It's been a while...

Wow. I cannot believe it's been 3.5 years since I've last blogged. Do people still blog? I'm sure there are new, fancier ways of blogging than what I'm doing now so I'll have to look into that. But for now, I might just need to catch you up.

Silas is now 8.5 (what!?!? How did that even happen??) and that sassiness I was talking about in my last blog? It's still alive and well. Insert palm-to-face emoji. He loves baseball - Cubs baseball - and playing, any position. It has been so FUN to watch him play. And he is good...like really good. Or maybe the other players were just really bad. Either way, he understands the game and had a great summer playing with his best friend on his team. He's in 3rd grade and so far has really enjoyed his teacher, Miss Kessel.

Stella just celebrated her 5th birthday. Oh, what an absolute JOY she is. She is exactly what I dreamed of having in a daughter. I knew I was meant to mother a girl...I could feel it in my bones. She is sweet, has the most wonderful heart that is so genuine and kind (except when it comes to her brother...then "it's on like big-ton-shawn"...except the real expression is "it's on like Blake Shelton") and she is still a Mama's girl. My heart swoons when she asks to cuddle. Stella is in preschool and loves all things crafty, coloring and creating.

And now for the biggest update of all....

-----Insert drum roll please----

3:08pm, August 17th 2018 brought us the sweetest surprise of our lives. Briar Lou. 8 pounds, 10 ounces and 20 inches of squish and goodness. So much goodness.

Let me back up and explain the surprise aspect of this. December 2017 I was maaaaybe a day late for my period. I'd had a few months of very irregular periods, which was abnormal for me, so it wasn't unlike me to be taking pregnancy tests, even though I was on birth control. Well you guessed it, this test was positive. Now let me tell you that 2017 had been easily the hardest year of our married lives. Jake had been without a job for all but five months in 2017 so when I found out I was pregnant, I cried. I sobbed. How could God do this to us? He knew our situation...how could this be part of His plan at this point in our lives? My faith was tested a lot in 2017 but this was the icing on the cake.

Fast forward to August 2018. I went into the delivery room still thinking "I'm not ready for this, I can't believe this is happening." Briar's delivery (I'll get into the full birth story in another post) was fast, super fast. And the second that girl was placed on my chest, I knew I had to just trust that God knew what He was doing. And when those two big kids I spoke of earlier came in and saw her, my heart literally melted into a thousand pieces.

That first night with just her and Jake was magical. It gave Jake and I time to really, really wrap our minds and hearts over this expanding family of ours that we were so hesitant about. I bonded with her. I held her skin to skin. I smelled her - that intoxicating newborn scent - and I looked into her eyes.

Here we are, six weeks in as a family of 5 and let me tell you, it's pretty awesome. Briar is a dream, an absolute DREAM. Since her fifth day of life she has slept at night, only waking once to eat. How does that even happen? She even slept a whole 10 hours her fifth week of life! She is just starting to coo and really hams up a smile, especially for Mommy. I love her fiercely. Briar, if you are ever reading this, please know that while you weren't planned, you were intended by God. God had bigger plans for our lives than we could (or can) see. We are immensely thankful for you and love you more than you can ever imagine.

So, I think that catches up the main points of our family. Ha! Stay tuned for Briar's birth story...