Homesick

I'm definitely homesick. 

I miss being around family and friends. 

I miss being able to pick up the phone and arranging a meet up. 

I miss stopping by my mom's house just to see her. 

I miss my nieces. 

I miss my sister.

I miss my friends.

I miss the familiarity of my home town.

I miss Georgia. Period.

I have enjoyed living in South Carolina. We plan on staying here a bit longer. It makes sense to be here right now. But I still have moments of being emotional and just wanting to be "home" again. 

Now that we have 4 kids under age 5 it gets a bit hectic... and with a newborn in the house it's a bit exhausting. I would give anything to be able to pick up the phone and call my mom and ask for a couple of hours of her help. But I can't. 

And that makes me even more homesick right now. 

I find myself getting super jealous when I see or hear of friends spending time with other friends. 

It's not that I don't want them spending time with other friends, but I miss having that same experience. 

I miss spending time with my friends dangit. 

Today is probably a terrible day to write a blog because I've been up since 3am with Landry and Zachary is officially out of school (which means all 4 kids here all day). 

I'm living off fumes for sure. 

So my emotions are whacked.... 

Tomorrow will be better I'm sure... 

I just really needed to get everything on "paper" so I didn't have a nervous breakdown this evening. ;) 

Graduation

Almost 6 years ago I gave birth to the most precious baby boy. 

Josh and I named him Zachary. 

He was an answered prayer and brought more joy to our lives than we could ever imagine. 

This morning he graduated from Kindergarten. 

It's such a bittersweet moment watching him get his "diploma". 

He has grown from a sweet loving precious baby to a sweet loving precious boy. 

He has become a big brother x3. And what an amazing big brother he is! 

He loves wrestling, super hero's and nintendo. 

He may be getting bigger in size... but I'm pretty sure he'll always be my sweet precious 8lb 9oz little boy... 

Being A Mother To All Boys

I've always pictured myself raising a daughter at some point. 

I imagine bows, pony's and barbies. 

Lace and Curls filling the house... 

God had another plan for my life. 

He instead blessed me with all boys. 

4 boys to be exact. 

Instead of bows and barbies our home is filled with insanely noisy, dirty filled, sword fighting, monster hunting, bug collecting little boys. 

And it's awesome. So Thank you God. 

It's true when they say God gives you exactly what you need instead of everything you want. 

I could not have imagined more perfect children to be a part of my life. 

God has given me Zachary, my insanely deep hearted little boy who's imagination amazes me. The love he has at such a small age is something I pray carries on into his adult life. The older he gets the more teary eyed I get as my sweet baby boy is now a spunky little man. 

God has given me Brennon, my sweet precious little boy who has more energy than I could ever imagine having. He brings a smile to my face daily with his sense of humor. He isn't afraid to sing and dance in fear someone will laugh, in fact, I think he enjoys every second of the attention. :) 

God has given me Tripp, my amazingly fearless little boy. He will be the one who wraps his arms around you if he sees you upset and the first to give out kisses and hugs randomly. He brings such joy to our home. His best friends are his brothers but his heart I believe will always belong to his mama. 

God has now given me Landry. Such a small sweet precious little baby boy. I look at him sleeping or nursing and can't imagine him being anything but perfect for our family. I am so excited to watch him grow with our family and see what kind of little guy he grows up to be. 

Before God blessed me with my boys, God blessed me with Josh. The first boy to fill my heart with pure love. I see Josh in each of our children, and it fills my heart with joy. I loved Josh before we ever had children, but with each little person we bring into this family, I believe I love him more and more. 

He is my other half. He is my rock. He keeps me going on days I feel overwhelmed. I know that he will always be there for me, and for our boys. 

God truly knew what He was doing when he gave me my boys. He had a plan for my life, and while at times I didn't understand it, He knew it would be perfect. 

I have to learn to trust Him more in my life. He's never let me down, and I know He isn't going to start now. 

I will be forever grateful that God is allowing me to raise these children. If he never sees fit to bless our home with a daughter, I know it's His plan and I'm okay with that. In fact, my heart is so filled with love with these guys that I can't imagine anything but a home filled with men. :) 

It's a......

IT'S A

BOY!!!

Landry Owen was born Friday May 5, 2012 at 1:43pm via VBAC. 

He weighed 7lbs 2oz and was 20 1/2" long. 

