Little Mermaid, John MacArthur, and Female Voices

Addison, our 2-year-old, is currently obsessed with The Little Mermaid so naturally, I have seen it approximately 547 times in the past few months. Refresher: the mermaid Ariel forfeits her ability to speak or sing to the sea witch Ursula in order to become a human and have a chance at love with human Prince Eric. Honestly, it’s not too surprising that a 16-year-old would agree to this, especially because it directly defies her father’s rules. Ursula took advantage of this opportunity and manipulated her.

There’s a video that has been circulating regarding a man named John MacArthur, who is pretty well known in the evangelical Christian circles for his Bible studies and commentaries. In this video, MacArthur was hosting some sort of conference and had other (white, male) guests on stage with him. (Full disclosure: I have not watched the video as I chose not to give it the views) During conversation, someone mentioned Beth Moore, another well-known Christian teacher, leader, and author. The very mention of Moore’s name brought sarcastic, mocking laughs from the presenters and crowd along with a comment from MacArthur that Moore should just “go home.”

Here’s where this comes together. 

The world – and unfortunately also the Church – is full of Ursulas and John MacArthurs. There are those threatened by female voices so they attempt to silence them through manipulation or belittling or intimidation or ridicule.

One of the biggest critiques of TLM is that Ariel “gives up her voice to get a man.” Certainly, looking at the transaction between Ariel and Ursula through a metaphorical lens is problematic and dangerous when it means equating her loss of physical voice to loss of her thoughts, opinions, and ideas. Nothing is worth giving up our thoughts, opinions, and ideas – no person, job, or situation. These are things we need to make clear with our kids as they engage in media.

But I think there’s also something encouraging to recognize from this storyline if we continue that metaphor throughout the rest of the movie.

If you recall, it was Ariel’s voice that Prince Eric fell in love with when she rescued him from the shipwreck. Sure, she was beginning to gain his love and affection without it, but he still wasn’t sold that she was the one he was looking for because she didn’t have the voice he was seeking. Following the metaphor, he missed her thoughts, her opinions, her ideas. Without those, she wasn’t who he searched for. He was drawn to Ariel for her voice.

Despite the lies from Ursulas and John MacArthurs, the world needs female voices.
In the Board room.
In the courthouse.
In the Church.
In the pulpit.
In the classroom.
In the hospitals.
In the home.
In politics.

Women: don’t “go home.” Use your voice.

Addison is 11 months!

Y’all My BABY girl is only one month away (really 1.5 weeks at this point…) from turning one year old. I’ve had so much on my plate that I haven’t been able to really dedicate significant time to plan the birthday party, but hopefully I can do that next week! It will definitely be Minnie Mouse themed, but I still have to work out all the details of games, decorations, etc. I am fully aware that Addison – or even Owen for that matter – will not remember the party or will even be able to appreciate all the effort and planning put in. But planning and executing events is a lot of fun for me and it’s another way for me to do something creative and fun and personal for them. Even if they won’t remember it forever, the excitement on their faces at that time is priceless and so worth the effort. 🙂

The difficult part of being a slacker with these blog posts is that because kids grow up so quickly and learn new things in such a short amount of time, Addison’s already advanced way now beyond where she was 2.5 weeks ago when she actually turned 11 months. So for accuracy for my reference in the future, I’m going to try to stick to what she was able to do, interested in, etc. at the beginning of the month rather than now. I’ll save the latter for her next post…when she turns ONE (!!!).

This month, Addison moved to taking baths in the laundry hamper in the normal bathtub! I definitely think she likes it much more than the sink. Which makes sense because our kitchen sink is shallow so this way she can kick around and throw her toys around without running out of room. 🙂

At this point, she had gotten really good at standing at the train table and even “cruising” – making her way from one end of the table to the other by walking while holding the side. She really loves to throw the train tracks off the table and on to the ground.

