He lifts his head up a lot and is starting to make eye contact. I like that. 

Isaiah weighs 32 lbs and is 35 1/2 inches tall. He is in the 75th percentile for both height and weight. He continues to amaze us with his vocabulary, and he continues to adore his baby brother. He also has a few tantrums here and there, but we are working it out. He is learning about time-outs and how they work.  

I think Ezra kind of looks like I did as a newborn. Of course, I was also 10 1/2 lbs and had black hair that my mom says fell out. Here are a few pictures for you to compare until we get our new battery: 

My boys

Quote of the Day

"I love you baby brober." 

My Birth Story

Or the story of how I had a 10 lb, 7 oz baby with just 2 pushes...

(it's kind of long, but it has a good ending)

Over the weekend I had a few bouts of contractions, but they kept going away.  Sunday night / Monday morning, I woke up in the night and had contractions from 1:30 am to 2:30 am, but I fell asleep again... 

Monday morning we had a doctor's appointment at 9:30 am. We got out of the door early enough to drop off Isaiah at his babysitter's house and even to stop by Starbucks on the way. The doctor checked me and said I was a "loose" 4 cm and 70% effaced. I was excited that at least those weekend contractions had done a little bit of work. 

After our doctor's appointment, I suggested to D. that we go for a little walk. Since it's January, we went to the Tupelo mall. We talked for a while, walked a lot, and enjoyed each other's company, then we decided to go to lunch together. We went to

Olive Garden for soup, salad, and breadsticks, which I had been craving. 

While we were eating, I started to have a few contractions. They were consistent throughout lunch at about 7-10 minutes apart. I did not get too excited at this point because I'd been having contractions on and off for about a week. But since I was 70% and 4 cm, I didn't think we should drive back to Oxford either. 

As we walked, it became apparent that this might be the day. I knew for sure when I had a contraction that made me cry a little bit. D. called everyone on the list--his sister, our moms, and our families. We decided to go to The Orchard, a church in Tupelo where several of our friends work, so we could have a place to lay down and rest while we waited for the contractions to get stronger. 

We walked around the church some (it's huge) and we watched a few shows on the internet although I don't remember a lot of what happened. I do remember that it's not a good idea to watch 30 Rock while in labor because laughing and contractions don't go so well together. 

When the contractions started getting stronger, we left for the hospital. We could have stayed a lot longer and it would have been fine, but I was afraid it was going to go very quickly, so we went ahead. 

When we arrived at the hospital, I was 5-6 cm and 90% effaced. After the first exam, we went back to the labor and delivery room. Our friend and doula, Corinne, brought our bags over from Oxford, and our big exercise ball. At this point, the contractions were very manageable. 

I appreciated the hospital policies and the staff at the Tupleo hospital very much. They did not give me an IV at first, and they held the monitor up to get the baby's heart beat every 30 minutes. This made it possible for me to walk around the room as I needed to, and to go to the bathroom when I needed it. They were very cooperative and understanding of what I wanted for my labor. 

As the contractions became more intense, I really liked sitting on the ball. D. played some music on his iphone, and it helped to have something else to focus on. He helped me breathe and had me look into his eyes while Corinne massaged my back. D. kept reminding me to "be under it" which was very helpful. It helped me to let the pain wash over me and not try to fight it. Fighting it, which is my first instinct, just makes it worse. 

As the contractions got stronger, Corinne did the work of helping me be in good labor positions while D. continued to help me focus on relaxing through the pain. After I had been sitting through a few contractions, Corinne would ask me to stand through a few. I am so glad she was there, because it gave D. the freedom to simply be there for me. The contractions became much stronger and closer together when I stood, so I wasn't always happy with her for asking me to stand. D. was always on her side, too! She also made sure I went to the bathroom once every hour, and that I was drinking enough water. 

I think it was between 7 and 7:30 pm when the contractions became so strong that I began to ask myself why I was into this natural childbirth thing. :) It's easy to forget how painful labor is. But I knew that by this time there was no turning back. I was really too far along for an epidural to do any good. This was not a time when I could verbalize any of my thoughts, of course. D. was such a help to me, especially during this time. I could not have done it without him. 

