We are Moving

Oh...where do I begin.  Ryan and I have always felt that our ultimate destination as a family would be Atlanta.  Towards the end of 2012, we started talking about what it would look like for us to move to Atlanta.  My parents had been talking about putting their house on the market and Ryan has always loved my house.  (If you know anything about Ryan and houses, you know this is HUGE because he is almost impossible to please when it comes to house hunting!).  We talked with my parents after the holidays and let them know that before they sold the house to someone else, we wanted them to talk to us.

Sometime in mid January, we found out that a connection of Ryan's had been named the new head football coach at Mt. Pisgah. Sarah taught elementary school at Mt. Pisgah for several years and it is literally within walking distance of my parents house so we got really excited about the possibility!  Ryan spoke with the new head coach a few times and it was pretty much a done deal that he would have a teaching job and be the Defensive Coordinator.  We came to Atlanta to interview (keep in mind I was about 37 weeks pregnant at this point).  The interviews went well, but we had some concerns about a few things from our end.  They were also recruiting for a new high school principal so things were put "on hold" for a bit until that position was filled.  It was really quite the rollercoaster ride.  We went from - you definitely have a job, to we can't hire for this position until we have a principal, to we can hire you just for athletics, to we can't afford you for just athletics.

During this time, we had to let ECS know if we would be coming back next year.  Ryan was able to get a few extensions on his contract, but ultimately, we knew we needed to make a decision.  We prayed about it and decided to tell ECS we wouldn't be coming back even though we didn't have a job in Atlanta.  It felt totally crazy at the time, but we were just trusting that God would provide for us and really felt like we needed to take this step of faith to get to where we felt God was wanting us to be.  It was really hard to make the decision to leave ECS.  That community was so wonderful to us and even as I thought about sending Madison Claire to school there, I was *so* excited. They get Christian education in a way that we didn't find in Nashville and haven't yet been able to find in Atlanta.  We will so miss being a part of that community.

So...we re-engaged with my parents and began talking seriously about buying their house.  Fortunately, we knew that I could do my job from anywhere.  Ryan wanted to get to Atlanta as soon as possible so he could start meeting with people in person and interviewing, so we decided mid-April that we were going to move and made plans to actually move May 22nd.  Keep in mind Caroline was born on April 9th.  CHAOS!!!!

Ryan began interviewing for other positions in Atlanta and was highly recruited by a top, private Christian school here, Westminster.  He was offered a great job that was really hard to turn down (especially when we didn't have anything else at the time), but the football commitment was going to be really intense and he basically wouldn't see the kids at all during football season which wasn't what we wanted for our family. I have always been so grateful for how engaged Ryan is with me and the kids and this is just another example of him prioritizing us.  Seriously, so blessed!

While he was interviewing with Westminster, he also had a meeting with a friend of Ryan Fetz's who works at a Performance Enhancement facility in Buckhead.  They had a great conversation and Ryan decided to take the year off of teaching and coaching to pursue an interest of his - strength & conditioning.  He is employed as an independent contractor with Fusion ATL.  More to come on how the Lord has blessed his efforts in a later post.  For now, suffice it to say "We are Moving"...or rather "We moved".

Caroline - the Early Days

As soon as we got home from the hospital, we left all 3 kids with Annie and went to Firebirds for lunch with the McSwains.  I missed my sweet Caroline while we were gone but it was a nice quick break.  I continued this trend of getting out of the house to do some shopping or get my nails done in the first few weeks.  It was fabulous!  I think I was really able to do this because I know and love Annie so much.  I really don't know what I will do when we have our next child and she isn't around!  

We also took Caroline out pretty early.  Her second day home, we went to the park and her third day home, we went to the Botanical Gardens. Funny story - it's obviously been a while since I've had a newborn, because we got all the way to the Gardens and I realized I didn't have the stroller!  Luckily, Ryan, my dad, and Gary were all there so we had plenty of strong men to carry her car seat around!

It was really nice not having to work and being able to spend more time with the kids.  I took Caroline on walks around the neighborhood and joined Annie for trips to Madison Claire's school and out with Mac.  Our good friends the Thorntons set up a meal calendar for us so for the first time ever, I had people bringing us meals for a while after she was born.  It was *so* nice and I'm forever grateful!  Meredith & Ben came up for a visit when Caroline was 2 weeks old.  We took the kids to the zoo and had a great time spending time with them.  Unfortunately, I got really sick when they left.  I'm still not sure what it was, but I pretty much spent 3 days in bed not able to do anything at all.  I almost fainted in the shower and Ryan thought he was going to have to take me to the ER.  Fortunately it passed, but it was awful at the time!  My mom was able to come into town to help with the kids - I was so thankful to have her there!

Caroline slept in our room for the first 6 weeks.  We knew we were going to be moving, so didn't want to have to move Mac out of his room.  She was a great early baby - she ate well, and really fast!  She could nurse in a total of 7-9 minutes.  I was sure she wouldn't gain any weight but the pediatrician said she was perfect.  She woke up around every 3 hours to eat but would eat quickly and go back to bed easily, so the entire process would only take around 15-20 minutes.  

Madison Claire continued to think that Caroline hung the moon. She was quick to tell EVERYONE about her new baby and told me several times that she didn't really like her Caroline American Girl Doll - she liked her real baby.  It was precious and we couldn't have scripted it better.  Mac also did well.  He was really indifferent for the first few weeks.  He didn't like her or resent her.  It was almost as if he acted like she wasn't ever there.  He still had his Annie, whom he did seem to grow more close to with Carolines arrival.  He was also happy to have me around a little bit more.  

Our lunch right after leaving the hospital!

Happy Birthday, Madison Claire!

