oh the places you go, october 2010

This fall we have been on more road trips than we ever have, which is just crazy since we have a newborn! Ha! Some days I worry that this sweet child is not going to know where his actual home is but I trust the Lord knew what He was doing when He chose our family for this precious little one. It's actually been incredible to see how Tripp has adjusted to life on the road so well...he gets that from his daddy. :)

Family:

We began our journey heading down to Conway, SC so that Tripp could meet my family. I sadly don't have many pictures from our time there but I did get a few with my mom and grandma. I am so thankful that my grandma (who I call Ma-Ma) got to meet my baby. She has not been doing well for the last year and may not make it through this next year, but I know it was a true highlight in her life to meet her first great-grandchild. I think I will treasure this sweet picture and will love showing Tripp one day how he met my grandmother. Tripp is just 7 weeks old in these pictures.

 

Wedding:

The next leg of our journey took us to Greenville, SC for the wedding of a dear friend. Ashley is a precious girl that I met when she was a freshman and I was a senior at the College of Charleston. I later had the privilege of discipling her when I was on staff with Campus Outreach at the C of C. This weekend was really fun because we got to see so many friends, most of whom had not yet met Tripp.  We also got to see DT's cousin, Hannah, who is in school at Furman University. And to top it off Tripp started giving us full-fledged SMILES. Could you not just eat him up???

Hannah and her friend, Jordan

 some of our favorite friends

 

 our only family photo. as you can see, tripp was the life of the party

 

celebrating ashley's last single-lady night, cowgirl style

me with the cowgirl bride

Halloween :)

I am not the biggest fan of Halloween, but I sure do love an occasion to dress up. And how fun that this year we have the cutest little pumpkin in the patch??? This pumpkin outfit was literally the first thing we owned for Tripp. DT's mom, Su-Su, found it in January last year on clearance at Stein Mart and it was the perfect size. Since you can't really take an infant trick-or-treating (we all know that would really be just building up a candy stash for Mom and Dad, ha!) I took Tripp with me to help me throw my friend Betsy's bridal shower. He was a huge help, or at least he provided lots of entertainment for all the fun college girls there.

...and this was only the beginning of our crazy traveling adventures....

weeks 6-13

 

 

Can you tell how much he's grown already??? It's unbelievable to me that my sweet baby is already 3 months old!

Sweet Tripp - 

These weeks were very full and busy. Not only were you busy growing and changing, but our family was busy traveling so that all our friends and family could meet you and love on you. You didn't start off as a great traveler, but over these weeks you have become much more relaxed and "go with the flow." 

You reached so many milestones in such a short time! During week 7 you really began responding to us. Your first smiles were so sweet and so precious to us. We enjoyed just sitting and talking to you and watching you begin "talk" back. Over weeks 7 to 9 you really discovered your voice. It was so fun listening to you squealing and gurgling. You made some really funny noises. One of our favorites is when you go "hoooo, hooo" like a hoot owl! You really love to talk...I think you came by that one honest thanks to your Daddy. :)

You hold your head up really well during tummy time, though it is still not your favorite thing to do. You love playing under your play gym and you talk to the animals that hang over your head. It's been so fun watching you begin reaching for them and clinging when you actually get ahold of them. Around 10 weeks you began bicycling your legs, especially in the bath. You still love your bath so much and you have started splashing around like crazy. No matter how cranky you are I know I can give you a bath and you will become a different baby. You still love your hand and prefer it over your pacifier. You can't quite get your thumb yet, but I am almost certain you will get it soon. Your hair had almost all fallen out by 6 weeks, but were pleasantly surprised that it has begin to grow back really quickly and you have almost as much as you started with by week 13. Weeks 12 and 13 were big milestones for you as well. You started to roll yourself over from your back to your tummy. You aren't doing it often, but I know it won't be long. You also discovered your feet! It's so funny to watch you stare at them and rub them together like they are hands! You also have discovered the talent of "bubble blowing" with your spit. It's funny now, but I don't know how fun that will be in the future. Your salivary glands have kicked in and you are officially now a slobber monster. 

If you can't tell precious boy already I'll just state it plainly. In your 3 short months of life you have absolutely captivated both your Momma and Daddy. We are so in love with you. Your Daddy says all the time, "He is the coolest guy I know!" He is incredible with you and I know you will respect and admire him so much each day. You two will be the best of friends. We are so blessed by you and we thank Jesus each day for allowing us the privilege of raising you. We love you so much!

-Momma & Daddy

 

the first 6 weeks

No better way to begin this post than with this PRECIOUS picture. How adorable is this baby? If you can't already tell I am completely head-over-heels for this sweet boy. I'm finally getting around to recording the first three months of his life, but I'm actually going to do it in only two posts divided into the first 6 weeks and the second 6 weeks.

