Nate- 1 month old update

I can't believe it's already been a month since Nate came into this world! What a blessing he is to our family already. He's such an easy going baby and I pray that he would always stay my "little mellow fellow".

At one month Nate is:
~ Eating every four hours during the day
~Wearing size 1 diapers, size 0-3 months clothes (some newborn depending on the brand), and size 1 shoes
~ Starting to sleep longer during the night. Usually wakes up at 3:00 for a bottle then up again at 7:00.
~Starting to stay awake a little bit longer these days. Usually stays awake for an hour and a half after his breakfast bottle. Then awake for a long time in the evening.
~ Finding his hands to suck on and will occasionally take a paci.
~ Not caring for tummy time much, but holding his head up and looking around for short time periods.
~ Such a happy boy...only cries when he's hungry. Otherwise, he just looks around and watches what's going on.
~ Is already becoming a tough guy. Brother "loves" on him and is kinda rough at times but that doesn't bother him one bit.
~ Quite the "talker". Always making noises of some kind. Always happy ones, but just cooing or grunting. So cute!

You are God Alone

This song has gotten me through a lot of hard times. Isn't it crazy how listening to something can bring so much comfort in our times of trouble? I remember listening to this song over and over in my car everyday on my way home from work during the time that my father-in-law was staying with us on hospice. I would cry and pray and ask God all the hard questions before I got home and faced what would be there. I remember getting pregnant just two months after he passed away, and questioning why we couldn't have gotten pregnant earlier so that Joe would've seen our baby and this song comforted me then. And when we had a surprise pregnancy and lost the baby...this song got me through then too. And just this week, this song got me through another hard time in my life...watching my Granny pass away. There are things that I will never understand...like death. I understand it has to happen (cue "Circle of Life" music) but I just don't understand the cruelty of it all. Why do people have to suffer? Why does my Paw Paw (who was married to my Granny for 58 years) have to feel such grief? Why can't we all just die when we're supposed to in our sleep the night before? No pain. No suffering. No putting your family through the sadness of watching you slowly slip away. When I hear this song though...it puts things into perspective for me. It reminds me that, even though I am no where even close to having all the answers, God knows what's best. He has my life, and all of His children, in the palm of His hands. There is nothing that can happen to me that God can't handle. Even though I can't handle it. Even though I want to be in control. Even though I want all the answers. God's got this. And in the difficult seasons of my life, I need reminding of this. Big.Time. Even in the little, daily stresses of life when the boys are crying at the same time, when there are temper tantrums, when there are bills, when I don't want to go back to work God's.got.it.all.figured.out. I just need to trust HIM. If you haven't heard this song, take a few minutes to sit and listen. I pray that it would refresh your soul like it does mine....every single time.

Momma's gone!

My mom left today to go home. :( Now it's just me and Jared. I'm quite scared if I must confess. Jared keeps reminding me that we did this for a week before she got here, but he was home and I was pretty much incompetent. I couldn't sit up by myself and I could barely walk. Now Jared's gone back to work and I can get up by myself but the walking is still not back to normal. I'm ready to be able to do things like go walking, but it just is harder this go round. So the fact that I'll have two boys to watch by myself scares the living daylights out of me. Do people do this all the time? Yes. Do other people survive? Yes. But I'm still scared. Sam is pushing the limits BIG time. He does enjoy being the big brother helper and he LOVES Nate. He is always hugging and kissing him. But...he has his moments. I feel like I have to do the "1, 2, 3" business more times than I want to in a day. I feel like we're in this constant state of time outs. Although when my mom had to put him in timeout today I thought he was going to die! We're trying to potty train, too...which is not going so great either. I feel like there's just a lot of changing and adjusting still going on and I'm ready to feel "normal" (whatever that may be) again.



So here's to starting the week as a mommy of two boys...by herself. When you think of me or my husband or our sweet children...please say a prayer. I will survive, I know. But I'm just a little scared so far.

L-O-V-E

Nathan Daniel Hollier- August 26, 2011 7:41 am

I John 4:19 "We love because He first loved us."


Confession Time. Before we had Nate I was really scared about one thing. What if I didn't have enough love to go around? That sounds silly, right? I mean, millions of people have more than one child and they don't seem to have trouble with loving each child enough, right? It's impossible to know exactly how you'll feel BEFORE you meet your little angel (boy or girl), but afterwards is when the amazing thing takes place. When you have one child it's overwhelming how much love fills you and just how quickly. I instantly fell in love with Sam and that love has only grown with time. It's been the three of us for so long...what if there wasn't enough love to go around? Would I have to split my love in half? So many questions I just didn't have the answers to...until I first laid eyes on Nate. Immediately, I fell in love all over again. And I didn't have less love for Sam. I just had the same overwhelming love for another little boy. That kind of love...overwhelming, consuming, make you weep, love only comes from the Lord. There is nothing in me that is good enough or holy enough to have that kind of love. What I have to offer only comes from the love I've first received from the Lord. On my own, I've got nothing. But because of the Lord's great love, I'm able to love. And that is amazing. God is so good to allow us to take part in such a wonderful experience. He doesn't have to let us experience all of this goodness...but He does. And for that, I'm truly overwhelmingly grateful.

~Elizabeth

It's the little things in life...

I couldn't get these pictures in order, but please allow me to share in the sweetness of my two year old. One hormonal evening this week I was feeling down because I still wasn't feeling good. I'm just ready to be able to pick up Sam and cuddle with him instead of having him sit beside me. So...what does my sweet boy do during my pity party? He grabs the camera of course! Notice the progression of his smile after each picture...every time I go through these I can't help but laugh. He does get his cheesiness from his Momma, I must admit. :)

Photo #2...this is funny taking pictures and looking back at them!

Photo #1... just hanging out

Photo #3...I have birthed a cheese ball...but I love him so much!