Introducing: Micah Jacob Barber

It seems unreal to me that 14 days ago our little Micah was born, how time flies when you're taking care of a newborn & a 16 month old! We made it all the way to the scheduled c section of April 10th, which was awesome but I was SO ready to be done being pregnant. 

Micah Jacob Barber
April 10th @ 11:14am
6lbs 11 oz 18.5 in

We arrived at the hospital at 6:30am that day, I was scheduled for surgery at 8:30, but there was an emergency that came in that pushed it back to 10:30. While waiting I was just trying to keep calm, after my nurse attempted twice to put an IV in I requested for another nurse to try... third times a charm! I felt like this was not a good start to this process. Before we knew it, I was meeting my surgical team and I joked with the male nurse that was going to be by my side during the process. Next thing I was on the operating table sitting as they prepared for my spinal, this process took a little longer than expect and boy was that an uncomfortable way for my little 9 month pregnant body to sit! Finally they got it in and laid be back on the table, next thing I knew JC was by my side and we were anxiously waiting to hear our son's cry! 

First time meeting mommy!

The doctor asked JC if he wanted to see his boy, so JC peeked over the blue curtain and to his surprise saw just Micah's head sticking out of my stomach... c section deliveries are not for the weak of stomach! The next thing we heard was, boy he's got a lot of hair... what a little cutie! They really had to bug him to get him to cry, I looked over to my left and saw him just chillin on the warming table relaxed as could be! My doctor told Micah "you might even give your sister a run for her money with how cute you are!" 
We were filled with joy & relief having a baby boy safely in our arms! We were missing Kylie all morning and couldn't wait for her to meet her little brother! As the days followed, Micah proved to be very stubborn when it came to eating... he dropped more than 12% of his birth weight, so we had to stay in the hospital for 4 days. He was also born tongue tied, so they did a quick procedure in my hospital room to clip it.  
We are enjoying being a family of 4, we are exhausted haha but enjoying it none the less! We enjoy watching Kylie give her brother kisses and touch his little feet! Here are some pics of the happenings over the last couple weeks! 
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, blessings to you my friends!

XOXO Bee

Big sister checking him out! 

Happy family of four! 

Hello bright eyes! 

Birthday cupcake from auntie Cassie! 

Little fuzzy head! 

cuddling with daddy! 

Hey handsome Micah! 

Big Sister ready to take her little bro home! 

Happy and SO ready to be going home! 

Kisses for brother! 

A tired mommy with her two babes! 

Ready for my weight check! 

Being 10 days old is exhausting! 

Daddy's little monster! 

Big sister has adjusted well to the arrival of little brother,
but still enjoys her one on one time with mommy & daddy! 

Wordless Wednesday

Hello March! Could it be baby month?!

I really want to get better at writing more often on here, it's hard because I am busy with our peanut all day! Any way I thought I would do a quick update on our little man and life in general! 

I am currently 34 wks pregnant with our little man and feeling pretty good.. this has by far been the easiest pregnancy for me. Of course I am at that point where I am ready to be done being pregnant! Little man is healthy, practicing breathing, moving a ton and last ultrasound to measure growth he was measuring almost a week ahead! He has been my most active baby & its fun to feel him wiggle, hiccup & kick! We are now going to the doctors once a week and have an ultrasound done, non stress test and see a doctor. Love the ultrasound because we get to see him, yesterday the tech told us that he has lots of hair haha imagine that another one of our children with lots of hair! I absolutely hate the non-stress test... I lay (and not in a comfortable position) with monitor hooked up to me to take his heartbeat/movement and if I'm having any contractions. Our little man is stubborn, so what should only take 30 mins, takes up to an hour to an hour and a half! Thankfully JC's work has allowed for him to be with me during my Tuesday appointments, so he can take care of Kylie during the time I'm hooked up. Yesterday she fell asleep in daddy's arms for about a half hour and I know he was loving every minute of it! 

