Here's Sam getting to hold Nate for the first time. He was very interested, though a little distracted with Elmo on the TV.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Ramblings from a new mommy of 2
WARNING: The days after giving birth are filled with a whirlwind of emotions combined with hormones and lack of sleep. So the ramblings below will only testify to the fact that I may seem a little crazy right now. Believe me....I know. I can't even speak to my husband without sobbing. My poor two year old just stares at me and says "hey momma!" in the biggest grin. That can cure any hormonal meltdown.
Let me say this...I "thought" I knew what it would be like bringing Nate home. Jared and I had talked for months now about how excited we were to meet Nate and to see him grow and play with Sam. We even told ourselves to expect him to be different from Sam...you know every kid is different from their sibling. They all have their own little personalities and we were so excited to find out what Nate's little personality was going to be like. That being said, let's rewind to two years ago almost to the day. We brought Sam home and just like in the hospital he woke to feed faithfully every 4 hours. Yes. I'm serious. Every 4 hours. For those of you who don't know...that's amazing. We were able to get 4 hour stretches of sleep. People told me to "sleep when the baby sleeps" and things like that but I honestly never did. I felt rested and thought to myself...I can do this. I loved loved loved being at home with him and it was the hardest thing to go back to school. That being said, let's fast forward two years to present day. We brought Nate home and he woke up every 2 hours to feed. Every 2 hours! Sometimes he could make it to 2 1/2 but most of the time it was a stretch to make it to 2. So needless to say, Jared and I were both exhausted out of our minds. I had been put on bed rest about a week and a half before so Jared had literally been doing everything around the house. While in the hospital, it was a harder recovery than with Sam. I felt like I had a heavier dose of the spinal epidural and it took me forever to regain feeling in my legs. It also meant that I had uncontrollable itching (which I had with Sam but not near as bad), which they in turn gave me medicine for, which in turn made me sleepy, which in turn made me feel like a zombie. The recovery process is still a long process. I'm still not able to sit up on my own, which makes for getting out of bed very difficult. I say all of this because everything this go round has been DIFFERENT. If you know me at all, you know one thing. I like stability. I like constant. I do not like CHANGE. I had thought I had prepared myself for another little baby. I thought I was ready. Boy, was I wrong. Nothing can prepare you for a baby. Whether it's one or more than one.
As I was sitting in the recliner yesterday morning, it hit me. There are literally millions of people who would give anything to feel what I'm feeling. Even though I'm overwhelmed and scared and nervous and all of those new mommy feelings all over again. I sat there and just prayed. Prayed over my boys that they would be blessed with a long life and that I would be blessed to be around for it all. I don't know if other people think this way, but I have the most awful fears of dying before I get to see my children grow up or even worse that they die before that time comes. I can't even begin to think about that without mentally and emotionally freaking out and falling on my knees in prayer. So even though things are different and it will take a while to get adjusted, I'm so thankful for the blessing that God has given us. Nate is such a sweet boy already. He's going to be tough because his big brother is already ready to wrestle with him. I pray more than anything, that he would love and serve the Lord and that he would live a life worthy of God's calling. Anything beyond that is just extra blessings from God.
So there you have it...some jumbled up thoughts going through my head. Please don't think that I'm complaining because I'm not. Blogging for me is an outlet. It's a tool that God uses to reveal things about myself and Himself. Putting things out there in cyber world and even just typing them helps me realize more about myself (good & bad) than most other things so please be understanding of that.
Hopefully the next post will be more coherent and clear. But for now...this is what we get.
