Family of Four

The moment I had Adelyn I was completely overjoyed but had this feeling like something was missing. I said to Jared I wish Andon were here and he said he was thinking the exact same thing! Not to witness the birth or anything like that just to be there when his sister arrived. :) We are such a close little family and we were certainly missing our boy.

So needless to say when Brittani and Terri brought him to the hospital to meet Adelyn I was so excited. He came walking in the room with flowers for me and a sweet little lamb stuffed animal for her. He seemed like such a big boy. Here are a bunch of sweet pictures that Brittani took of our visit.

I loved introducing her to him and seeing the look on his face. He was so sweet with her, just petting and kissing her head.



I just love this pic. Two of my favorite people. :)




She loved her little lamb from her big brother. :)


Daddy sure loves his girl...

And momma sure loves her boy...

We are now a family of four and feel so complete.

So Thankful

I still can't believe He chose to bless us with her. We are so in love with this precious little girl. All three of us just adore her and are so thankful for her.

We have spent the last two weeks together adjusting to our new addition. Tomorrow Jared goes back to work. I am sad that he has to go back but ready to get into a more normal routine around here.

Here are a couple of pics we took this week of our little ones. More pics to come.





"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."
James 1:17

Getting Ready for Her

During the last month of my pregnancy the boy's made over some furniture for Adelyn. Jared had never done this before so I was unsure how they would turn out but both pieces are so nice!

The first was a dresser that my sweet friend Abby gave me. It was a pale yellow color with really basic drawer pulls. We wanted it to be white to match her crib. So Jared and Andon went to town sanding the whole thing then wiping it down and then painting it. Then it had to be sealed and some new handles on the drawers and we have a beautiful new dresser. Sounds so simple but it was a lot of work.

Here are some pics of the boys hard and work and then the finished result. :)




And the next is a little picnic table that I found one day while on a walk. It was sitting in a pile of stuff where the people had foreclosed on the house and had moved out a year ago. I guess whoever took over the home threw everything out. Anyways, I asked the guy who lived next door if he know what would happen to all the stuff and he said is was going to the dump so I took this little pink picnic table. I know, funny story. I have never done anything like that but I figured if it was going to the dump we could fix it up for Adelyn. :) So here are the before and afters of the little table.


And here they are with their girl. They both just ADORE her! Well, we all do. :)

Our Easter Morning

APRIL 4, 2010: Jen says "Jared... I'm having contractions" at around 2:00 a.m. I simply reply "ok" and lean over to grab my phone. I'm not a reactionary person by nature and this is no exception. In addition Jen has been having contractions for about 3 weeks so I figure this is probably just another false alarm. I open the phone and begin timing her contractions. First two are about 8 minutes apart but the third drops down to 7 minutes. After about 10 contractions we are steady at 7 minutes apart so I place my feet on the floor and say "I think this is it". Jen looks over at me and says "well I'm going to get in the shower"..... I say nothing and begin to activate the drill sargeant inside my head. As I figure it we are going in to battle and I have to get the troops organized and ready here. The entire time Jen is in the shower she calls out when the next contraction starts, I told her before she went in "I NEED TO KNOW when you have a contraction so DO NOT FORGET to call them out". I am in the bedroom going down the list of everything we need, thinking of Andon, the ride, when we should call our friends to drop Andon off etc when Andon just walks in the room and says "Is it morning yet"? (reason he is asking is he knows morning brings his present and Easter basket) I say "Yes but, the baby is coming so we need to go to the hospital". Immediately Andon shoots back "WHAT ABOUT EASTER?" and begins the face transition from sleepy to melt down! I jump in quick and say "Basket is downstairs and you can have it right now" Off he goes and I think one less thing to take care of on my list. This entire time Jen has been calling off contractions and all I need to do is hit a button on the phone. I decide now is a good time to look at the history to see where we are at... EVERY 4 MINUTES NOW! I walk straight in to the bathroom and say "Let's go now, we are every 4 minutes... NOW JEN". Jen spends the next 20 minutes getting out, getting dressed and calling off contractions. I am now downstairs waiting on her.

We're in the car and heading towards Mat and Brittani's house, Andon wide awake and showing me his candy and new toys (I'm sure he ate some candy due to the rate of words per minute flowing from his mouth) and Jen contracting. We pull up and Jen gets out to say goodbye. In my mind this is a drop and go situation, I even had the random thought of slowing down enough and having Andon just jump out! Jen on the other hand is in a conversation with Brittani when I look down at the history and see we are now EVERY 2 TO 3 MINUTES!" As I said, I'm not a reactionary person by nature but my mind is calculating the time it will take to get to the hospital vs her contraction time and reminds me that I have ZERO medical background so... "JEN, NOW" is all I get out.

