Thursday, March 15, 2018

Wesley Jack Jury

I'm not going to spend too much time trying to catch up on the last, nearly 2 years, but there will be a couple of things here and there. Today, our little Wesley.

Wesley Jack Jury was born January 16, 2018. He weighed in as our biggest babe at 8lbs 2oz measuring 20 and 1/4 in. He came out fat and stretching back like he did the entire time in my belly. Like stated yesterday, he was quite the surprise. Mike and I had made that decision after we had Preston. A lot of prayer and discussion went in to that decision, it is not something we took lightly at all. Having had 4 c-sections already was our main reasoning, I had already had thin spots in my uterus with previous pregnancies and overall, it didn't seem like a safe decision to have any more. Fast forward 3.5 years, I was having issues with my IUD-terrible side effects and we felt strongly to have it removed and started praying about a more permanent solution. In December of 2016 I got it removed. Truthfully, I started having dreams about a baby girl. I kept brushing that aside and in my prayers told the Lord that was clearly a joke and nothing I needed to be concerned about-HAHA! Mike and I continued to talk and pray about a permanent solution with no real confirmation coming. In March we got the answer, very clearly in the temple, that that wasn't the route to go quite yet. What does THAT mean exactly?! I told the Lord it just couldn't happen, after all, hadn't that already been confirmed?! Well, May 18th I was driving home from the gym (which we had signed up for that week!) and I realized the date. Not really feeling nervous but I went to the store grabbed a test-truly thinking I was just confirming that I wasn't because I couldn't be. Well, clearly, I was. I didn't know how to speak really. the 3 days following that test was probably the quietest 3 days of our entire marriage. While I was in complete shock, and had a lot of worries, I had an amazing sense of peace. It was a weird combination. Mike, bless his heart, was just in complete shock. He had to sort through a barrage of feelings and emotions but, he is Mike after all, and softening comes easy for him. Clearly this was what the Lord wanted and what we needed-and what this little babe needed too.

Within a week the sickness began. It was a really rough pregnancy for me. And, the whole world seemed privy to that information as it was also my whiniest pregnancy too, and painful. Hands down my hardest pregnancy. The last month was probably my best month, aside from being totally exhausted. We had quite a few scares with him, which made our gratitude for him even greater. At 13 weeks, I started bleeding, a lot. Mike was certain we needed to go to the doctor-I wasn't, mostly because it was late on a Saturday night. We had experienced miscarriage before and had gone to the emergency room, it was absolutely pointless and frustrating. I didn't want that again. So I called the on-call doctor Sunday morning and he confirmed we had made the right decision. As hard as it would be, it was best to wait until Monday morning and be seen by the OB. Sunday was long, like really really long. Monday, my doctor wasn't there so I saw someone else. I thought I would have an ultrasound but I didn't (truthfully, I still feel very frustrated by that). She came in and found his heartbeat which instantly put me to tears. It was sweet sweet music! She did an exam, told us what not to do and sent us on our way. While we were relieved to hear a heartbeat, neither of us left feeling overly relieved. We left confused, wondering where that bleed came from and nervous that the next appt may produce a different outcome. I did call my doctor a day or 2 later and, long story a tad shorter, I went in the following week and heard his heartbeat again but still had no answers. At 15 weeks pregnant, on a Friday, I got a call from my doctor that blood work came back positive for spinal defects and that they were most concerned about Spina Bifida. That was a rough day. That's hard to process, like really hard. And, again, it was a Friday and the afternoon and we were confident we wouldn't even be able to schedule an appt with the specialist until Monday-which felt like an eternity to wait for. We could really have done without that information until an appt was already scheduled-that was our feelings then and definitely our feelings still. No one needs that. We called our family and asked for prayers. Not prayers of healing but prayers of peace and patience as we waited. Prayers work and they very much did. We didn't know we'd end up waiting nearly 2 weeks before being seen. That was so long to wait to find out such big news. Again, prayers work though. That appointment showed, a more than likely, false positive. I say "more than likely" because the doctor stressed that nothing is ever fully confirmed until birth. However, we felt such relief. That was the same day we found out this baby was a boy. That was an overwhelmingly good day. That appt did prove that we needed a return specialty ultrasound. He had highlighted intestines-which the doctor believed came from the earlier bleed (which there was still a visible clot so more bleeding was possible) however, it could cause slowered growth that they needed to keep an eye on. That ultrasound also showed that the umbilical cord was attached in a different location on placenta which could also cause slowered growth. If he indeed had that problem, they may have to bring him early-because they could get him to grow better out than it at that point. Jump to 34 weeks, in December. He was growing perfectly. The only problem now was increased water. So, from then on we had weekly ultrasounds-which I didn't mind at all, more times to see our little guy. Clearly everything turned out just fine. In fact he came out and received a 10 and 9 Apgar scores!