She’s still drinking her whole milk like a champ. We cut back on the amount because she was spitting up a good amount, which was unusual for Addison. So she gets one sippy cup of milk in the morning with breakfast and one in the evening before bed to make sure she’s getting those nutrients and calories. She’s still eating like a champ too. She easily eats double the amount that Owen does and probably as much as some adults. Ha! When she’s not drinking milk, she drinks apple juice. The frustrating thing is that the sippy cup that she really likes (really, the only one she likes) spills when it’s turned over. Which is not really conducive to a baby. Which is frustrating. So here’s to hoping she’ll either stop turning it over (not likely) or her deciding a spill-proof cup we have is acceptable.

Owen just keeps surprising us with things he says and does. He’s learning more and more words and phrases. At the same time, we are definitely in the temper tantrum phase and that is NOT fun. Goodness gracious. It’s rough sometimes. We’ve always joked about him being a sour patch kid because he can go from yelling and crying to the sweetest thing in a matter of seconds. Ha! He’s getting to be much more playful also. He will play with other kids on the playground (as opposed to just watching them from the side) and he really wants us to play games with him too!

Poor guy caught a stomach bug from Daddy earlier this month. He threw up several times, but managed to get some sleep the rest of the evening and was basically back to normal even the next day. I am NOT good with puke, but had to step up since Greg was down with the bug too. Haha. My boy and I spent lots of time together watching TV. 🙂

These kids play so well with each other. Obviously, they have their times when Addison tries to grab something of Owen’s and Owen responds with “No, Addison! My [fill in the blank]!” But overall, Owen is very good about sharing his things with her. It must be an instinctual thing because we haven’t even really had to stress the fact that we share with him. Some, but not much. Addison loves her big brother so much and Owen loves being her entertainment. My parents say that Owen and Addison remind them of my brother and me a lot. He and I always got along and played well together. I hope Owen and Addison have the same relationship that Aaron and I always had.

We celebrated Christmas this milestone month! It was a different experience having a 10.5 month old at Christmas (Addison) versus when we had a 5.5 month old at Christmas (Owen). Addison was very aware of everything going on and was excited about opening presents and was clearly more aware of what the gifts were than Owen was at his first Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve Eve with Greg’s family; had our first Christmas Eve morning and evening service at our new church; Christmas Day at our house; and Day After Christmas with my family. It was a very full four days, but so fun.

We also got to go up to Six Flags with my family for our annual Avera trip to Holiday in the Park! Owen got to ride rides which is his favorite thing ever and Addison got to ride too! She did such a great job – I think we’ve got a rollercoaster rider in this one too! That makes my heart so happy because I LOVE rollercoasters.

Greg and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary! We had my parents keep the kids while we went to dinner and saw a play that our worship leader was in. It was so nice to get away just us and not have to worry about also feeding children while we ate and to just relax.

We all got to go see the lights downtown that were synced with a radio station and both of the kids LOVED it! Addison would talk to the lights and start kicking and flailing while Owen ran around singing!

I submitted my paperwork at the beginning of the month to go before the Board of Ordained Ministry in March to hopefully become a fully ordained Deacon in the UMC. I’m at peace right now because I feel confident in what I turned in, in terms of everything I wanted to write was written and I feel like I did my best. Now all I can do is wait until my interviews in March and then get my answer! If I pass the interviews, I will be ordained in June. If I get deferred, I will need to re-write some or all of my paperwork to go back before them the next year. Prayers appreciated!

Everything with the church is going great! We have some great momentum going right now and have started up some of our new projects and ministries, with much more to come! We’re at an exciting place and we’re praying that this growth continues so that we can continue to minister to our community and grow the kingdom of God.

I think that’s all for this month. Hopefully I’ll be more timely with the next one… WHEN ADDISON TURNS ONE! Whoohoo!

Addison is 10 months!