Speaking of our precious girl, Kylie continues to entertain us and surprise us with things that she has learned! After weeks of anticipating her walking, she finally took her first real steps on valentine's day! She is now always on the go, it's fun to watch her walk and learn how to balance (I was hoping she would walk before her brother arrived!) One morning as we were saying bye to daddy, she surprised us by blowing him kisses (something she's seen us do, but we never taught her) she understand when I ask her in the morning if she's ready for her bath and walks over to the steps to go upstairs. She absolutely loves Ripley (my father in laws golden retriever) and gives him attention and love everyday, Currently she is cuddling with him in his kennel! Zeke will give her kisses, but prefers his distance from her. He has been acting like a big baby lately and I think it's because he can sense another little one will be arriving soon! 

So, life is busy and we are busy preparing for little man's arrival and getting excited to meet him! With my blood pressure always being my issue... they are watching that closely and we are kind of just waiting for them to say it's time to deliver. We are hoping to make it to 37 weeks so we can deliver here in Keene and not have to drive 2 hrs to the other hospital. Here are some pics of life lately, I hope to blog at least one more time before little man arrives! I hope you are having an awesome week my friends!

XOXO Bee

Little man at 33 weeks

First big girl steps! 

loving on Ripley!

First sleepover with cousin Cam, she did awesome! 

Soaking up as much time with her before little man gets here!

She Reads Truth.

As this new year started I was looking for a devotional that would really get me into the word and challenge my faith and they way I see God. I was suggested this website about a year a go but never really looked into it until now. I bought their study on the book of John and have really enjoyed studying the word. Nice thing about this devo is that you don't need to purchase anything you can just go straight to their website and study along with them! Just wanted to share a bit of my dev from yesterday with you;

"I have seen the lord lead me through this darkness before. I know I am filled with His spirit and His presence. He will never leave me. His spirit stirs my heart to continue into the beautiful unknown. I notice His fingers still intertwined with mine as I take one small step forward."
                                                                   ~ She Reads Truth

The women who write on the shereadstruth.com website have such a beautiful way of painting pictures with their words and relating it to the scriptures. I hope you'll check them out and be inspired like I am! Blessings on this very snowy New England day!

XOXO Bee

{TRUTH} 2015

Looking back on 2014, I had chosen the word "JOY" to be my word of the year... thinking I finally have a baby to hold in my arms this year is going to be full of Joy! Little did I know that God's plan for last year were quite different than the way I had pictured it.

I started out the new year (exactly one month after Kylie was born) checking my self into the hospital for sever postpartum depression and would stay there for five very eye opening days.God met me there in ways I have trouble explaining, but He was there with me in that all white hospital room as I sat on my bed reading my Bible and praying that God would heal my mind and correct my thinking. By the grace of God (and good depression medicine) I began to come out of my depression fog. 

Words can not describe to you the love and appreciation I have for my husband as he took care of our newborn daughter for five days by himself and never once judged me for deciding to check myself into the hospital. He was always full of encouraging words and loved me through some of my absolute worst days. This depression that took hold of me not only consumed my mind, but my body (made me feel physically sick) and challenge my faith in God more than ever before. Knowing that depression had been the ultimate thing that consumed my Mom and made her take her own life, I knew I had to be proactive and truthful with myself and how sick I really was. 

As you know our year went on and shortly after feeling better, JC was let of his job and our next move was moving in with his dad in NH. Having been married and on our own for about 3.5 years, it was and still is an adjustment to not have our own place. However we know that God placed us here at this time for a specific reason.

As JC and I fumbled our way through our first year as parents and living with a parent, I found running to be an unbelievable stress reliever and enjoyed doing it so much while pushing Kylie in her stroller. (I'm excited to get back into running after baby boy arrives!) Any way I took on new physical challenges and struggled with my faith and felt a little lost this summer wondering what God had in store for us... little did I know that we would be blessed with another baby!

As we head into 2015 I have chosen another word for this year, it's one that I know will challenge me all year. TRUTH... knowing in my heart of hearts that God is with me always and being truthful with myself and where I am in life. I just want this year to be about being true to myself, in what I believe in and in challenging myself to live healthier and push myself to becoming a better version of myself. 