Labor was hell but delivery was super easy. 

I had a doctor appointment on Thursday May 4th. Ultrasound showed baby was approximately 6lbs 10oz and doing great. OBGYN appointment showed I was contracting and dilated to 3. The doctor stripped my membranes and I went home. I immediately started to feel the contractions more. I labored all day with light contractions about 5 minutes apart. This lasted until around 8:00pm that night, when I realized they had jumped to every 1-2 minutes apart. I labored at home with what I would consider medium contractions for the next couple of hours before loading the older kids up and taking them to my dad's house to stay the night while Josh and I went to the hospital. 

We made it to the hospital around 11:00pm. Contractions were showing regular at every 2-3 minutes apart but nothing much was changing. At midnight (or a little there after) they sent us home. Josh and I decided we would ride 10 minutes down the road and walk around Wal-Mart for an hour to see if the contractions would become more intense. Boy did they!! I felt "wet" in my underwear after walking for about 10 minutes in Wal-Mart and made a pit stop by the bathroom. I realized at the point my underwear and shorts were completely covered in blood. I immediately called the doctor back. We were told to come back immediately. 

When we got back to the hospital we were both very nervous that something may be wrong. We were assured it was normal and what I was going through was a very heavy "bloody show". 

I was hooked up to an IV and given a bag of fluids. Contractions were VERY intense at this point and very close together. I was experiencing severe nausea and a small pink bowl become my best friend. By 1am I was being admitted for the long haul. 

I labored on my own until 5am on Friday morning. I was exhausted and at that point begging for an epidural. Once the epidural was placed, I was great. I was able to move my legs (couldn't walk on them of course) but felt enough to know when I was having contractions but not in so much pain I wasn't enjoying my birthing experience. It was perfect. :) 

By 1:00pm I knew things were coming along. I had become VERY sick again. I was checked told I was 8cm. I knew things would speed along at that point. 

Within a few minutes I felt the sensation to push. Everyone and their brothers came in and the doctor wanted to see how I pushed. I pushed once and little Landry was crowing. I pushed 2 more times and he was here! The smoothest delivery to date. We had decided to do delay cord clamping and I was going to have him placed on me for as long as possible right after delivery. 

Those moments were amazing! I nursed him and enjoyed every second of those moments. 

After about 30 minutes, they took him and weighed him. He received a bath much later when we were in our room upstairs. 

We did have some issues yesterday when Landry refused to poop for us. Late last night (around 7pm) he finally gave us a bowel moment and we were given the clear to go home. 

(Turns out he had a "knot" of poop that took a lot longer to pass- but he's making up for it now!) :) 

He is a nursing champ and since being home is sleeping great. 

The brothers are so excited to have another brother too! 

I never thought I would be so overjoyed to bring another little guy into this house but I honestly can't imagine having anything but exactly what God has given me. If we choose to have more children, I wouldn't mind having another boy at this point. A daughter isn't what will make this family complete. Turns out, it doesn't matter what is under the diaper... My heart is full of love for this little person. :) 

Now.. time to spam you all with pictures. :) 

I <3 my epidural. 

Big ol' belly about to be gone.

Meeting Landry for the first time. 

He was content as a bug right here... 

He stared at me for the entire 30 minutes... 

Daddy trying to figure out how Landry looks like.

Nana and Landry

Granny and Landry

Excited to nurse again. :)

First Bath

Zachary meeting his brother for the first time. 

Tripp could have seriously cared less about Landry. 

Our first family picture with Landry. :)

Brennon meeting his brother Landry for the first time.

Still pregnant

I am 37 weeks and a few days pregnant. 

And I cant believe I'm still baking this kid. 

Zachary was born at 38 weeks. 

Brennon at 37 and a couple of days

Tripp at 36 and a few days...

I just assumed I would have this little one early too. 

I assumed wrong. 

So here I sit.. bouncing on the birthing ball trying to move this little one down as far as he'll go. 

Contractions come and go but nothing worth even typing about at this point. 

The back pain is becoming unbearable. I pulled a muscle around Easter in my back... below my left shoulder blade. It hasn't healed like I would have hoped. Since then I have been fighting with the back pain... too darn stubborn to take the pain medicine like I should... 

I've been trying to evict this kid for the past few days now... and he's not budging!! 

Hopefully my next update will be filled with a name and pictures for you. 

:)