Baby girl is 10 months old! It’s insane that it’s just about time to start planning her first birthday party! We already know it will be Mickey & Minnie themed and we have the date. Now to get the details and decorations figured out! Addison’s next check-up isn’t until her 12 month (1 year) appointment, but I called to see if I could bring her in just to check her weight since that’s been a concern the past few months. From 6 months to 8 months, she was 16 pounds 8 ounces. Then at her 9 month check up, she was 15 pounds 10 ounces. When I took her the other day, I just kept her clothes on (usually they are in nothing but a clean diaper when they’re officially weighed) and she was 18 pounds 12 ounces – SOOOOO factoring out her clothes (onesie, pants, socks) and a possibly wet diaper, the nurse estimated that she’s probably 18 to 18.5 pounds! She’s still a lightweight, but baby girl is back on track!

Here’s the thing. Addison eats constantly. I mean, easily eats more than Owen does every single day. To help her gain weight, I researched some high calorie foods to feed her (scrambled eggs and whole milk yogurt especially) and I started giving her some thawed breastmilk in a bottle after her eating from me every morning and evening. I have a feeling my supply is still low so that was especially helpful before she got to 10 months and could drink whole milk. I don’t have a whole lot of pumped milk left so we’ll probably only be able to keep this going for another week or two, but my hope is that by then, she’s downing enough whole milk to make up for it. She’s somewhat getting the hang of her sippy cup and loves to drink water so hopefully that will carry over to milk!

I often sit on the floor with Addison with our backs leaning up against the couch and put some toys in front of her. But normally, she ends up scooting herself to the train table to pull herself up to stand at it! She LOVES to stand at the train table and play with the trains and take the track apart. She’s still not crawling, but somehow she scoots herself or rolls herself to wherever she wants to go or whatever she wants to reach. Owen never crawled until after he was walking so we may have a repeat in that area.

Toward the end of month 9, Addison started sleeping in more! Instead of her normal 7:30am wake up, it was closer to around 8:45/9am which was great! I’m not sure if this is something that will continue or if it was a fluke, but it has been nice while it has lasted! She’s also napped a bit better in the afternoon. I’m wondering if she was teething and I just haven’t noticed another tooth popping through or something. It’s so funny when I go in to get her though because normally, she has turned herself the other way and has thrown her toys around the crib. Ha! On the occasions that I have gone in while she was still sleeping, I have found her on her side which is adorable!

Owen gets more and more adventurous everyday and his personality keeps growing! We live near a fire station and he requests to go see the fire trucks every time we’re coming home from somewhere. So we drive by and wave to the fire trucks and then circle back home and he is thrilled. Recently, he’s loved to pull up a chair to the kitchen counter and “help” us prep or cook something. A big thing lately is that he wants to see his “friends” like all the time. We have some clergy friends with kids Owen’s & Addison’s ages and we get together with them on a regular basis so he asks to go see them all the time. Ha! We’re pretty sure he’s getting his back molars in right now because he is not sleeping well at night or for his nap during the day which is definitely not normal for him. He’s always been a great sleeper. So hopefully this phase is almost over! Owen will have his 2.5 year old (30 month) check-up on January so during Addison’s next monthly update, I’ll have some stats for Owen as well!

We went to visit Santa this month! Owen was uncertain, but didn’t cry. So I’ll take it. Addison was not happy about Mama handing her off. Ha! There’s like this sweet spot in between awful spots when they’re this little where they don’t mind being with Santa. We seem to be in that spot with Owen but not with Addison. Maybe next year! Bass Pro does a great job with decorating and providing a ton of fun activities for the kids, including a carousel in the middle of “Santa’s Wonderland”! Owen loved it and wanted to ride it multiple times and Addison actually did a great job!

I say this every month, but these kiddos love each other. Sure, there are times when Owen’s not as excited to share his toys or something like that, but overall they get along really well. Addison loves her big brother so much and laughs at him constantly. Owen loves being entertaining to her so he wants to keep making her laugh. Or if I’m doing something to purposely entertain Addison or make her laugh, Owen will laugh and say “my turn!” So then I’ll do it to/for him and they both laugh and so on.