We are now driving towards the hospital and Jen says "Left" so I do it but then she says "Left again, the movies Jared" and I remember we have rented movies in the car we need to drop off at the Red Box! I jump out in the quick mart parking lot, movies in hand and run towards the machine. Now if anyone has returned movies at the Red Box you also know that it's not the fastest process in the world. So I hit RETURN and slam the first one in the slot. The machine takes the movie BUT... Flashes a message across the screen "Experiencing some difficulty please stand by" Immediately my mind responds "Throw the other movie at the cashier and scream for him to return it WE GOTTA GO MAN!" but I take a deep breath and wait. Just a minute later the screen returns to normal, I slap the movie in and run back to the car.

Now we are REALLY heading towards the hospital and the contractions are EVERY 2 MINUTES STEADY. The ride is a blur, I vaguely remember some red lights I ran, some groans from Jen about the pain and mostly my inner voice running down lists! We arrive at the hospital and realize that the parking lot is a bit off the hospital. We park on the third floor and the second we are out Jen has a contraction. I prop up the suitcase and pillows so she can lean on them and focus. Contraction over I say "LETS MOVE" and begin walking towards the hospital. 2 Minutes later I hear a voice in the distance behind me "Jared I'm having one" and as I turn around I realize that I have walked about 15 yards ahead of Jen! OOOOPS. I run back, prop up the suitcase and pillow and hunker down with Jen. This routine happens three more times before we even hit the hospital doors.

In the hospital, checked in and changed I have made my calls and begin the process to devote every part of me to Jen. Our last experience was filled with surprises and I know the only thing that will offer Jen stability is my full attention. The nurse comes in checks Jen and says "7, almost 8 centimeters, this should be fast" We are then carted off to "the room" and Jen is hooked up to all the machines. A flurry of nurses are in and out and while I am staying in tune with Jen I can also hear several of the nurses conversations. One in particular catches my attention and basically boils down to that Jen's 8 centimeters vs the doctors distance from the hospital might result in no doctor. At this point I could care less and look at Jen and say "GREAT JOB, I'M SO PROUD OF YOU".

Jen's labor lasted approximately 4 hours. Their were times I felt completely connected to her. I love this opportunity and time (I loved it last time) It is such an opportunity to have a deeper understanding and intimacy with Jen. The entire time she was in labor she looked in to my eyes and I would carry her away and through the contraction. Jen and I used to run with each other and we had one hill at the end of the run that was a killer. After running for a while Jen changed our perception of the hill by telling me to run faster and attack the hill and it worked. I returned the favor and said to Jen at one of her hardest contractions "Remember the hill when we used to run, we are there now. BREATHE deep and lets take the hill. We are at the beginning but keep going Jen, soon we will be up" and as I looked at her we both left that room and found ourselves on the hill, I felt her leave with me. It was an amazing experience.

SNAP BACK TO REALITY and the Doctor walks in. Gets in position and calls for the push. 4 sets of pushing and Adelyn Christine Mirabile enters the world at 7:27 on April 4th 2010 at 8 pounds 10 ounces. Jen says "Go see her" and my mind flashes back to when I left her alone right after Andon was born and I simply look at Jen and say "I'm not leaving you this time, she's fine".

Unlike last time we were able to have our newborn with us right after birth. Andon was unfortunately raced off to the NICU but Adelyn was able to stay for hours. It really gave Jen and I the opportunity to reflect. The last three years of our lives has been filled with "hill top" moments and the valleys. As we sat their we could not help but to know His power, plan and hand on every moment. Adelyn is the hope and faith realized after years of service. This birth is so unlike the last we almost feel like it's the first. We are so thankful for both experiences, both perspectives and both children.

I could spend the next few hours writing about the hospital stay, coming home and being home with a new baby but all in all we are blessed and fulfilled. Momma is sleeping as I type along with Adelyn. Andon is being a 6 year old and Dad could not be more happy about his family!

39 Weeks!

I was thinking today that I haven't taken any pics of my belly in a couple of weeks so I asked Jared to take a few because I won't have it much longer. I am 39 weeks and when I went to the Dr. today I was 4 cm dilated and 70 percent effaced. This girl will be here before we know it!

I just wanted to do a quick update. I will be taking some pics of her nursery to post here soon just haven't gotten to it. :) I am so tired!

Andon's Surgery

Last Thursday Andon went in for his 10th, 11th or 12th surgery?? I can't even remember now but it has been quite a few for this sweet little 6 year old. This surgery was a little more involved than the ones in the past but he went through it like a champ. :)

We left the house at 4am and headed to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa. After getting admitted and meeting with all the Dr's he went back around 8am. They told us it was going to be about 3 hours but around 9am they call us and tell us "we are just getting started and so far everything is going good!" I was a little shocked that they had had him back there and hadn't even started. My emotions were getting the best of me at times during the next three hours. Just thinking about my boy being back there and what they were doing to him. Jared and I took a few walks around the hospital and watched a bunch of shows on HGTV in the waiting room to keep occupied.

