Jackson Daniel Mathieson

I love reading birth stories, so be forewarned this contains some birth details that might not be interesting to some people ;)

I found out I was pregnant with our third child in early December 2011. I was definitely quite shocked that I was pregnant a mere 9 months after Noah was born. But the tell tale signs were there for me and I started experiencing symptoms that I had only ever felt two other times. My first pregnancy test gave me the slightest of pink lines, you could barely see it. I missed it myself. I took another test and lo and behold it turned up double pink lines. I immediately called Joel (I was in Pennsylvania visiting family) and informed Joel that he would be a father once again. He was beaming over the phone and was excited at the prospect of a new child.

I got the pregnancy confirmed and had my first appointment. My doctor did an ultrasound and could not find any gestational sac or signs of a pregnancy. She was alarmed since my blood work clearly showed that I was pregnant. I got ordered another test immediately and a high level ultrasound at the hospital. It was confirmed that I was in the very early stages of my pregnancy and things were ok. I went in two weeks later to see a heartbeat and a little baby.

My pregnancy consisted of the normal 14-16 weeks of nausea and tiredness. Followed by a few good weeks and then some major heartburn and body aches. My body handled this pregnancy the best. I was extremely healthy and had no issues whatsoever.

By 37 weeks I was ready to be done. I was experiencing a lot of pain in my pelvis and legs. I had to wear compression stockings in the middle of 100 degree heat because I had terrible debilitating charlie horses all through the night. I was 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced at my 37 week appointment. Jackson was still quite high up and not looking to move anytime soon. I was the same at my 38 week appointment. My doctor tried to strip my membranes (word to the wise...extremely painful and not successful at all). After the membrane sweep I had terrible cramping and a lot of spotting and losing of the mucus plug.

I thought I would be pregnant forever. However, my biggest fear was not having child care for the kids when I went into labor. So, we had family here starting in the very beginning of August. It was a huge blessing to have the help and added assurance that we would have the boys in great hands when the time came. Amy's time came and went and Kim was scheduled next to come. While she was here she found out that her brother was hospitalized across town. On Saturday morning we were taking her to the hospital for the last time before she returned home. My mom was scheduled to fly into Sacramento that evening and take over baby watch 2012. I was feeling wonderful that day. For the first time in weeks I had energy and had plans to clean and relax with the boys and prepare for Jackson's arrival.

Upon arriving at the hospital to drop Kim off, I decided to use the restroom because being 39 weeks pregnant I knew I would need to go before returning home. I walked out and felt something warn between my legs. I joked that my water broke must have broken. Kim urged me to go to the bathroom to confirm. Well, lo and behold it actually did. I had a huge gush of water break in the lobby of the hospital after I returned from the bathroom. Unfortunately it was not my delivering hospital and we would need to drive back across town, so I called Joel and informed him it was time. (side note: I wanted an exciting story and was excited my water broke in a semi exciting fashion and I got to page Joel that I was ready!!) Kim drove us across town. The nurses were quite skeptical that I actually broke my water, but upon seeing me waddle down the hall with a huge blanket between my legs, they had no doubt.

After successfully leaking huge puddles across the bathroom and my hospital room I was hooked up and ready to go. But I wasnt contracting regularly at all. I got excited that I would not need to be induced and I thought for sure I'd go into labor. Alas, the doctor gave me 6 hours to go into labor, then she would start pitocin. Six hours later I still was not contracting so it was onto induction. Luckily I had understanding nurses and they let me get my epidural before they started the pitocin. I learned that my body doesn't handle the numbing agent used in the placing of the epidural, so they needed to use a different stronger agent to get me numb. The epidural was successful, so successful that my right leg was totally gone! I then got to lay back, relax, and let nature and medicine take its course. Luckily for me, I know my body and know how I handle labor and was able to avoid extra cervical checks and intervention. So, I waited for the next 5 hours napping and checking the internet. Around 10 pm, well let me back up a moment. Around 10pm my mom called and asked how things were since she finally landed in Sacramento. I was feeling great and worried I would be in labor all night long. But not a few minutes after she got off the phone, I felt my body change. The nurse checked me and Jackson was still hight, but I was 8cm dilated.