This month, we got to visit both families for Thanksgiving which was a lot of fun. We also went to the Museum of Aviation while they were having a trains exhibit and the kids loved it, especially Owen! We went with some good friends of ours and Owen would run around yelling, “Come, Grayson!” wanting his best friend to follow him around everywhere. We also went to get our Christmas tree! We go to a Christmas tree farm every year so it’s always fun to introduce that tradition to a new kid and Owen “helped” a lot this year. Ha! Life is constantly chaotic. But it’s good. Here’s to another month with Addison!

Addison at 7-, 8-, and 9-months!

Keeping up with a blog is hard. I have no idea how people do it so regularly. I know that no one would care if I fell behind and just stopped, but I’ve enjoyed looking back over Owen’s blog posts and seeing what he was doing at the time. Addison’s won’t be as thorough because when I play catch-up, I forget lots of details, but at least it will be something! 🙂

— 7 months: September 6, 2017 —

Addison turned 7 months in September! It seems this is the last time I’m going to manage to get a monthly picture with the sticker actually on Addison. Ha! I’m not sure of her weight or length because she didn’t have any appointments around this time!

Little did we know, this was just the beginning of the funny, goofy faces! This is when she started grabbing her feet. I started putting shoes on her feet occasionally because of how stinking cute they are. 🙂

Baby girl was still teething terribly and chewing on everything. At this point she has pretty much mastered the restaurant high chairs. It’s funny to look back and see how she and Owen were similar. For example, Owen always had himself turned around in his crib all sorts of ways. Addison started doing the same thing!

I can rarely get a picture of the two of these kiddos while they’re looking because they’re much more interested in looking at each other. Ha! I love watching their love for each other grow!

— 8 months: October 6, 2017 —

Annnnd the difficult monthly sticker pictures begin! Ha! We had to take Addison to the doctor on September 22 because we suspected that she had an ear infection. Turns out we were right. Not only that, but when they weighed her, she was the same weight as she was at her 6 month appointment – around 16.5 pounds. I asked the doctor and he said not to worry and that kids can plateau in weight. Addison was put on Amoxicillin for the ear infection and we went home.

A few days after the 10 day antibiotic had finished, Addison was up screaming for four hours one night so the next morning, on October 7, I took her to the After Hours to check. Turns out the first ear infection had gotten worse and the left ear joined the party so they prescribed her with Augmentin, which is the antibiotic Owen had an allergic reaction to. Thankfully Addison didn’t react to it so she doesn’t seem to have that allergy!

They weighed her at that After Hours doctor’s appointment and she still hadn’t gained any weight since the 6 month appointment and at this point, she had just turned 8 months. So that means not gaining weight in two months. I asked the AH doctor about it and she said to increase the amount of times I nurse Addison by 1-2 times per day. I started eating oatmeal for breakfast to increase my supply, hoping that would help.

We took a family trip to Six Flags to get our season passes renewed and it was a blast! It was SUPER crowded but Owen got to ride his favorite rides and Addison enjoyed being strolled around. They even both took naps in the stroller and there were minimal breakdowns. I consider that a success!

Since she’s pretty solid at sitting up on her own, I’ve started to sit Addison in front of the full-length mirror while I get ready in the morning and she loves it! She’ll talk and play and laugh and it cracks me up. Ha!

I’m pretty sure I’ve said this before, but this girl is straight UNPREDICTABLE. Will she nap in the morning? Maybe, maybe not. Will she nap in the afternoon? Maybe, maybe not. One does not determine the other. It’s pretty insane. It makes each of my days unpredictable because I have no idea if I’ll be able to get work done or not.

And the sibling love grows… 🙂

— 9 months: November 6, 2017 —

When we took Addison to the After Hours doctor when she was 8 months, the doctor had us schedule a follow-up with the regular doctor after the antibiotic was done so that we can make sure the infection is completely gone. So we went on October 23 and her ears were completely cleared, but she was STILL only 16.5 pounds, same as her 6 months. Dr. Smith said to keep doing what I’m doing and that we’ll re-check at her 9 month appointment and that it may be that she’s just settling in to her future size. I started trying out the Mother’s Milk tea that’s supposed to increase your milk supply but it was AWFUL. So I started taking the fenugreek supplement that is supposed to do the same thing.