So, remember the dreams of a baby girl, I mentioned earlier? Between those and my morning sickness we were 100% convinced we were having a little girl...100%. So, when we went in for an ultrasound and saw that manhood between those legs it was even more of a shock! Ha! We weren't wanting a girl over a boy but we were just that convinced that was what we were having. The kids shock after we told them was nothing short of what we expected. The girls cried and were genuinely so disappointed and the boys whooped and hollered with excitement. The girls got over it though and couldn't love this little guy any more!

January 16th proved to be such a sweet day. I was very nervous, not knowing how a 5th c-section was going to go...like crazy shaking, had a slight anxiety attack (or so they were saying) on the table as they were prepping me. I did calm myself down and finally caught my breath enough to stop shaking as bad, and breathe like a normal human being. They gave me oils to smell to calm my nausea, brought on by the anesthesia...which was the most amazing thing ever-it also calmed my nerves some. Finally I was prepped and ready and FINALLY Mikey got come in and really calm me down...how much I need that man. Dr. Stone told us what was going on every step of the way, which I loved. I had adhesions which made things last longer before he came and apparently made for some of the pain of this pregnancy. She prepped us all for the "waterfall" that was about to come when they got ready to break my water-since I had such a high amount of fluid. That was no joke! SO MUCH FLUID!! I felt this instant "ahhh" of relief and then there came a second waterfall and even more relief. Then the pushing on my belly as they were working him out. I got to have a special curtain this time so as they pulled him out they dropped part of it to expose a clear curtain and I got to see him instantly, in his new, fresh and beautiful state-stretching back far enough for her to say, "that stretching is all him, I'm not doing a thing!" And the tears flowed from my eyes and Mike couldn't smile any bigger-that's one of my most favorite parts of having a baby. They took him and as they cleaned him up hollered out, "8 lbs 2 oz! Big boy! 20 and a 1/4 inches!" I just smiled and cried. Mike took pictures and got to watch and observe this new addition to our family. Then we hear, we meaning myself and the Dr and team, "He's a 10 and a 9!" Music to my ears after everything we worried about. They brought him over and I got to kiss on him and tell him I loved him, Happy Birthday and thank you for coming to our family. We were finally all stitched up and done and ready to go back to the room. I got to look him over good and then have our first feeding together. He latched great and had a great first feeding. He was a beautiful newborn. Mike and I enjoyed quite a bit of time with him before we had the kids come up. He was born at 8:08am and they came up in the afternoon-we needed to make sure I was recovering well and able to get some rest first. Joy. That is the very word I would use to describe the moment they met their littlest brother. Absolute, 100%, joy.

Life changed, yet again, for our family that day. I am, over and over again, amazed at how much my love my heart has to give and how much it can hold.

 First look, as he's coming out. 

Getting ready for clean-up. He had such a soft cry.

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Beginning...again?

It's hard to believe I ever let this little space go. Over 700 posts and I just fizzled it out. Madilynn, she was just a baby when I started this thing, a baby and our only child at the time. She's 11 now. That's a hard pill to swallow. It's also crazy to think that I have also had 4 more children! FOUR! Little Mister Wesley Jack made his debut on January 16, 2018. He is our biggest and best surprise we've ever had. We are so grateful he has come to our family, we need him so much. He's a trying little baby, our most trying, but his smiles melt all the hard away...and his giggles? Goodness gracious, his giggles. 