We had a joint birthday party for Madison Claire & Mac at Kids Play the first weekend in April.  I wanted to get them done before Caroline was born, because I didn't want to miss the parties or have to think about it with a newborn.  We invited our friends from school & church and they had a great time! The McSwains and my parents were in town for the party.  Mom and dad flew in this trip, and just as I had expected, we got a call from Sarah on Friday night that she had gone into labor!  Mom and dad stayed for the party and we kept getting updates from Sarah & Ryan.  They took our car and left for Atlanta right after the party so they could make it back and meet sweet David!  

It's hard to believe that Madison Claire is 4 years old.  How did our baby get so big?!?  Here are some fun facts about her at this age:

• She is full of energy, personality, and sass
• She is usually happy unless she is being told to do something she doesn't want to do, which can then quickly turn on the whining
• She loves watching Tinkerbell and Veggie Tales, along with anything Disney Princess
• She loves eating Macaroni & Cheese, Eggs, Cereal and Oatmeal
• She loves going to school.  She loves her teacher, Mrs. Beaudry, and the other kids in her class.
• She doesn't like to go to sleep at night.  It's definitely the hardest part of the day for us.  She has learned how to open the child lock on her door and will frequently come downstairs to our room in the middle of the night.
• She is starting to be a big helper with Mac.  She loves to play with him and will help us keep an eye on him if we are busy cooking dinner.
• Her favorite birthday gift was getting to have a sleepover with Annie.  She still talks about it today!
• She is very inquisitive about everything 
• She continues to love her "bear bears".  She has "happy bear bear" , "sad bear bear", and "Santa bear bear"
• She has a sweet heart towards others, often praying for those that don't have a house or toys and then enthusiastically telling me that they could come to her house and play with her toys.  
• Her best friends are Grayson, Harrison, and James.  She also loves her friends Olive and Campbell from church.  She always seems to attach to Elle & Lola at school.

Here are some pictures from the birthday party.  Happy Birthday, MC!

Caroline...Part Two

So...Ryan's initial reaction was that he seemed a bit annoyed but once he got out of bed and some water on his face, he got his game face on and was ready to go!  Turns out he was thinking about all of the things he was planning to do that next day at school to get ready to be out and knew that he hadn't done the things he should have done to prepare because he thought we had one more day!  In the bathroom, I called Annie and told her to come on over because my water had broken. I told her not to rush right out, but to get her things and then get here as soon as she could. I then called Dr. Neblett on his cell phone and told him that my water had broken and he told me to head on to the hospital.

We finished packing up our hospital bags and Ryan loaded the car while we waited for Annie.  It probably took around 45 minutes for Annie to get there but by the time she did, I was ready to get to the hospital.  The contractions certainly increased in frequency and intensity once my water broke.  I did remember to get online and cancel my Pure Barre reservation for that morning!  When Annie pulled in, we took a few pictures and then got in the car for the hospital.  It was so nice having the hospital just be 3 miles away!  Ryan dropped me off at the entrance and he went to park the car.  My contractions were fairly intense at that point, so I had to find a place to sit down twice on my way to the check in station so I could get through the contraction.   We arrived close to 1am.

They were able to check me in fairly quickly and I had a nice nurse, which I've learned over the years, is key!  I was only dilated around 3cm when they checked me.  Once again, they weren't able to get my IV in the first time.  It seems like this always happens when I go in to deliver a baby!  After 3 tries, the nurse had a different nurse come in and get it.  Phew.  I hate that part - it's one of the worst things about labor & delivery for me!

After about an hour, I decided I was ready for the epidural and it took quite a while for them to get in with the epidural. They talked to me about the procedure and I assumed the "epidural position".  I'm not kidding when I say it probably took 30 - 45 minutes.  It felt like 2 hours.  It was horrible.  They kept saying that I had small spaces in my spinal cavity and they were hitting up against bone.  They had to stick me in 2 different places with the big needle, and probably about 5-6 times with the smaller needle.  The longer it took, the more freaked out I got.  I was very close to telling them to just forget it, when they finally got it in.  I decided in that moment, that with my next pregnancy, I am going to take Bradley classes so I can learn how to get through it myself. I didn't feel like I had any tools to get through it myself but I don't want to have to go through that again.  I'll still plan (and want!) an epidural, but if they go to do it and start talking about me having small spinal spaces, I want to be able to feel like I can call it off and be okay.

Once the epidural was in, it was probably close to 3am.  They started Pitocin then to help me progress.  I had the ability to increase the medicine myself in the epidural but was supposed to let the nurse know before I did.  I increased it once and was able to rest a little bit.  The next time I felt like I needed to increase it, I told the nurse that I was feeling my contractions and she came in to check me and I was a 10!  She said I could feel them because I was ready to push.  They called Dr. Neblett and he was there in about 20 minutes.  I only had to push through 3 contractions and out came the most perfect little baby you've ever seen.  She was born at 5am on the dot - approximately 4 hours after we arrived at the hospital, and about 5 hours after my water broke.  She was 7 pounds 7.5 ounces and 19 3/4 inches long.  She was beautiful.  Ryan immediately said, "that's what I thought all babies were supposed to look like!".  She wasn't swollen at all, she had this perfectly round little head, she looked like a C-section baby.

We were moved to the recovery room and I noticed pretty quickly that my recovery was going to be easy with her.  I was able to sit up, move around, and felt back to myself pretty quickly.  We probably could have been discharged the next day, but I liked the help of the hospital staff so we stayed a second day for good measure.  The McSwains came to Memphis on Tuesday to help with the kids.  The kids were precious meeting Caroline - Mac was more interested in playing with my keys but Madison Claire loved the baby and reacted better than we could have pictured.  She had school that Tuesday and they gave her a Big Sister crown. She was so proud!!

Here are some pictures from the hospital....enjoy!