The next few moments went by too quickly. My body started pushing Jackson down and I knew it was time. As I was breathing through the contractions, the anesthesiologist gave me a booster of meds. In those few moments I went from 8cm to complete and with a "test push" Jackson moved right into position. Our room went busy, the big light came down, the doc came in and three contractions later I had a brand new baby boy. It was actually that simple. The epidural worked great, I could feel the need to push and got him out quickly. Jackson Daniel was born at 10:59 pm on August 11th 2012. He weighed in at 8lbs 4oz. Unfortunately Jackson had some issues breathing. The respiratory nurse was called in to check on him. He was breathing really fast and had a lot of fluid in his mouth. They were able to stabilize him and I got my first moments with my new son. He immediately latched onto my breast and stayed there for the next two hours. He was a pro and knew what he wanted. Unfortunately at that time they determined his breathing was too heavy and he needed to head to the NICU. I was terrified, but also exhausted.

Jackson spent the next few days in the NICU being monitored. I had to leave the hospital on Monday, but I stayed until they kicked me out because I did not want to leave my son. Leaving your baby in the NICU is terrible. I cannot imagine the mommies that have to leave their babies in for extended periods of time and for serious conditions. I knew Jackson was healthy, we were just waiting for him to be let out. He came home on Tuesday morning!

I have been blessed with very easy deliveries and recoveries and for that I am thankful. We are beyond blessed to have our newest son in our home and growing with our family :)

Ten Thousand Reasons...

It has been quite a while since I last published my blog. It certainly has not been for lack of interesting life events, but rather my life has been too crazy for me to sit down and decompress my thoughts on paper (or rather the internet).

My original goal of my blog was to document the life of my family because as I have noticed, it goes far too quickly and memories are sometimes lost in the recesses of my mind. I want to look back and remember the moments of laughter, love, and chaos that surrounds our life on a daily basis. I have baby books that are sitting half filled with memories and I want to make sure that I can keep them filled up!

A lot has happened since January of this year! Our biggest and most recent change has been the birth of our third son. Jackson Daniel made his grand entrance into our family on August 11th 2012. If you didnt quite catch that, we have our third son. My life is filled with boys. For some reason, God has seen fit to allow me to be the mother of boys. I always pictured my life surrounded by daughters and having maybe one son. I wanted to play American Girl dolls, dress up barbies, go shopping, and have nights of girl chatter. But as I am learning, God has created my children especially for me and Joel. We are the perfect parents of these precious little boys. And in the next few years when we decide to expand our family again (what, you shouldn't be surprised! We love chaos and have always wanted a family of at least 4 children!), maybe God will bless us with a precious daughter or even another amazing son.

Nathaniel is my first child and holds a special place in my heart. He allowed me to become a mommy. I had to stumble through each new milestone and we were growing up together. He is now a very precocious and smart toddler. Nathaniel was a little late on the speech and didn't start really talking until January/February of this year. Once, he started, however he hasn't stopped. He is learning new phrases and words on a daily basis and somedays we just laugh at the words he picks up and uses in context properly. He is very coordinated and jumps and runs all around. He recently had a growth spurt and lost pretty much all his baby chub. Seemingly overnight, my little bear has turned into a little boy. From birth, Nathaniel has been very independent. He was never a cuddler or emotional and that has translated into his toddlerhood. He certainly has his moments of love and affection, but they are reserved, much like his daddy. He could play for hours on his train table with cars and trains. He is just now really getting into pretend play and it is adorable. I cannot wait to see how he transforms into a little boy!

Noah has always been a very easy child. He started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks old. He smiled and laughed early. He is a lover and wears his emotions on his sleeve. He is now entering the terrible twos and boy are they terrible! Every moment is filled with screams and chaos if the word "no" is unleashed. Still, Noah is such a sweet boy. His laughter fills the room. He loves to mimic his whole family. Noah can frequently be seen jumping, climbing, and getting into danger situations on a regular basis. He absolutely adores his younger brother and gives enough kisses and hugs throughout the day to satisfy the neediest of children. He has about ten solid words he uses. His receptive speech is very good and he is growing on track. In fact, he is the least picky of eaters and will try anything. He went from the 3rd percentile in weight at his 15 month check up to the 87th percentile at his 18 month visit!

We are loving life in Elk Grove. We have been in our house for over a year and have done some improvements like installing lights and ceiling fans, adding a gas line for our dryer, improving our back yard, etc. We are planning on redecorating the boys room and possibly doing other minor projects around the house. Joel is loving his position as store manager and while it has been challenging he is doing a great job and finding contentment and pleasure in working for the store. Joel and I celebrated 4 years of marriage this past March and couldn't believe how much our lives have changed and how richly we have been blessed. It certainly has been a crazy road. I would never have predicted have three boys in three years, moving across country, etc. But the Lord works in mysterious ways and we are reaping his rich blessings. On that note we finally found a church and are confident this is where God wants us to serve and grow as a family, a couple, and a community.

