Video of Taylor

Intuition?

It was interesting that Taylor was born a week early. On one hand, I thought I was someone who would always go to the due date plus, as had been my history. But on the other hand, I kind of knew all along that it would be early. One reason is I thought the working out would encourage earlier labor, but also some intuition to a degree.

When my mom scheduled her flight to be here for the birth, she told me January 4th and my first (gut) response was "ehh, that is too late.". But my rational mind combatted that, thinking how crazy it would be to fly out way before the due date when I have never gone early before.

We were also wanting a 2011 baby for selfish reasons...tax deduction and primary class placement. So I admit, I was praying for it too! I was thinking about our plans, and the week after Christmas sounded like a good time. Without talking about it, rychen took down all the Christmas stuff the very day after. It was like mentally we needed to get that over and done with so we could move on and do the baby thing. I had a big work day scheduled for Thursday, so I told myself anytime after that would be great.

Wednesday night, rychen's brother came over for games. Rychen p. asked when he was going home and he replied, "never!" to which rychen quickly said, "oh I don't think you want to stay, we're going to have a baby!" I thought, what a funny comment considering I was more than a week from my due date!

The other prophetic thing was the blessing I had Monday the 26th said that I would have my baby at home in the next few days. I didn't take it too seriously, since blessings aren't always literal, but you better believe my ears perked up!!

Thursday afternoon, I was having sporadic contractions, "false labor" when rychen p asked if we could have waffles for dinner. I said "I don't know! We could have a baby by dinner time!"

So it all came true, what do you know. I finished all my packing and shipping Thursday early afternoon, and active labor began within a few hours! We had a baby less than 24 hours after rychen's comment to Whitney, and the kids were gone at dinner time.

Birth!

Ironically enough, labor started soon after I wrote that post yesterday. Taylor Davis Jones was born in the evening, a week early, after just 90 mins of hard labor. 7 lbs 6 oz, will put up photos soon. We are all just in love with him, of course! we are doing great.

Christmas re-cap

What do I need up catch up on?

 

Andrew lived with us for a bit over 2 months. Things were fun and crazy at the same time. Rychen P. goes crazy when we have visitors and that never really settled down the entire time. But it was so nice to have some family around, enjoying the kids. Andrew taught them some really fun things like German and various facts of knowledge, and also did some video making with Rychen P. He also spent a good deal of time helping out our older friend from church and "hanging out" with the missionaries in various things.

 

He left on Christmas Eve and we had a nice Christmas with Rychen's family. Rychen P's favorite part of Christmas is driving around to see the lights. The kids also got excited about buying and wrapping (and opening!) gifts. I took each of them separately to choose a gift for the other. We were really busy the couple weeks before Christmas, wrapping lots of presents. It surprsied me how much of my time was spent "getting ready for Christmas." Also I really enjoyed the West Salem holiday concert.

 

Around the house, I didn't realize how much craziness Christmas would bring because the kids are obsessed with their new toys and don't want to sleep much lately. So basically we have had 2-1/2 months of hyperactivity (okay okay there was some sugar in there to blame too... enough!) and I am just ready to get back to a structured routine! I seriously miss pouring more time into homeschool activities.

 

...but alas that is not happening anytime soon because baby #3 is due to arrive in the next week or two. Life never slows down!!

 

My mom is coming to stay with us next week and she usually has a calming influence on Rychen P. That will be good. In the meantime we are just hanging out, trying to keep the house in order.

Cute pictures of kids

Here are some cute pictures of the kids lately. Looks like they are best buds ... wouldn't think so, judging by the amount of screaming we hear every day. But they will have lots of funny and other precious memories together.

Ransom Captive Israel: My Christmas Testimony

O come, O come, Emmanuel

And ransom captive Israel

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free

Thine own from Satan's tyranny
From depths of Hell Thy people save
And give them victory o'er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

After listening to the words to O Come O Come Emmanuel for the first time in my life, this is now my favorite Christmas song. It is so fitting because these past few months I have pondered this topic many times, as the theme of captivity and liberty has come up repeatedly in my studies and ideas. Pretty much, Christ's entire mission can be summed up by saying his calling is to deliver us from our captivity. Just like ancient Israel, as repeated themes throughout scripture, we too are desperate for a Savior from the bondages of earthly life--whether it be emotional turmoil, economic issues, mental health or social limitations, or simply sin and death. We live in a fallen world and are all in some sort of bondage. Only through Jesus Christ will be ever gain true liberty.

New piano!

My kind visiting teacher was "hanging out" with us one day when Rychen P. played the piano for her. She quickly said in no uncertain terms, he is too good for our peice of junk piano! She was wanting to get rid of hers. And it was just as easy as that... (okay okay Rychen might disagree with that figure of speech)

It's a beautiful 1940's walnut wood upright. I am enjoying it myself quite a bit :)

Get Your Manicure!

Elisabeth just loves her nail polish collection. She wants to paint everybody's nails. But unfortunately I am the only eligible one in the household besides herself. So we have been changing our colors a lot lately :) Feel free to stop by and get yours done!