7 Weeks!

3 weeks, 7 weeks... If I were better at this blogging thing, I would have waited for 1 month and I'd wait for 2 months. But I know myself and I know if I try to wait for next week, this won't happen and I really am trying to keep our family and friends posted on what's going on in our little man's world.

I'm really amazed at how much this little one has grown!! Every day it seems like he does something new! Right now it seems like his favorite thing is to stare at the lamp in our living room. Our favorite thing is that he's started to recognize mommy and daddy and he smiles when he sees us!! We love that we can make him so happy!

We're also getting better at life as a family of 3. It takes longer to get ready to go anywhere, and lots of planning. I'm not sure how many times I've gotten out and forgotten wipes or an extra outfit. I've learned to improvise, but also to be better prepared. I do have to say I'm so thankful to be able to breastfeed so when we're out and he gets hungry I don't have to be super prepared, he just needs mama.

I'm also thankful for my amazing husband. He has done such a great job all semester at working so hard to provide for us and get all our bills paid on time and still get his homework done for his class. I'm thankful that I get to stay home with our little man and take care of our home and our family. I'm excited,now that we're starting to figure things out and Dillon is settling into longer naps and a more regular feeding schedule, to find ways to get more involved in our church and minister to other women.

While Dillon sleeps, I've baked and pureed a pumpkin to make a great dip and homemade ginger snaps to go with it! I'm starting to learn how to cook while Dillon's sleeping to have dinner ready. So I can buy fewer processed foods and make healthier and less expensive meals! I love learning more about my new role as homemaker and how I can best help my husband at home!

I'm trying to post pictures on facebook and update our blog often enough so you can all see how much our little man is growing and changing! Thanks for loving our family so much!!

Pictures

Meeting MawMaw

Meeting Nan

Going home

First trip to church!

First round of disc golf!

3 Weeks

*So I typed all of this up on Tuesday and tried to post pictures with it, but then our internet messed up and I got frustrated... So I'll post the pics later. Also, we heard today that his last cystic fibrosis test came back normal!! Praising the Lord for sure!*

The past few weeks have been the most amazing and hardest weeks of our lives! It's hard to believe that this little person who has changed our lives completely wasn't around 3 weeks ago! We can't say enough good things about our delivery experience! The hospital was amazing, the nurses were awesome and so supportive of our decision to not have an epidural! I was working on no sleep, we definitely didn't expect my water to suddenly break at 2 in the morning, but everyone was so great and helpful! Drew especially was so supportive, I definitely couldn't have done it without him! Then after 16 hours our sweet son was here!



Dillon got to meet his mommy, daddy, mawmaw, daddy Jim, poppy and nan! Lots of people were there to welcome him and love on him! I don't remember a whole lot from that night, I was so ready for bed, but I do remember so many people being excited about his arrival!




The biggest shock came when it was time to leave the hospital... and take Dillon with us! It was definitely a surreal feeling to suddenly have an extra member of our family! I am so thankful that my mom and dad were able to stay with us that first week. It was so great to have them as we started adjusting to our new family life.



Our friends at church have also been amazing! They have brought such amazing food!! I still haven't had to cook a meal because of them and a few meals from the freezer (thanks to my dear mother-in-law!)



We have had our share of adventures with this little man already. We went home from the hospital on Wednesday and had to go see his pediatrician on Thursday because they thought he might have a jaundice problem. That turned out to be fine, but they started worrying about how much weight he had lost. So we started going back to check his weight every 2 days... We also got to see a cardiologist and he had a hip ultrasound, not because they thought anything was wrong but because there was a family history of problems. The poor thing has seen a Dr. more days than he hasn't! Finally, at his 2 week check-up his Dr. said he might be gaining too much weight!

We also had our first experience having to really rely on and trust God for our child. We got a phone call saying that his results from a cystic fibrosis screening came back abnormal. We now know that I am not a carrier so there's no way Dillon has this disease and that there seems to be some sort of problem at the lab where they send these tests because so many are coming back abnormal, but at the time we were really scared. Drew came home from work and we prayed and cried and called family and took him back to the hospital to have them take blood again. That was not what we expected. We can't tell you how thankful we are for our family and friends, for all your prayers and for information about how inaccurate these screenings are. We're also thankful for a powerful God who we can trust. Even if Dillon has CF, we can trust that God would be glorified! Well, the results of the 2nd screening also came back abnormal and we have to take him to another hospital early tomorrow morning for some sort of sweat test. So much for our week without seeing a doctor! And a couple days later we should know for sure that he does not have cystic fibrosis!