For now that is one crazy long update, but here are two slideshows to show the difference mere months can have on my children ;)

I hope the days come easy...

And the moments pass slow!

I never realized how much I would cherish those lines from one of my favorite Rascal Flatts songs. It seems that my days tend to drag on and cluster into moments of mass chaos, loud laughing, toddler tantrums, and the sounds of two boys playing throughout my house. At times I wish those days would speed up but then I am here at the end of another year and I want those moments back!

As I say for most of the years, 2011 was our craziest and most awesome year yet. Joel and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary! It seems like we have been married forever and I love it. Our love was challenged in many ways this year and we always came out a much stronger couple. Despite our deep love for Christ, we attempted to handle our lives all on our own. Well we learned pretty quickly that would not work. Our relationship is deeper and we are more in love than ever. We also learned how valuable it is to put our marriage first in order to be better parents. Because of that we are taking more date nights and focusing on us. It has made us more loving parents and a better couple.

Right after our anniversary, we welcomed our second baby boy into our lives! Noah Robert came into this world on March 19th. He was a whopping 9lbs 3oz. He has then sweetest calmest personality anyone could hope for. His smile and laugh brighten up our lives. Now that he is 9 months old, he is crawling and cruising everywhere, he eats everything insight (including veggies!), he plays with his brother, and he loves to be cuddled. I pretty much love this boy more and more everyday!

Joel was promoted to store manager and that meant another move. That would be our 5 move in our short time together. But it was the opportunity that Joel was looking for and after some prayer we moved to elk grove, California. We are just south of Sacramento and enjoy a wonderful suburban lifestyle! When we moved, we also decided that buying a home and setting some roots down is what was best. After a crazy escrow process, we closed on our home on July 22nd. It was pretty much move in ready, but Joel and his dad have been working in projects all over the house to really make it our own.

Nathaniel turned two this year!! I cannot believe how big my baby boy has gotten. He has turned into a wonderful toddler. Despite the terrible twos that we are still experiencing at times, his personality is amazing. He has the best character. He loves to dance and sing. He is developing a love for Legos, blocks, and trains. He is not fond of me reading to him or meat,but we are working on it! He is also becoming independent. He loves to brush his own teeth, and wash himself, he wants to pick out his own clothes and put them on. But my favorite thing he does is independently coming over and giving kisses and hugs! I love it.

We celebrated a wonderful holiday season right here a home with no traveling and it was the least stressful we had in years! I braved the open skies, alone with the boys, to visit family in PA and attend my brother's wedding in early December. The boys traveled so well and it was a great time visiting with family and friends.

We are excited to see what 2012 will hold for us. While I am not a fan of making resolutions (that will fall by the wayside in early February), I really wanted to make some lifestyle changes with the family.

- Read 25 books in 2012 (myself) and incorporate more family reading each day

- Plan a family schedule to organize our lives.

- Continue going to the gym 4-5 days a week

- Cut down on processed foods

- Cut down our financial debt by 75% by end of the year

- Stick to a budge

- Daily devotionals and reading through the bible in a year

So from our family to yours, we wish you a very happy and prosperous 2012!

Time for some changes...

I am amazed at how quickly 5 years can just fly by. In the past five years, I have met, dated, and married Joel. We have celebrated 3 (almost 4) wedding anniversaries, had two boys, moved across the country, bought a house and the list could just go on and on!

While all this was occurring, I was getting older, took less time for myself and gained about 50 pounds. I truly honestly hate writing that number down to look at it. After having Noah, I realized it was time to get myself back. I wanted to feel comfortable wearing clothes, going out in public. I wanted to be able to keep up with my boys and have more energy. But most of all I wanted to be healthier and be a better role model for my boys (all three of them!). I somehow along the way stopped taking time for myself. I started putting all my energy into taking care of a husband, children, a dog, and a household, that taking care of myself just became lower and lower on my priority list. I had to do some soul searching and I came to the conclusion, I do not know who I am anymore. With all the changes that have occurred, I lost myself. So, I am actively on my quest to find "me" again. I hope to turn up a new and improved Jenn, wife, mother, daughter, friend, and sister.