I started this little journal as a way to keep family informed because we had "runaway" to Virginia. We made another run to Alabama, which I realize is documented in here, and we have made a return to good ole' Virginia. We live, roughly, half an hour from where we did before. It's been a great blessing to be back, and hard too. Life is interesting. I could say that all day everyday. Having now lived by family, since having children, I would choose to live by them in a heartbeat. I miss them like crazy, our kids miss their cousins like crazy, and it can get quite lonesome being away now. It's not the same life here that it was before, because life changes, people change, everything consistently changes-that seems to be the one thing we can all count on as a constant-change. Thankfully, that's the case though. I am on here because I am making changes in my life. I need to keep track of life, I need to document it in a way that my children can see, and social media is not that way for our kiddos. Madilynn loves to read this blog, I pulled it up for her one day and she finds it frequently and goes through it. I need to keep it up, or get it going again. We'll see how this pans out-hopefully well.


"You can't change what's going on around you until you start changing what's going on within you."


Thursday, May 12, 2016

Thankful

I'm very behind on posting this news but I also haven't had much time. I still don't so this will not be to the length necessary to convey our excitement and gratitude. I'm too long winded anyway, so I guess it's a good thing! HAHA!

As mentioned before, we are under contract with our house. It is set to close on May 27th. About 4 weeks ago, (actually, I think it was 4 weeks ago today) Mike received a job offer with the company Evonik, in VA! I am consistently amazed at the Lord's timing. Mike starts on May 23rd. What a blessing! Our hearts are overwhelmed with gratitude. It's a wonderful global wide company. This is the kind of company you hope to work for someday and I am beyond thrilled for and proud of my sweet hubby. He has been so patient and dealt with so much in waiting for an opportunity like this. The relief of being able to take care of his family again, has brought him back. I've missed him! We have an offer in on a house out there and are praying that things will move along, as it is a short sale home and can often take a lot of time. There are details not to get into that we did to help move things along faster or we can get out of that offer and find something else. The process of finding the right home for our family has proven difficult already so we are very hopeful for something to happen. Anyway, we will love close to where we did before but not the same area. We LOVED that area from before but we couldn't find what we needed/wanted there. So, hopefully this new area will be what we need and love. Again, so deeply grateful to our Father in Heaven for guiding our life through our seeming unending trial. Without a doubt, we know He was there through all of it and that each part and process of the last 10.5 years (good and bad), has led us to now. He knows us, loves us and desires our happiness and trust.

Also, how blessed am I as a Momma to these 4 beautiful and awesome kiddos! Mother's Day 2016


Sunday, February 28, 2016

Relax and Roll with it...


Have you ever felt like you are stuck?

We have felt like that for some time. Trying and trying to figure out what path is going to open up and be the one we down. Constantly going with the flow as each thing we try leads to a dead end. It's been exhausting, honestly. The last few days I have found myself telling the Lord that we just needed something to open up, either the job or the house selling. We just need something. So, I found myself saying that again this morning as I was driving to my morning meetings and having my chat with the Lord. I got to the church and my phone buzzes, alerting me of a text. It was our realtor. "Good morning we have an offer on your house. May I call you after church to review?"

Heart sinks, mind blurs and my prayer was answered...just not quite the way I had hoped.

Prayer is an interesting thing. The whole, aligning our will with the Lord's and still expressing the desires of your heart is the trickiest part. We will go where we need to go and do what we need to do if that's what He wants. I would be lying though if I said I was always initially happy about answers to prayers. So, I now pray for a softened and willing heart and the ability to appreciate that He sees more than I do. I know, 100%, that no matter how hard His way seems, it is absolutely the best way.

P.S. How cute is this girl? Sadly, she got in trouble first and then I decided to snap a picture. Sometimes we just need to relax and roll with it. :)


Thursday, February 11, 2016

Email


I am trying to be better at writing things down, as I have a TERRIBLE memory. Miss Madilynn is 9 years old now! She's in the 3rd grade and with the 3rd grade comes a Chrome Book and an email account. She emails me all the time. Most of the time it's, "Mom, can you plese pick me up from school. I don't fell good. Plese, plese!" Poor girl, a.) she hates school and would rather be home-schooled (I guess she thinks it's only fun things) and b.) she can't spell worth a thing! ;) Anyway, this was the cute email I got this morning shortly after dropping them off to school, "Love you! Thank you for understanding me!" There was an emoji in there somewhere too. :) Her and I butt heads 90% of the time but goodness, I love this girl-so very very much.