Precious Tripp -

The first six weeks of your life flew by faster than we ever could have imagined. We just soaked up every day (hour and minute) of time with you. We just couldn't get enough! Both of us loved just holding you while you slept. We would find ourselves staring at you and we would say to each other, "This is OUR baby!" Neither of us had the first idea what we were doing with you, and the challenges of life with a newborn really stretched us. But we experienced each day the grace that God gives to us to sustain and grow us up in Him and as parents.

You were born with a sweet round and ruddy face and a head of strawberry hair. We were sad to see that hair very quickly start to fall out, mostly on top of your head. You ended up looking like a little old man for awhile! You had a HUGE head...so big in fact that it was hard for me to get your newborn clothes (which were the only ones that fit your body) over it. You were a little furry when you entered the world and we had a sweet bear hat that someone gave us for you, both prompting us to start calling you Buddy Bear. It has stuck since and we hope that you know your name is Tripp and not Buddy Bear.

LUNGS, boy do you have 'em! From the moment you entered the world you wanted everyone to know you were here. Your cries were loud and strong and have continued that way :)

You were such a great eater from day 1. We both had some issues to work through with nursing, but you kept trying when many babies would have given up. You were aggressive and strong in this from early on. Your daddy and I are wondering if we will look back and see your personality in this trait. Will you be a strong and assertive man? We are eager to see how God has made your little mind and heart.

You are a very particular baby. You love sleeping in your own crib and you operate best on a good routine schedule. You are thrown off easily by schedule changes. You enjoy being home so much. Consistency is definitely the key to peacefulness for you.

By 6 weeks you were holding your head up pretty well. You began realizing that your hands belonged to you and you were trying really hard to get them into your mouth! You did not love being swaddled at all. You would fight your way out of it! You were very hot-natured. Often I would find you with the back of your head sweating in your car seat or when you were wrapped in a blanket.

Your first 6 weeks were such a time of growth for me and your dad as well. We took a huge step in learning how to be partners and support each other. We grew closer together because of the gift of your life! We love you sweet boy :)

...and part 3...

...and this is what I looked like just before being wheeled down to surgery. DT insisted upon getting a picture of this most fabulous hairnet. It's so weird they make you wear that thing. Anyway...

Less than 30 minutes after the doctor declared we were going to get our baby I was on the operating table. There is no way I can adequately record what happened in there because I was so overwhelmed with emotions and drugs. I just remember clinging to my sweet husband's hand and feeling the pressure of the baby being released from my belly. At that exact moment my emotions from the whole experience came out with him. I was overwhelmed with pure joy and uncontrollable tears. Dr. Creighton lifted Tripp above the curtain and told DT to stand up. DT held both hands straight up in the air and yelled, "He's awesome!" They cleaned him up enough for DT to bring him around the curtain. The feeling in that moment can only be paralleled by what I felt when I walked down the aisle toward DT on our wedding day. LOVE...the closest thing to unconditional love that we are humanly capable of. We had a few sweet moments with Tripp before he and DT went to get him weighed and cleaned up. I hope these moments are never erased from my memory. My sweet husband holding our precious first-born baby, both of us in tears and so in love.

As DT and I shared the story with our family and friends over the next few days we were reminded of the love our Father has for us. Tripp has done nothing to earn our love, in fact he really does nothing but take from us, and yet we love him with every fiber of our being already. If we love Tripp this way then how much must our Father in heaven love us? We have done nothing to earn His love and in fact we done everything for Him to not love us. And yet He loves! So much hat He sent Jesus, His own Son, to live and die for us and to conquer death that we might die to sin and inherit His righteousness. Tripp's birth truly led us to worship Jesus for all He is and all He has done for us. We are incredibly thankful God blessed us with the opportunity to give Tripp his earthly life and we pray God will give us the wisdom, love and grace to lead him towards Jesus, who will give him eternal life!

For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. 

2 Corinthians 5:21

This is my fabulous doctor, Dr. Creighton with me and Tripp at my 6-week post-partum checkup. We are so thankful for her wisdom and leadership!

 

 

 

 

 

 

...part 2...

I'll start off today with another really cute picture. It's already hard to remember him being this small and he's only 12 weeks old! Actually today is Tripp's 12 week old birthday. I am so thankful for how healthy he is and how much he has grown, but I wish I could bottle up moments like these and go back and experience him in his first days of life again. But now to get back to the story...

 

 The epidural...oh man that was an experience. I've never had any serious medical procedures done before (never even broken a bone), so I was a little nervous. However, I was beyond exhausted so I just hugged my pillow and didn't move AT ALL while the anesthesiologist put it in. It was really strange not being able to feel or move my legs, but I was so thankful for the pain relief and for the ability to rest. 

Around 4:30pm the doctor came in and said she was pretty concerned because I was still not really progressing in labor. It had been a pretty long time since my water had broken and because I couldn't feel the strength of my contractions anymore she wasn't able to tell much with the external monitor. She began internal monitoring to see better what was going on. She was so kind, knowing full well that I was committed to having a normal delivery. She encouraged us to talk together while she was out watching my monitors. She said we needed to begin considering plan B, which would be a c-section, if I did not begin dilating soon. 

