365

365 days ago, I went in for a 40 week regular check-up at my doctor's office.  For weeks, I had surprisingly made no progress (literally ZERO) towards labor and we were informed they were planning to induce on Saturday December 29th. I had been discouraged for weeks that I wasn't going to get to hold my baby for Christmas but at this point, I had accepted the fact that I would be induced on the 29th.  I was going to take the next two days off work and nap, cook meals for the freezer, stock up on groceries, and relax by myself for the last time for awhile. 

At my appointment, my doctor discussed plans for the induction with us and 'just for kicks' decided to examine me to make sure that there was still no progress.  However, the intense Braxton Hicks contractions that I had been feeling for weeks still had not changed and certainly hadn't encouraged my body to start labor before, so I figured the exam was pretty pointless.  I watched my doctor's expression turn to shock as she said "Amy, are you feeling contractions? You're (pretty far) in labor and we need to call an ambulance and have them take you to the hospital."  

I was SHOCKED.  Some strange phenomenon that I still do not understand to this day somehow prevented me from feeling any pain until an hour or so before Eli was born.  (Don't worry.... I'm not complaining!)  An ambulance took me to the hospital while Josh followed in our car.  Even though I really wanted to drive myself and stop home to get my hospital bag, the doctor's office said it was against medical advice to let me do that because I was too far along.  The paramedic let me ride sitting next to him in the back which was actually pretty cool and definitely a memory I won't forget.

Seven hours later Eli was born.  Being a mom of only one until that moment, I was always a little fearful that I wouldn't know how to love them both equally or how I could possibly love this new little addition as much as I loved the one we already had.  I guess that's the beauty and the magic of being a mother because the second I saw him, my heart was already so full with love for him that I never gave those fears a second thought. 

Our Eli has blessed us beyond words.  He has developed such a personality and loves our dogs and his big brother more than you can imagine.  365 days ago he made me a mommy for the second time and it was just as beautiful and special as the first time, maybe even more because I could anticipate the joy ahead of us.  This last year watching him grow has been one of best of my existence.  Because we've done this once before, it was easier to remind myself more not to stress about the small things, that all the challenges (including sleep!) would in fact pass in time, and that there is never, ever too much time spent cuddling a baby which I didn't have enough experience to know with Caleb.

Happy 1st Birthday Eli!  We love you to the moon and back.

You may call him a Christmas baby....

When the doctor told me that my due date was Christmas Eve when I was newly pregnant with Eli, I thought it was so fun.  What a wonderfully happy time around Christmas to welcome such a beautiful gift into the world.  I love Christmas time and I was so into it. 

When people would find out my due date, I received all kinds of advice on how to handle a "Christmas baby".  Some people advised always celebrating his birthday on his half birthday in June.  Some suggested celebrating a week early or later or even on Christmas day so that the family was already together.  Some people just laughed and said they were sorry for my unborn child whose birthday would always be lumped into the Christmas festivities. (Yes.. I'm serious.)

I should say though that this advice from seemingly all over the place, never really registered with me because never did I ever imagine I would still be pregnant or have my baby that close to Christmas.  Caleb was born two weeks early (and research shows that second babies are commonly born earlier than the first) so I assumed we would be nice and cozy at home on Christmas Eve with our one or two week old baby.

Yeah... that didn't happen. As the days inched closer to the Christmas holiday and I was still pregnant, I started thinking of the very real possibility that he may actually be born closer to the holiday than I ever imagined.  I was indeed still pregnant on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (and the day after Christmas for those keeping tabs). 

Our sweet boy was born on December 27th, three days after the predicted due date.  As we are nearing his first birthday, we have already been asked about how we are going to handle it.  Kind of a funny question (although completely valid, I totally get it) and Josh and I thought about it for awhile, taking into account how we would schedule our Christmas plans before the answer seemed completely obvious.

December 27th is not two days after Christmas in our house.  December 27th is Eli's birthday.  And like any other birthday, we would celebrate it as such.  Is it the easiest thing to do when we are always traveling for Christmas and often are not home on the 26th?  Absolutely not.  It's also not the most popular thing to do because both of our families (who we don't live in the same city as) understandably want to get to spend time with us for Christmas.  But for us, it's the right thing to wake up in our own beds on December 27th and celebrate our little guy.  And we will continue to do so until he is of an appropriate age to tell us what he prefers. 

Never will I ever allow his birthday to be less celebrated than anyone else's or to be lumped into Christmas festivities.  It may not be right for everyone, but it is right for us.

It's the most wonderful time of the year

I'm popping in to document that I am indeed alive and filled with holiday spirit.  With that holiday spirit of course comes the busiest time of the year where we try to cram way too many activities into the few short weeks before Christmas.  Luckily our Christmas shopping/present buying is almost complete thanks to my early morning Black Friday online shopping.  Along with Thanksgiving and Christmas festivities and travel, my little family is also planning for a joint birthday bash for our two littlest members in a few weeks. 

All those half finished blog posts will likely wait to be finished for the next few weeks because what good is it to document these memories if I can't actually live them, yes?  Until then I will be baking, Christmas light looking, carol singing, and enjoying the holidays with these cuties:

 

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!