Wow that sounds a little overwhelming now looking back at it, but life is really about taking each day one at a time, counting your blessings & thanking God that His mercies are new every single morning! I think I'm done rambling for the night... but just wanted to share where I am at and how excited I am about this new year ahead of us! I pray that you may find your one word to live by this year and that it may challenge you and show you new things each day! Blessings to you my friends!

XOXO Bee

New devotional journal I've started though SheReadsTruth.com
Loving it so far! 

Incase you were wondering about little man, he is doing great, growing
right on track & last ultrasound they saw no bright bowel.
We are so very thankful for this healthy little boy and CAN NOT
wait for him to join our family! 

Our Kylie Joy is getting more personality everyday, making us laugh
and we think she will be walking very soon! (oh boy!)

Our Kylie girl is ONE!

This post is way past due, but I had some technical difficulties getting the pictures down loaded on my computer. Our baby girl is ONE, I can not believe how fast this year has gone by and how much our girl has changed and learned! She truly does fill our lives with SO much JOY! 
When she was born she was:

weight: 6 lbs 3 oz
length: 18.5 inches

At 1 year she is:
weight: 18.5 lbs
length: 28 inches

She loves:
to clap, dance,
say "hi" and wave, giving her 
stuffed animals & baby dolls hugs, getting kisses from Zeke, when daddy gets home from work, hanging out with mommy all day, and watching her cousin Cam play & run around! She just started getting her first tooth about a week before she turned one (a late teether like her mommy) She is working on walking, but prefers to crawl at this point... she has figured out how to get up a couple of stairs to our surprise! Over all she is a very content baby and loves to giggle and play! We are working on transitioning from formula to whole milk, which as of right now she still prefers her formula. She loves to fed herself, even though it can get pretty messy sometimes! She is very good at keeping herself occupied and playing on her own. We are excited to see how she reacts to having a new brother, but we are sure she will be a wonderful, loving sibling! Here are some pictures from her birthday party with family! Enjoy & happy new year my friends!

XOXO Bee

A Different Season in Life.

Since moving to NH about 9 months ago life has changed for us dramatically in my eyes. As we arrived here we attended church and JC got involved with the worship band here which was great! He then started working at Noyes Volkswagen in town and we were so thankful God had provided a job! However since JC took this job, he now works 8-5 mon-fri & 8-12 on Saturdays... so you can figure out pretty quickly that we don't see much of each other especially with me working 5-9 most weeknights ( I've cut back to only two nights now!) at Walgreens. We are making ends meet and so very thankful for JC's dad, who took us in and we love that Kylie gets to see her grandpa everyday.

Our life now consists of Sunday being the only full day that we together as a family... so we have not attended church in months. Which is strange to me because ever since we have been married some part of our lives has been about ministry. So I find myself feeling a bit lost these days... all I have known the past two plus years is being a youth pastor's wife. I loved being this role in the church and the opportunity to minister to kids of all ages. So life is different, I feel a bit out of sorts, but I am working on my faith and praying that God reveals something major during this season in life.

Being blessed with another baby during this season is a wonderful gift, I feel externally blessed, yes I also feel overwhelmed at having children 16 months apart and living with JC's dad during this time. I know that God has blessed us with another baby for a very special reason and I'm so thrilled to meet this little man this spring!! On that note we received the results from the genetic testing they did on my blood and everything came back negative... so God willing we will be blessed with a perfectly healthy little man! We were relieved and thankful to hear this news!

So as time goes on in this season of life, I just pray that I will continue to keep my eyes on God and know he has only the best intentions for our life! Becoming a mommy has blessed me in ways I never thought possible and certainly puts life into perspective! Just some thought on this gloomy New England Saturday for you my friends! May this weekend be full of blessings for you!
Well we are off to get our Christmas tree when JC gets home from work... excited to share this season of advent with Kylie this year!

XOXO Bee