Fast forward to Addison’s 9 month check up and she measured at 27 3/4 inches which is good, but only 15 pounds 10 ounces, which is less than the previous month. It has been extremely discouraging and frustrating. At around 6 months, I felt like I was following her lead because she really preferred solid food over breastmilk so I cut back on the mid-day feedings. But now it turns out that I was actually keeping calories from her and it feels terrible – even though it was unknowingly and unintentionally.

Anyways, another frustrating part is that if you’ve ever spent a day with Addison, you know that she eats ALL DAY LONG. Seriously if she’s not sleeping or in the car, she’s eating. So we’re trying to give her high calorie foods like whole milk yogurt and trying to get her to drink some pumped milk in a sippy cup since she won’t take a bottle. She can start drinking whole milk at 10 months which will help a lot, but until then, trying to get her some calories! Hopefully with the extra nursing sessions, intentionally high calorie foods, and adding whole milk next month, she’ll have gained weight by her 1 year appointment!

Addison got baptized in October! My dad did the baptism and both of our families came and it was such a special day of celebrating baby Addison! I was pretty certain that she was going to cry when I handed her off to Dad, but she didn’t! She did a GREAT job!

Addison’s two bottom teeth finally came through! Yay!! She’s been a completely different baby since they popped through – even more smiley and much more chill (unless she’s hungry). On that topic, Addison is picking up her food like a pro! I feel like it took Owen much longer to figure out the fingertip grab, but that’s almost all Addison does! She uses her thumb and index finger and places the food in her mouth, sometime after holding it up in the air for a bit, like Simba. Ha!

We got to take the kids to Disney World in October and we all had a blast! Owen LOVED seeing the characters and Addison would talk to them and squeal and get excited too! It was such a good experience that I think next year we may put aside money each month to save up for annual Disney trips!

Our church put on a Fall Festival and it was so much fun! I really like doing family group theme costumes so this year we were characters from PJ Masks, one of Owen’s favorites shows. Owen was Gekko, Addison was Owlette, Greg was Romeo, and I was Luna Girl (for those of you who may speak Disney Junior language). We got to dress up at Disney and at the Fall Festival! My parents came to town for actual Halloween because that’s my mom’s birthday and Owen wanted to put costumes back on so we did and then went to Barnes and Noble to play with trains. 🙂

This sibling relationship melts my heart. I hope they always lean on each other and make each other laugh and love each other like they do now.

— The Rest of Us —

Overall, we’re all doing really well! The church is going great. We re-launched our new worship service style, had a successful Fall Festival, survived our first Charge Conference, and streamlined the leadership structure and elected new Board chairs. We say constantly that we can’t imagine ourselves anywhere else. The people at our church are OUR PEOPLE. We banter with each other just like family. Owen loves going to the church and running around and Addison has gotten much better about the nursery. Our kids are loved so deeply and that’s really all I can ask for as a mom.

I’m working on my ordination paperwork that’s due in January. I’ll go before the Board of Ordained Ministry in March for a series of interviews that will determine if I will be fully ordained in the UMC in June or if I am deferred for a year to come back up in 2019. That’s pretty terrifying, but I’m trying to focus on getting the work done to the best of my ability first. Then I’ll panic about interviews. 🙂

Greg has been able to attend most of the home games for the new Major League Soccer team, Atlanta United. We got him season passes for this year and it was such a fantastic experience that we renewed them for next year! It’s a great way for him to take his breaks from work and do something that he really loves. I was able to go with him to a game in September and it was SO MUCH FUN! He’s very much excited for the day when Owen’s is old enough to go with him to a game.