I joined my gym and got myself a personal trainer. He is fantastic. He has the right level of pushing and praise down. Exactly what I need. While, I know the journey to a smaller Jenn will take quite some time, I am very proud of myself for just taking the first step. I hope to look in the mirror during my journey and be excited at the woman looking back.

I have already discovered that I love having "me" time. I do love to put the kids in the gym childcare and tune out and workout hard! I am rekindling my romance with baking/cooking, though with much healthier items on our menu. I am actively involved in a Bible study that challenges my thinking and I am looking for other hobbies and interests to build myself back up!

It all came down to me realizing that I am "worth it". The God of this universe and the creator of me did not create me to live a life of negativity and dullness. He created me to be joyful in His creation of myself and everything around me. He created me to live life abundantly!

So, now begins the hard work...going to the gym five days a week and a 1600-1800 calorie diet.

Updates..Updates..Updates...

It has been a while since I have updated our blog and with good reason too!

After an absolutely crazy journey with our house, we officially closed on July 22nd! I still cannot believe that we are homeowners. It definitely was a decision that we chose to act on sooner rather than later due to the economy for homebuyers (perfect right now), the cost analysis of buying/renting, and just a feeling of peace after many conversations in prayer. Our house is perfect for us right now. It has a great backyard, near a park, less than 3 miles from Joel's work, and right in the suburbs. We really enjoy it!

Joel has officially opened his very own store! I have to take a moment to say how awesomely proud I am of him. Back when we were just dating, (on another side note August 21st marked 5 years of us being together and 4 years since we got engaged!!) Joel told me his goals and aspirations. He wanted to be a store manager at Kohls within 5 years and if he did not see himself achieving those goals, then he would move onto a different company. Well here we are 5 years later and he is in a much better company fit for him and he has worked super hard over the past two years to make it to having his own store!

Noah is almost 6 months old. In the past few months he started becoming quite mobile. He rolls pretty much anywhere he wants. If he sees an object across the room that he wants, he rolls towards it! He often gets stuck in very odd places, like under our bed and underneath the entertainment center. He is working hard on sitting unassisted and I can just tell he wants to crawl! He has grown like a weed and I am hoping at his appointment this month, we find that he has moved to bigger percentiles. He is still exclusively breastfed. While it was a tough journey in the beginning we have an awesome routine now and I love it! (It gives me a chance to just sit and relax for 10-15 minutes at a time where I would otherwise be running around) He is still sleeping through the night which is totally awesome. We recently tried to introduce solids, but he just was not ready quite yet. He has the sweetest smile and personality...I think he is a keeper!

Nathaniel is almost 2 years old. My baby boy is growing up before my eyes. While his expressive speech is still lacking, he has just excelled in so many other places. He is becoming so very independent. He can pull his pants up, put his shirt on, move the stool to the sink and wash his own hands, brush his teeth, drink from a cup without a lid, and eat with a fork and spoon with minimal spilling. I absolutely love his personality. He cracks me up, he is always doing something silly like dancing and hiding. He loves his dog Sedona and his brother. He has his special sign for I love you and he loves to give kisses. Basically I love this little man :)

I have officially started going to the gym and I love it. It gives me some time to myself and it makes me feel good. I am working hard on losing the baby weight (and some other added weight) to not only be healthier, but to feel good about myself. I am finally back into a somewhat routine and making some awesome meals for my family. I am working on trying to find my place here. I have started looking into moms groups and Bible studies to have some human contact other than little kiddos during the day. I am just trying to find my place and purpose here in our new town!

We are officially cloth diapering both boys. After a lot of research and planning, we made the switch. I absolutely love it! We also use cloth wipes, so we never run out of diapers or wipes. And with two in diapers it is something that is bound to happen if we were using disposables. It may have been a little yucky at first, but we got down a great wash routine and the boys just look super cute in their fluffy bums :) (I have an entire blog post written up on cloth diapers in case anyone is interested or just curious!)

Well I have like two other posts to post today so enjoy and Happy Friday :)

Mommy Confessional

1) Circumstances should not dictate our outlook on life.

2) The way we respond to circumstances should be the same whether it is a positive or negative outcome.

I admit that I have failed miserably at both of those statements this past week. I have allowed our negative situation put me in a foul mood and it has reflected in how I respond to all three of my boys. We are currently situated in a hotel room instead of the house that we are purchasing. Due to a series of unfortunate events, we were delayed in the closing of our house by about a week. I was so angry and just assumed God and the world was out to get me because we could not close on time and I was stuck in a tiny hotel room with two crazy boys.