Those few moments of time were really precious for the two of us. A c-section was the LAST thing I had wanted or anticipated for my delivery. If you know me well you know that I tend to not respond well when things don't go according to plan or seem out of control. In this moment, however, God was so gracious to give me an out-of-the-ordinary perspective of trust in Him. DT and I both really experienced God' grace ministering to us in that short 30 minutes in the hospital room alone. We prayed together and I was able to relinquish my plan and we chose to let the Lord lead us through our doctor. We decided after praying that if the doctor thought it best we would go forward with the section.

She came back shortly (in a much shorter time than she had said she would) and let us know that she was very concerned because my contractions were strong enough for me to be in full labor. She then said that my cervix was lengthening, which was strange, because it appeared now that my labor was going backwards. She explained that she felt like there was something going on inside that was impeding the baby from engaging and she had serious doubt that I would be able to deliver him normally. She took such care to explain the c-section and answer all my millions of questions. We also had a WONDERFUL nurse who walked with us through this whole ordeal and answered all the questions we forgot to ask the doctor. They both were so committed to us having a good experience and went the extra mile for us. 

We told the doctor that we were comfortable with doing the section if she thought it best. The peace I felt in telling her that was truly unexplainable. I am overwhelmed even as I'm writing because I see God was so near to us the whole process. I will never forget her response, "Let's go get him!"

the day (or days, ha!) Tripp arrived...part 1

I have been wanting to get this down for oh, the last 3 months, but have been crazy busy figuring out this whole baby thing. Now that things have slowed down and we are getting into some kind of a routine I am excited to take the time to look back at how Tripp came into the world. The whole process was such a life "moment" for both me and DT. No matter how many birth stories you hear, it will never prepare you for what your own personal experience will be like. I am so terrible at remembering small details unless I write them down as soon after as I can. I am sad that it's taken me this long to do it, because I know I will leave out some of it, but this is my effort to capture one of the most incredible days of our lives :) I'm going to do it over the course of a few posts, because it will get long I'm sure. Hopefully the pictures of this cute baby will make you want to keep reading...in fact, I'll stick one in now!

August 11th, 2010 - DT and I were spending a few nights with our great friends, the Butlers in Durham, NC because we were in staff training. I was only about a week out from my due date, but had no signs of this little guy arriving so we thought we would be pretty safe. We had just gone through a crazy ordeal just the week before as DT contracted at staph infection on his face and ended up having surgery and staying the hospital for a few days. That put us pretty behind in preparing for the baby. Just in case anything happened I packed up all that I could think of to take to the hospital. We threw the car seat in the car, still uninstalled, but we were certain we weren't going to need it. I had to twist DT's arm to even get him to do that because he was SO SURE nothing would happen. Boy were we wrong...

Around 10pm on August 11th my water broke at the Butler's house. We were really  both shocked because we were fully anticipating a late arrival from Baby House. But here we were 5 days early and the ball was rolling. After I finally convinced DT that this was in fact the "real thing," we called the doctor and she confirmed that we needed to head on over to the hospital. I surprised myself by being pretty calm and actually decided to take a few minutes alone to kind of get my thoughts and heart together. DT on the other hand immediately went into adrenaline mode (he loves adventure and excitement, so this was right up his alley) and started flying around trying to get us ready to go. We had to repack bags and try to make sure we had the essentials...there wasn't much time for anything else. We were about to get in the car to drive to the hospital and Bowe came running out of the door with DT's shoes! Ha! Needless to say, Daddy was very excited!

We arrived at the hospital a little after 11pm and they took us directly back to a room. The hooked me up to the monitor and we began the waiting game. We were sure we'd have a baby by early morning. It's so funny looking back on all the things we were "sure" of, because the Lord certainly had a story for us that was way outside of what we could have predicted. I contracted all night, sleeping intermittently between the monitoring. At 7:30am  the doctor came in for my first real check. We learned that I was only 50% effaced and had not dilated at all. This was our first glimpse of what a long journey this was going to be. I had hoped to avoid Pitocin, but the doctor convinced me that it would be wise to begin it at this point because of the risk of infection. Within the next hour the contractions really started rolling and I was in full labor. I continued to labor without meds until 1 that afternoon. I was in pretty good pain, but mostly was overwhelmingly exhausted from being awake so long. After a second check, we found I had only dilated to 2cm and realized that we still had a long way to go. We decided I would get an epidural so I would have strength for the delivery when it came time to push...

Part 2 tomorrow....

introducing...

David Thomas House, III

"Tripp"

August 12, 2010 at 6:35 pm

7 pounds, 4 ounces

21 1/2 inches

That's one proud Daddy!

and this is one tired, but so-in-love Momma