Speaking of Owen, that child is crazy as ever. Talking a ton – too much, if you ask me. 😉 Learning new things every day. The kids amazes me. He’s so smart and picks up on things rather quickly. I love to dream of what profession he might choose one day. Will he be an engineer because he loves to take things apart and put them back together? Or a social worker because he makes sure everyone has some of whatever he has? Or a firefighter or railroad worker or a pilot because he loves those things? Man. It could be anything. But that kid is going to change the world and love deeply while he does it.

I do the same dreaming about Addison. There’s a Shakespeare quote that says: “Though she be but little, she is fierce.” Lordy mercy. This girl is a spitfire and has a voice to go with her opinionated self. I cannot wait to see her learn to use her voice. Watch out world, Addison Lain Harrison is coming.

Addison’s Half-Birthday!

Addison is 6 months old! I realize how much I sound like a broken record when I talk about how I can’t believe how fast my kids are going up, but it’s true. She’s halfway to her first birthday and it blows my mind. Six months doesn’t sound like that big of a deal or that old, but when you see how less like an infant and more like a functioning human they are, it’s insane! I’m halfway to not having any babies in the house and only toddlers!

Addison did a great job at the doctor! She is 16 pounds 8 ounces and 25 3/4 inches long! At this same age, Owen was 16 pounds and 26 1/2 inches long so they’re really neck-in-neck in terms of size! She got a couple shots but did well considering…they’re shots and I know they hurt. Because she can sit up better now, I sat her on the little bench/table to see what she thought and she immediately started grabbing at the paper and tearing it apart which cracked me up because that was Owen’s favorite thing to do at the doctor as he grew up so it’s funny to see her doing the same thing.

We tried back with the baby food and she is doing a great job with it! She’s devouring the food and I think we’re about to start doing the 2nd Step Gerber (we’ve been doing 1st Step) which has more food in a single container and starts to combine foods. The only thing is that she’s still trying to figure out how to eat off the spoon so she’s somewhat sucking the food off the spoon which is creating some gas in her tummy, I think. She’s also been sitting in high chairs at restaurants and doing a great job in them!

She cracks me up in her crib. She has started turning herself around in the crib and she’s continued to pull her blanket over her head as soon as I put it on her. I told Greg that if we have any more kids, we’re clearly going to have to continue the fleece blanket pattern because Owen and Addison LOVE theirs!

We’ve moved Addison from her baby bathtub to taking a bath sitting up in the sink! The first time she was really confused and was staring and touching the bubbles in the sink. Now, she’s kicking her legs to splash and she’ll pick up the bubbles and try to grab the faucet. She’s definitely enjoying this bath view and positioning much better!

Man. My girl is strong! We’ve said this from the beginning, but she just is! We got her her own Bumbo multi-seat because Owen still uses his as a booster seat at the table so there was no passing down with that! I’ll sit in on the floor and let her chill or feed her lunch while Owen continues to play with his train table! She’s also continuing to be better at tummy time although still not real interest in crawling. But that’s OK! I am in NO rush for her to be mobile! Ha!

This girl’s signature look is the big, open-mouth smile with her tongue sticking out and it cracks me up! I love it! She’s just overall such a happy baby. There has to be something seriously wrong for her to be upset – hungry (and man, this girl can get HANGRY), tired, or teething are main ones. Still no teeth to be seen, but I know they’re coming!

Addison’s becoming SO interactive with everything around her. If I’m holding her in one arm and then holding something in the other hand, she’ll try and grab it. She’s also become really interactive with the toys on her bouncer and the ones on her car seat. It’s like one day she was all of a sudden aware that there are toys around her and started playing with them!

Since the last Addison monthly update, Owen turned 2! To read about his birthday party and more detailed updates on him, read his 2-year-old update! Here are some major updates and ones since his birthday. He’s seriously learning new words and phrases every single day. He’s absorbing everything around him and taking everything in. I often don’t give him enough credit for what he knows and understands simply because he doesn’t always have the words for what he wants or thinks, but then he goes and puts together a puzzle by himself without any issues and I’m blown away! The kid is smart!