~Elizabeth
Let me say this...I "thought" I knew what it would be like bringing Nate home. Jared and I had talked for months now about how excited we were to meet Nate and to see him grow and play with Sam. We even told ourselves to expect him to be different from Sam...you know every kid is different from their sibling. They all have their own little personalities and we were so excited to find out what Nate's little personality was going to be like. That being said, let's rewind to two years ago almost to the day. We brought Sam home and just like in the hospital he woke to feed faithfully every 4 hours. Yes. I'm serious. Every 4 hours. For those of you who don't know...that's amazing. We were able to get 4 hour stretches of sleep. People told me to "sleep when the baby sleeps" and things like that but I honestly never did. I felt rested and thought to myself...I can do this. I loved loved loved being at home with him and it was the hardest thing to go back to school. That being said, let's fast forward two years to present day. We brought Nate home and he woke up every 2 hours to feed. Every 2 hours! Sometimes he could make it to 2 1/2 but most of the time it was a stretch to make it to 2. So needless to say, Jared and I were both exhausted out of our minds. I had been put on bed rest about a week and a half before so Jared had literally been doing everything around the house. While in the hospital, it was a harder recovery than with Sam. I felt like I had a heavier dose of the spinal epidural and it took me forever to regain feeling in my legs. It also meant that I had uncontrollable itching (which I had with Sam but not near as bad), which they in turn gave me medicine for, which in turn made me sleepy, which in turn made me feel like a zombie. The recovery process is still a long process. I'm still not able to sit up on my own, which makes for getting out of bed very difficult. I say all of this because everything this go round has been DIFFERENT. If you know me at all, you know one thing. I like stability. I like constant. I do not like CHANGE. I had thought I had prepared myself for another little baby. I thought I was ready. Boy, was I wrong. Nothing can prepare you for a baby. Whether it's one or more than one.
As I was sitting in the recliner yesterday morning, it hit me. There are literally millions of people who would give anything to feel what I'm feeling. Even though I'm overwhelmed and scared and nervous and all of those new mommy feelings all over again. I sat there and just prayed. Prayed over my boys that they would be blessed with a long life and that I would be blessed to be around for it all. I don't know if other people think this way, but I have the most awful fears of dying before I get to see my children grow up or even worse that they die before that time comes. I can't even begin to think about that without mentally and emotionally freaking out and falling on my knees in prayer. So even though things are different and it will take a while to get adjusted, I'm so thankful for the blessing that God has given us. Nate is such a sweet boy already. He's going to be tough because his big brother is already ready to wrestle with him. I pray more than anything, that he would love and serve the Lord and that he would live a life worthy of God's calling. Anything beyond that is just extra blessings from God.
So there you have it...some jumbled up thoughts going through my head. Please don't think that I'm complaining because I'm not. Blogging for me is an outlet. It's a tool that God uses to reveal things about myself and Himself. Putting things out there in cyber world and even just typing them helps me realize more about myself (good & bad) than most other things so please be understanding of that.
Hopefully the next post will be more coherent and clear. But for now...this is what we get.
~Elizabeth
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Nathan Daniel Hollier
Daddy & Nate getting some visiting in early Saturday morning.
Our sweet Nathan Daniel Hollier
A much more rested Momma getting some loving on her new baby boy!
Our newest little man came into the world on Friday, August 26, 2011 at 7:41 am weighing 9 lbs 8 oz and measuring 20 inches. We are so blessed to have another happy and healthy baby boy. Big brother Sam still doesn't know what to think just yet, but I feel like once we get home and get into the groove of things he'll start to get the hang of it all. He loves Nate, but is having a hard time being "easy" with him. I know he'll be a great big brother and that fun times are in store for our new growing family. Nate is doing great. He's eating every three hours and handling transitioning to his new world like a champ. Jared is also doing great. Bless his heart...he's exhausted just like me, but he's been amazing. Through bed rest and helping me recover through my second c-section, I couldn't be more thankful for him. He's such an amazing helper. I'm feeling better today. Yesterday was rough as far as pain goes, but today I'm feeling better. Medicine is working, my body is starting to heal, and I'm getting a decent amount of rest (which can cure a whole lot of everything). I can't promise how often I'll be blogging for a while...things tend to get a little crazy with a newborn, but I'll keep you guys posted when I can!