After about an hour of very intense contractions, Corinne told me that I should go to the bathroom. I told her that this was not an option since walking made them even stronger than just standing. Finally, I did it. As soon as I sat on the toilet, I felt my water break. Immediately, I felt very strong pressure and the urge to push. I knew that the baby's head was crowning, so I tried to get to the bed as fast as I could. I was screaming, "I have to push! I have to push!" trying to make it clear to D. and Corinne that the baby was crowning. Those were the only words I could find to let them know what was going on. 

When I finally made it to the bed, Corinne and the nurse were telling me not to push yet. I could not help myself. With one little push, D. shouted out "he's here!" and I knew the head was out. I remember giving one more push a few seconds later, and then the rest of him was out. In a few more seconds, I was holding a big, beautiful, screaming baby in my arms. I tried to nurse him, and he latched on immediately. I thought he was over 10 pounds just from looking at him, but it was about an hour before the official statistics confirmed my suspicion. 

I had to have a few stitches and it took me a long time to stop shaking, but I was so relieved when it was all over and I could hold my beautiful baby again. We didn't have time to talk about a name at first because so many nurses and doctors were coming in and out of the room. 

I am so grateful for my labor experience from start to finish. It was very painful, and very intense, but I think it is so amazing to learn what my body can do. The freedom to stand and walk around made a huge difference, and I think it's part of the reason I could have a 10 pound, 7 ounce baby with 2 pushes.

We are so blessed!  

I am so grateful.

A rose by any other name...

It is 2 a.m. and I am blogging. I bet you can guess why. 

So I was thinking that you might like to know why and how we chose the name Ezra Miles for our beautiful boy. 

I'll start with the middle name. We like family names, and we love the idea of honoring someone who is important to us by naming our children after them. Miles is my brother, and he is the best big brother anyone could ask for. We are only 20 months apart in age, and we have always been very close. He is also a great brother-in-law to D. They are both ministers, computer geeks, coffee addicts, and just generally get along very well. 

Miles means "merciful, generous." It was number 189 on the popularity chart in 2007, and according to nameberry, "Jazz great Miles Davis applied a permanent veneer of cool to this confident and polished name; it has been appreciated in particular by celebrity babynamers." I mean, if celebrities like it, we must have good taste. 

As far as first names go, we like Bible names, especially for boys. I don't really know why. We had a long list to start with, and I originally wanted to add Ezra to the list. D. liked it... and it just stuck. We like the sound of it; the vowel sounds are strong, and the letter "z" adds some punch. So we read a little about the story of Ezra. He was a priest who led his people out of captivity from Babylon to Jerusalem. It's a powerful story, and it's very important in the history of the Old Testament. Ezra means "help," and it is #342 on the popularity chart. 

We had three names at the end, and D. was the one to make the final choice. We had to see our baby and get to know him a little before choosing a name, but this one just seems right. So there you go! 

Meet Ezra

Ezra Miles was born last night at about 8:25 pm. See D.'s blog for photos. 

Did you order your T-shirt yet?

Click on the t-shirt to the right to do so. 

Remember: half of the proceeds go towards our little nephew's adoption. We need you! 

Also, Isaiah can say "Ethiopia" now. Okay, so he says "Opia" but we think he's pretty smart and gifted. We have a world map in his room and we pray for his new cousin every night. He says "The World," "Mississippi," and "Opia." This is all because his dad, my husband, is awesome and worked hard to teach him these things. 

Quote of the Day

"I want more salad!" 

I love it when he says that. Even if I have to remind him to say please. 

Quote of the Day

"Traaactor..... Where ARE you???" 

Maybe some people don't like it when the city does construction work in their neighborhood... 

I love it. 

A smiling, waving man has been driving a front-loader like this one back and forth in front of our house for the last 30 minutes.

What awesome entertainment for a 2-year-old boy. 

By the way, I have no idea what they are doing. I think it's something about the sewer lines.