He loved to read and since we got his train table for his birthday (which he LOVES), I rearranged the living room and made a reading and puzzle corner away from the toys. He loves to go over and sit on the rug and read or do his puzzles. We also got him a little table and chairs and he loves to color his coloring books! This kid is a mess but we love him so much!

As a birthday celebration for Greg and one of his brothers, we went up with Greg’s family to an entertainment complex in Atlanta where there was a ninja warrior gym and some other activities. Addison got some grandparent love and Owen loved going all around the net play area. He even tried his hand at some kid’s rock climbing and he’s got some great instincts with it!

Two of our best friends installed a pool at their house so we’ve been over there to swim during our weekly dinners and the kids LOVED it! Addison chilled in her floatie almost the entire time and Owen played and laughed a ton!

I absolutely adore these two kids. Their love for each other (at least right now…ha!) is so evident! They make each other laugh and smile constantly. Owen always wants to take care of Addison and gets mad at me if I go get Addison from her room without him! I think he’s finally connected that he makes her laugh so sometimes he’ll be a little silly to make her laugh and I love it!

When I look at them, I start wondering what they will be when they grow up. Because Owen is old enough where we see his interests and what he’s good at or likes to do, we can kind of make some guesses. Those guesses range from park ranger to engineer. Ha! He loves being outside and loves animals! But he also really enjoys taking things apart and then putting them back together and he does have an eye for order! When I look at Addison, I wonder if she’ll be a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher. And I wonder if they will be fortunate enough to have kids, if they want. I want SO much for them and I can’t wait to see where the Lord leads them! My prayer is that I remain supportive and excited for them, no matter what that may mean!

One of our good friends from college, Lorin, offered to take family photos for us and we were so excited for it! We got some photos at Easter, but other than that, the only photos we have of all four of us are selfies so to get some good quality photos of the kids and all four of us was wonderful. And actually overall the kids cooperated! I am thankful that Lorin was flexible in taking candid photos as well as staged ones because our kids do not cooperate with staged photos. Nearly all of my favorites are ones that she snapped while we were playing or making a kid laugh or something and I think it really showcased the personalities of our family perfectly! Now to get them printed and hang them around the house!

Greg and I have had a really great month of “just us” time. We celebrated his birthday by going out to dinner at one of his favorite local places that’s on the lake so after we ate, we sat on the deck for a while just relaxing. His parents watched the kids so we were able to just enjoy! Then last weekend, we co-officiated the wedding for two of our previous college students and that was a blast! The wedding was in the Florida Keys so it somewhat doubled as a weekend getaway for us! I convinced Greg to get a pedicure with me and he really enjoyed it! His feet had some crazy callouses and she managed to make them completely smooth. He even remarked that he could actually feel the carpet through his feet. Ha!

Overall, the family is good! We are getting more and more settled. The church life is amazing. Our Wesley church family is so so very welcoming and loving and have made us feel like we’ve always been a part of the family. We’ve been revisioning along with them and preparing to launch a new worship service style in place of our current one. Our first preview service went really well and we’re getting ready for our second one – which is also the final preview before the relaunch! We love this church. Owen literally gets upset if we drive past the church without going inside. Our nursery workers are incredible and patient and loving. Our congregation is gracious as we try to learn the ropes of being local church pastors and they are enthusiastic about the future. We are loving this new phase in our life right now!

Owen is 2 years old!

Our baby boy has turned 2!! It’s insane to even try to comprehend. Here’s a little bit about our smart, handsome, 2-year-old!

Owen LOVES animals so his birthday party was jungle safari themed! One of my good friends and one of my sisters helped me decorate the house for the party which was a HUGE help and I think everything went well! We just had it at our new house because that seemed to be an easy solution and it was! Owen had a great time and it seemed like everyone else enjoyed too! When we started singing to Owen before blowing out the cake candles, he got really confused and furrowed his eyebrows. Ha!