~The Holliers~
Family of Four
Thursday, August 25, 2011
New beginnings
Sam on his first day of preschool
It seems like here lately we've been going through a lot of "firsts" in our house. First day of preschool and tomorrow will be the first day of having "the boys" instead of "Sam". Jared and I were talking about this as we drove down to Beaumont today. I can't believe that tomorrow I'll be a mother of two boys! Just last week I turned 27 (30 is quickly approaching). Some days I feel like we're still in college dating, but alas we're in this grown up life of ours...you know: mortgage, jobs, kids, car notes, insanely high electric bills, blah blah blah. How did this happen? WHEN did this happen? It seems like I just blinked and I'm an adult. Some days I'll be honest, I hate it. I hate thinking about bills from month to month or job security or all that other grown up stuff. But most days, I wouldn't trade this stage of life that we're in for anything. I love being a mommy (granted it is one of the hardest things in this life). I love teaching him new things and also hearing the things he comes up with on his own...especially this new imagination stage he's in! I love sharing my life with Jared and it's crazy to think we've known each other for almost 10 years! We're just starting a lot of new stuff and it almost feels like a new chapter in the story of our lives (is that too cheesy to blog??? Oh well...) Either way, it's exciting all this new stuff. I can't wait to meet our newest little boy tomorrow, I can't wait to see Jared hold him, or to see Sam's brain wrap around this thing called Nate that we've been talking about for months. I'm just full of emotions right now. Ready for another new beginning.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
So very blessed!
So today I woke up and my wonderful husband made me a great birthday breakfast. Then later he's going to run all the errands that I was supposed to but now can't since being put on bed rest. I have to take this moment to brag on him (I don't do it near enough)...Jared has been doing EVERYTHING around our house these days! And I don't mean like doing the things that he thinks should be done (bc we all know the list of things that women/mothers think need to be done vs. men/daddies is quite different...nothing wrong with that. They're just different). I am a planner. I've had a list posted to the side of the fridge for two weeks now of things I've been checking off that needed to get done before Nate came. Now...I can check nothing off myself. So my wonderful husband has picked up where I left off. He's not obsessive or controlling or anything close to that like I am, but being the wonderful help mate that he is, he knows it's a big deal to me...that I will even lose sleep thinking about to do lists and creating sub to do lists in my head. So he has become the list checker offer for the time being. He knows that when we go to the doctor on Monday, it's going to be go time (or at least we have to be prepared for that since we live an hour and a half away from the doctor). I feel like thank you is just not enough....surely there is a phrase that is bigger and encompasses more than just "thank you". But alas I couldn't find any words or phrases better than that so this mere blog post will just have to suffice. Jared, you are an amazing husband and daddy. Sam & I (and soon to be Nate too) would be lost without you. Thank you for sacrificing for us. Thank you for putting yourself in my shoes and trying your best to see life through my eyes (that is no easy task I tell ya!). And thank you for loving us....because we love you so much!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Lessons learned on bed rest
Well...I went back to work about a week and a half ago and I quickly could tell things weren't going so well. I was in a lot of pain and when I would get home I would be just about dead. Wednesday I went to the doctor for a check up with a lot of concern. The day before I was experiencing a lot of pain and couldn't walk. So what did I do? I wheeled myself around that day in a chair with wheels. Did I look ridiculous? Probably so, but at least I wasn't in any pain doing that. So Wednesday I was explaining all this to my doctor and since I'm 37 weeks the doctor put me on bed rest to help ensure me going a little further. We don't want Nate to come early and have to be in the NICU...so since Wednesday (and it's only Thursday!) I've been laying on the couch or bed. Here's something I've learned about myself in that short time...
This may come as a surprise to some of you but I'm a slight control freak. Yeah..like I said, this may surprise SOME of you, but not most. :) When you can't do much of anything for yourself, you have to rely on others. And for someone who wants to control everything I've had two choices to make. 1. Be that person who tries to control others or 2. Deal with the fact that others are trying to help and it's okay if it's not MY way. I've been working with #2....it hasn't been easy, but I've been so overwhelmed with all those who've stepped in to help us that I feel like the Lord is using this time of "rest" to teach me how to chill out. Chill out...something I don't do very well at all. But I'm learning...and for that I'm thankful.
This may come as a surprise to some of you but I'm a slight control freak. Yeah..like I said, this may surprise SOME of you, but not most. :) When you can't do much of anything for yourself, you have to rely on others. And for someone who wants to control everything I've had two choices to make. 1. Be that person who tries to control others or 2. Deal with the fact that others are trying to help and it's okay if it's not MY way. I've been working with #2....it hasn't been easy, but I've been so overwhelmed with all those who've stepped in to help us that I feel like the Lord is using this time of "rest" to teach me how to chill out. Chill out...something I don't do very well at all. But I'm learning...and for that I'm thankful.
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