So that's our first 3 weeks in a nutshell. We've also had plenty of fun learning his personality (so lucky he's happy and laid back like his daddy!) and introducing him to new things, like taking him to church and to play disc golf! We're excited to get to watch our little man continue to grow!

Is it Christmas yet?

So our due date has passed us by and we're ready to keep waiting. Drew says it's like waking up on Christmas morning and your mom saying, "No, Christmas is tomorrow." Then you wake up tomorrow and she says the same thing. I have never seen this man so excited about anything! I love it!!
But we also know that on average first babies are about a week "late" so we're not trying to speed things along just yet. God decided when we would he would let us conceive and He can best decide when Dillon will will be born! Our Dr. said that if he's not born by my appointment next week that we would need to start talking about how we can encourage labor to start, but we would much rather everything start all on its own.
So, yes, we're still waiting and may be waiting for several more days. We so appreciate your prayers! Especially on days when I don't feel good and I'm just ready to not be pregnant anymore. We're so thankful to have so many friends to encourage and pray for us!

Getting Ready!

Wow, so the past two weeks have gone by faster than I expected!!!

And I've definitely found enough to keep myself busy!! I'm pretty excited, so I wanted to show off my latest projects :)

This is a bar of hard lotion that I made! That's right, I made lotion :)

Drew always gets really dry skin during the winter and I saw a recipe for these bars and thought I'd try it out! I'm loving it so far, it's the best lotion I've tried! And doesn't leave the really weird lotion feel on my hands. It's also been fantastic for my poor preggo feet!!

Then I had fun sewing!! I made some cloth nursing pads, I have a hard time justifying spending money on disposables. I found some really cute fabric and made some super soft burp cloths that I hope Dillon will like! And I stiched a little swaddler. You can't really tell in this picture but the blanket has tabs sewed onto the back that can tuck into a little slot so it's harder for him to wriggle out.

And we set up the pack n play for him to sleep in for a while, and that's my bag, packed and ready to head to the hospital!

Then my mom and Aunt Jamie came for labor day weekend and Drew's mom came the next and we spent LOTS of time putting things away in Dillon's room and getting things ready for him to come!

And Momma Myra filled our freezer so I don't have to worry about what we'll eat every day while we're getting used to our new addition!!

I'm so very thankful to have these few weeks to get things settled and for family who's willing and able to help us out!! And I guess Dillon could decide to meet the world any day now, but it could also be a couple more weeks. So we're just waiting to see what happens!

Thanks for praying for our little family!!

Busy at Home!

I have definitely enjoyed my past couple days of being home and working on getting ready for Dillon to arrive!! I'm definitely excited and just a little nervous about my new role in our family. I know I need to be careful and not do too much in a day, but I want to make sure that I'm not abusing the privilege. I know that Drew is making some big sacrifices with how much he's working between his job and school and I know that I need to take my new job at home seriously! Titus 2 talks about women learning to be busy at home and I want to be faithful to being busy. So I've been praying about how to best be my husband's helper!

So these are the ideas that I've come up with so far! Hopefully posting this will keep me accountable!

1. One of my biggest goals is to cook more and use fewer processed foods.

We started learning more about all of the options available locally around last Christmas. We love being able to support our local economy and small farms around Louisville. Many farms in the area raise their crops without pesticides and their animals without unnecessary hormones or antibiotics. It's food I can really feel good about feeding to my family! It is definitley healthier to cook from scratch rather that buying so many processed foods and I am gradually learning to cook from real ingredients! Not only for our health, but buying ingredients rather than processed foods saves us a lot on our grocery bill.

2. I want my home to be welcoming!

This is a tough one for me!! I am not very good at housekeeping, but I don't want to be embarassed if someone drops by. I'm not saying my home will be perfect, but I want to be more faithful to keep our home in a reasonable state.

3. I am learning how to sew!

This is something that I have wanted to do for a long time but I haven't had a purpose. I haven't wanted to make things without a purpose. Now I definitely have a purpose! There are a couple more things around the house, like simple laundry bags and maybe some curtains, and definitely some things for baby!

I know that life in the Dickerson home is about to change quite a bit and I want to have reasonable expectations for myself as a mom. Hopefully I'll be able to manage these three things and see how I can grow from there! I plan to update and let you know how I am doing in these areas. So if I don't, make sure to ask! I want to be faithful to my Lord and my husband and learn to be busy at home!