Once they were finished the Dr. came and told us everything went great and that she got to do everything she wanted to do. Which was take bone from his right hip and graft it into the roof of his mouth and front gumline. Also, she did some scar revision on his nose and lip from previous surgeries. She was very pleased with the outcome and said we could go see him. Jared and I were totally expecting to turn the corner and hear a wild screaming child because every other surgery has gone that way. But this time he was still sleeping. He was pretty swollen which was hard for me to see. Once he started waking up we were able to start talking to him and telling him how great he did and how proud we were of him. He never even cried!! Still hasn't. I am just amazed at the strength of this child. Soon after they took us to our room where we would be staying for the night. On the way there Andon was trying to be funny and cracking jokes!! He kept saying "I have a mustache" because he had some tape on his top lip. :)

I was pretty worried about this surgery because Andon is a little older now and can talk about things and understand more. But that has proven to make this time around a little better. Instead of crying a lot about everything he can talk about it with us. We explained everything to him from the beginning. No it wasn't easy but easier. One thing that made it easier for Andon was knowing when he came out of surgery he would have a HUGE GIFT waiting on him. He looked forward to that gift for a month! And within an hour or so he was ripping into it. We had got him the Batcave toy he had been eyeing for a while. He was so excited he said "this is the best day of my life!!!" Amazing what a good gift can do. :)

Anyways, we have been home now for a few days and he is doing so great. He is on an all liquid diet until we go back to the Dr. on Friday for post-op. Hopefully then we can move up to soft foods. It has been very funny listening to him talk about food because Andon could really care less about it unless it's cake or ice cream, that's a different story. :) He is not supposed to be moving around too much so his hip can heal and that is starting to get a little hard. We have 3 floors in our house so before Jared goes to work we have to wake Andon up around 6:30 to clean his mouth out and brush his teeth with this prescription mouthwash. Then Jared carries him downstairs and that's where we stay until he gets back around 6. (I am 35 weeks pregnant so I can't carry him right now.:)) Yes, I am starting to go a little stir crazy! :)

Thank you all so much for praying for Andon through this surgery. Please continue to pray for healing on his mouth and hip. Hopefully within a couple of weeks he'll be all healed and back to some normalcy before our little girl arrives!!

Here is a pic I took with my phone as we were headed home. He was so excited to get to ride in this huge wheelchair. He kept asking me to push him really fast and then let go! Wild boy. :)

Only 8 weeks left!

I am now 32 weeks pregnant and feel SO swollen! :) My tummy feels so much bigger this time around. I have a hard time getting out of bed and getting up off the couch after laying down. It is so funny!

I am still working on getting her nursery put together. My sweet friend Abby gave me a dresser that she had. It needs a new paint job but it is adorable! I think i'm gonna post some before and after pics of it.

Andon has been talking so much about Adelyn and what it will be like when she gets here. The other day while talking he asks "What color will she be? Yellow or Black?" I just smiled and said i'm sure she'll be the same color as you. :) He says she will be sleeping in his room and he'll show her how to climb the ladder on his bed!! That makes me nervous. :) He say's he's gonna do everything for her except change her diapers. So cute. I know he is gonna be the sweetest big brother!

Here is a pic we took a couple days ago of my swollen self.

We have quite a bit going on before she gets here. Andon will be having that surgery that got canceled in December. The reason it was canceled was due to insurance and now we have a new policy. So, as soon as the new cards come in we will be scheduling.

Also, mine and Jared's 8 year wedding anniversary is March 9th. I want to do something really special. I'd love to go away for the weekend or something. I'd better get the plan put together for that because it's my year to do so. We take turns planning what we're gonna do for our anniversary. It makes it so fun to surprise each other! I always get nervous when it's my year because Jared is so good at planning these and I want mine to be as good. :)

Other than that we have lots of school to stay on top of before she gets here. I know it will be an adjustment when she arrives so I want to be ahead of that if we have to take a little time off. Speaking of school we went on another homeschool field trip. We went to the RDV Sportsplex to learn about ice skating and then got to go ice skating. It was Andon's first time and he loved it. He did pretty good for his first time! I was bummed to not be able to be on the ice with him but quickly realized that even if would have been able to he wouldn't have wanted my help anyways. I did take a ton of pics that day and then somehow deleted ALL the pics on my memory card!! There were other pics on there too that I hadn't downloaded to my computer. What a bummer! Here is a pic of my boy in his skates after we were all done. I really only had like 6 pics on my card and this was one of the best ones. :)