My husband very gently yet firmly told me that I needed to take a time out and just pray. I was convinced that prayer would do absolutely nothing for me. But I trust him and his advice for me, so I begrudgingly decided to do my daily devotional and pray. Well my devotional of the day was focused on prayer (coincidence, I think not!). The first line of the devotional was this: "Prayer is not meant to change God's mind, but to change ours. Prayer aligns our thinking with God's will." Well right there I was completely convicted. I just broke down and laid it all out to God including my anger for our situation and everything else that was on my mind. I have long since learned that God is the absolute best listener. And after my mind was finally empty, God quieted my heart and guided me in the right direction. I felt a peace that transcends all understanding and felt ready to tackle the rest of my day. I realized that prayer absolutely changes my mind and allows me to follow God wholeheartedly.

I never quite understand why God places certain things in our lives. But I always find out that His purpose and plan is much better for me and my family that what my plan is (was). This week I may not have moved into my new house, but I got to spend a few extra days with my husband that we would have spent apart. I got to spend the week playing with my boys rather than unpacking. And I get to spend a much needed and anticipated night out with good friends. So maybe my plan might have been good, but God's sure was better.

So my confession is that I certainly am not the picture perfect mom that I envision all my friends are. I let my circumstances dictate my emotions and reactions to my family and I am constantly working on fixing that for the future.

Happy Friday :)

A day to celebrate!

I love days where you can just simply rejoice and celebrate in God's blessings. Today is one of those such days....

First Celebration:

Happy Father's day to an amazing father (and equally awesome husband). Father's day was always a special that we celebrated my father, but in the past two years this holiday took on a very different meaning. I married Joel knowing that our lives together would not just be us, but us and a family of kids (4 hopefully). Joel was (and still is) the epitome of a family man. One of the first things he stated when we started dating was that he wanted a family of his own. He was so beyond excited to find out about each of my pregnancies. His eyes fill with love, joy, and pride over his boys. I am so proud of his leadership both at work and at home. I am beyond thankful that he is able to provide financially so I can stay at home with the boys. I am excited to see my little men model after their father over the next years!

Second Celebration:

The dedication of our boys. Each church and religion has a different way of handling children in the faith. Joel and I are firm believers that faith in Christ is a personal decision made by each person when they are fully capable of making that decision on their own. Joel and I will never force "religion" onto our kids but instead guide them in the ways that we believe are true and holy. And our constant prayer is that their hearts will be open to hearing about Christ and will someday make that choice to follow in their faith along with us. The dedication ceremony is a time in which Joel and I make a choice and promise to raise our kids according to the Bible and acknowledging that we will fail as parents, but our guidance and strength come from Christ. It is also a time to allow the church to know of our decision and ask for their help and support along our journey of becoming parents!

Third Celebration:

It has officially been 10 years since I graduated from high school. I feel like an old geezer saying that outloud considering the girls I mentored through the COS high school ministry just graduated high school this year! I can honestly say that the past 10 years have been the absolute best years of my life thus far. High school certainly was not the highlight of my life. I was a total dork back then (I still am, but now I am cool by association b/c my husband and friends run with the cool crowd!). The past ten years I have learned a lot about myself and life. I graduated high school, college, and grad school. I got married, had two kids, and bought a house. I am so thankful for the blessings in my life and look forward to the next ten years!

Fourth Celebration:

My sweet baby boy is now 3 months old. The past three months have gone by super quickly! The first 6 weeks were a blur of recovery, sleepless nights, and adjustments. The following six weeks have been a dream! Noah is by far the sweetest baby I have met. He is a genuinely happy boy. He loves to stare, smile, and laugh. He is sleeping consistently 8-9 hours each night (not sure how that happened, but boy am I happy). He is on a pretty good schedule thus far. We follow the EASY (Eat, Activity, Sleep, You time) schedule and that has been a great help to us. He nurses like a champ and is gaining weight beautifully. He has the cutest chubby cheeks and the cutest rolls in his thighs. His hair stands straight up like a mohawk and it is brownish in color. He is weighing about 12.5 lbs, but we wont know for sure until his checkup in July. He is on the brink of rolling over, but hasn't quite been interested enough to do it yet!

That all makes for a very joyful and exhausting Sunday. We are looking forward to closing on the house sometime in early July. In the meantime we are packing, packing, and more packing....