Wednesday, May 16, 2012

The first long awaited Mother's Day

I was so thankful to finally get to celebrate Mother's Day as a mom this year. I think a lot about people who have trouble getting pregnant, and my heart mourns with them. I almost feel bad sometimes because I got pregnant two months after Steven and I got married. Some couples go years trying to start a family, but God blessed us with a little one very early on. On the other hand, I know what it means to long to be a mother.

Growing up, my mom used to babysit in our home full time. I was around babies and kids a lot when I was younger, and I liked babies a lot. Once I hit the teen years, the influence of feminism got to me. For some reason, I really started to disklike kids and always thought they were annoying. I used to tell my grandma, "I'm never having kids!" I think she knew I would though. That whole period of my life where I disliked kids is so crazy to me now. I love kids. I light up by the cuteness of what kids say so easily. I am easily amused by their sweetness and innocence. After I became a Christian and learned what the Bible says about biblical womanhood, I felt more of a burden to become a wife and mother. I wanted to have kids someday. I think I confused my poor grandma.

My early and mid twenties were spent praying for a husband, but also praying for children. I so desperately wanted to be a mom, even though I was not yet married. I wanted a family of my own. The past few years it got more difficult as I got older. Many people around me were getting married and having babies. My brother and his wife have two sweet kids and I started to feel left out, not because of anything they did though! Most of my cousins were having kids, and I started to feel socially awkward sometimes. I was getting older, and there was no man in site, let alone children that I could call my own. I would actually get sad walking by the baby department in stores. The burden to be a wife and mother got heavier, and much to my surprise, within two short years, God gave me an amazing husband and an amazing son.

So yes, Steven and I got engaged and married pretty fast. Ironically I used to wrongly mock those people sometimes. But we knew God brought us together, and the decision was not made lightly. We prayed over it and got counsel from good people. And yes, we had a baby pretty early on, but we were thrilled. We did not want to wait to start our family. It sounds like I'm defending how our life turned out, but I just love to sit back and see how God has written and continues to write our life story.

So for my first Mother's Day Steven and I went to dinner on Saturday night while our friends watched John and then on Monday Steven took us to pick strawberries and eat at Huber's Farm. It was a nice family day, and I look forward to many many more of those, and to many more children, Lord willing. I love my family and am so thankful to God for them!

On the wagon going to the strawberry patch. John did not like the hat I had on him.

Me and my sweet boy on Mother's Day 2012.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Steven John Dresen III

As I write this a sweet little baby is kicking me. He is not kicking me in the womb though, he is sitting by me on the couch and is 10 weeks old now! Anybody who has been a new parent knows that the first few months with a newborn are certainly life changing. The first few weeks are a blur. Everything, and I mean every thing is different when you add another human to your family. It's a great yet challenging time. No more than two hours of sleep at a time seems impossible, yet somehow I survived.

Our baby boy, Steven John Dresen the third, or John, arrived on February 26th at 6:05 pm.



After 37 hours of labor, no sleep, 3.5 hours of pushing, and almost 24 hours at the hospital he finally arrived. Notice his little fist up by his head. That is how he was when he was coming out, and it explains the terrible back labor I endured. The labor and delivery in itself were enough to turn my world upside down, let alone the fact I was given this awesome job of caring for a new baby. Words can not describe how I felt when I saw John for the first time. Not only is it nice to be done with labor, but it is amazing to see God's grace in the life of a child. He was our baby. We were still in shock for a few weeks that we made this sweet baby, and we were his parents.

Let me add here that Steven was such an awesome labor coach. The whole thing really brought us closer and was an amazing experience.

John was 8 pounds and 5.3 ounces and 21.5 inches long. He was actually a couple of ounces smaller than I was at birth. He was very healthy and still is so far. Steven and I are so thankful for him and are constantly amazed at how cute and sweet he is. We love being parents.

John has grown soooo much in 10 weeks. At his 2 month appointment he was 24 inches which is in the 95th percentile. He weighed 12 pounds and 2.5 ounces which puts him in the 50th percentile for weight. He is cooing more and being silly every day. He is a good eater and an average sleeper. He slept through the night for the first time the night before last, on May 6th.

Look at this cutie boy now!
I'm smiling now!

I love to stretch out!