Monday, February 1, 2016

Gratitude





Trying my hand at journaling again...how many times have I said this in regards to this little blog?! Without going into too much detail, since it is late and I still need to roll out cinnamon rolls for Mike's seminary class in the morning, I will just say that I completely grateful for hitting rock bottom-or maybe right under rock bottom. Sounds very strange, I know. However, it's true. I don't think I have ever hit it quite like I did recently. However, it didn't take long to snap out of it and move on. I give thanks to my husband and my sister for that-and my Heavenly Father. Life is freaking hard-no if's ands or buts about it. I just looked back at my last post and chuckled a little-oooohhh, life was so different for a few short months. Anyway, I digress a little. Today, tonight I feel like I may burst with gratitude. Did something in particular change about our life? No, haha, no it didn't. But, I changed or am changing and it feels...incredible. I can't even describe it really but I want to scream it from the rooftops! So, this is my rooftop tonight. I AM SO GRATEFUL!! God is so good-even when life is so hard. I am so grateful to know where I came from, to be here-to have chosen to come here knowing good and well that it would be insanely difficult-but that I, me, myself, still made that decision because I knew how great it would be after I made it through, I knew that it would all be worth it-every heartache and struggle and sin/mistake-every bit of it would be worth it...and again, that it was MY choice. Even more grateful for a Savior who even made that an option for me to choose from. My heart is so so so full tonight. And it feels so good.


P.S. Also so grateful for that cute bunch ^^^^up there-love them to pieces.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Job

Well, I'm not setting blog goals ever again! :)

So, there is some to catch up on-one thing really.

Last August Mike lost his job.

In the midst of the job that he had he'd been helping start up a company. They put all their effort into getting that up and going. While doing that, looking for employment. No pity party here though-we've been so incredibly blessed in the meantime. We have been watched over and have seen the hand of Lord in so many ways throughout this whole time. We've seen the goodness and love of so many-our hearts are so full. Well, Mike got a job and started yesterday! I'm not sure it's THE job but it's a job and there is room for growth. It's a job of learning-which Mike loves-and he is working for really good people. We're just super grateful! The kids were extremely excited on Sunday when we told them. Makinley must not have been listening because today she said something about Daddy and a job and I said, "Makinley, Daddy got a job." She says, "He did?! That took a long time! Now we can go to Disney World!" Me (laughing): "Not quite yet sweetie, but we certainly are closer to being able to." Love that little girl!

Heavenly Father is so good, and so aware. We feel like this will allow Mike the time to continue to help build this other business and bless our family, and the company he is now working for. The Lord has tested our patience and faith in ways that I didn't think He would or that I would be able to prove myself. I also know, that while our ride here in Alabama has been an extremely crazy and trying one, I'd do it all over again-every bit of it. It's through the trials and tribulation that we learn and grow, not only as individuals but in our relationship with our Father in Heaven as well.

So thankful today-so incredibly thankful always.

Monday, December 1, 2014

Practice


I have have always had a love for photography. I've loved it because for my entire life I have had a terrible memory. Anything that I remember is usually remembered because of a photograph. If there isn't a picture, chances are, I have no recollection of it. I love what a picture can capture, the things you didn't even notice in real life. It is fascinating to me. Anyway, I am trying my hand at for real now. Luckily, I have family nearby to let me use them as practice-and they get lucky with free photos out of it! I was quite pleased with these, for being my first real "family" photos. I have a lot to learn still, in the taking of the pictures and in the editing department as well. It's so much fun though, and I loved seeing how excited the family was with how they turned out. I do need a name for my little "business" if you will-any ideas out there?














  



Thursday, November 20, 2014

Recents of our babes

We spent some time outside today after school. It's been so cold here (yes, in Alabama) and today was so nice that we stayed out until dinner. Snapped a few pictures of our little ones. They're growing up so fast. Big and beautiful!









Saturday, August 9, 2014

Spring is for babies!


 June was an insane month!


Jamie and Evan started it off with having a baby!
Mr. Landen Clay came into the world the morning of the 5th. What a happy day! And I got to play photographer, so all the pics are being posted-LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS!


Passing the time by playing UNO!






 They, luckily, passed right by the waiting area as they came through to go to their room! Happy Mommy, right there!

 Could there be a more proud sister?!























 Kelli was telling a story like only she can! Haha!


































 Time for Mommy to sleep.

 And then our family got to go up and visit later and get some sweet snuggles from that cute baby!