For Owen’s actual birthday a few days later, we continued some family traditions and possibly started some new ones! In my family growing up, the birthday person gets woken up on their birthday with everyone coming in singing Happy Birthday and bringing in their cake and presents. My parents came up that morning and we continued that tradition! Then for lunch we all went to Chuck E Cheese, which I think it going to be a new tradition! Owen LOVED it and got so excited when he saw Chuck E Cheese in person. He even danced with him when he came out! When we got home, his train table from us had arrived in the mail so I put it together while he napped for him to find when he woke up and he was so excited! He plays with it all day long! For dinner, we met up with Greg’s parents at Chick-fil-A. Owen had a rather full and loved day 🙂

He had his two-year-old check up the next day and did really well overall! He had to get his finger pricked 😦 and we went through two band-aids because he kept pulling them off so we gave up. This was his first time getting measured and weighed like a big kid and he did really well! He is 29.5 pounds and 34 inches tall! He did have to get a shot so that was no fun, but he recovered well.

Greg’s dad’s birthday was earlier this month and for his birthday, he wanted to take Owen to Wild Adventures to see all the animals and Owen had a BLAST! He LOVED walking around and seeing all the animals. When we were doing the walking tour, he wanted to walk himself instead of being carried and was pointing at everything. He was passed out asleep in the car on the way home before we even got on the interstate!

I’ve said this before in Addison’s updates, but it’s worth repeating for Owen’s: Owen LOVES Addison. He’ll walk up to her and get right in her face (lovingly) and say “hey!” He wants to wipe her mouth with her rag and put her paci back in her mouth when it falls out. He really likes to take pictures with her now and wants to sit next to her. If he’s awake while she’s sleeping, he wants to have the monitor hanging on his shorts pocket to listen out for her and when he hears her, he says “Addison!” The feeling is mutual too. Addison laughs and smiles at Owen anytime he comes near and even when he’s (lovingly) all in her face.

Owen amazes me constantly and I am so proud of who he is. He is so kind and has a huge heart. He is sensitive to other’s feelings and gets upset if someone else is upset – especially Addison or Lucy. He is a determined child and can be stubborn – he certainly knows what he wants! Owen is very particular about certain things. He likes to clean up and if something is out of place, he says “uh oh!” and fixes it. For example, we’ve been using coasters at this new house to make sure to protect the parsonage furniture. Owen has picked up on this and insists that his cups go on coasters. He’s REALLLLLY into Barney these days so the Clean Up song has come in handy if I need him to clean up something. It doesn’t take much coaxing (in fact, if he sees something messy, he says “mess!”), but it sure makes it more fun and he sings along!

Speaking of singing along, this kid has quite the vocabulary now! There are still some things that more so have a sound effect than an actual word and it’s not necessarily full sentences, but we usually know what he’s trying to say most of the time which is fantastic!! He repeats everything. Everything.

He still does his crazy fake laugh/chuckle thing and it kills me every time! This kid is just hilarious! I finally put away all of his clothes that are under size 2T which was hard, but needed to happen. He looks like such a little boy!

Owen has become a HUGE Mama’s boy lately. I’m not sure exactly what it is or why, but it’s intense. To the point where even his beloved grandparents aren’t allowed to put him down for a nap or bedtime. Only I can. On one hand it’s sweet and cute. But sometimes it’s just exhausting because even when I have help at home with getting both kids to bed, if he’s just going to scream if it’s not me, then I might as well do both. I do love the Mama-Owen cuddles though.

I am so thankful to have friends who have kids the same ages as our kids! It’s already been fun watching them grow together and I can’t wait to watch it continue! It used to be that Grayson and Owen played peacefully together – but separately, if that makes sense. They would basically coexist in the same room playing but not really interact with or play with one another. Now they actually do! They are six months apart in age, but they sure do enjoy each other! I’m excited for when Emerson and Addison get to that stage!

Here’s another hilarious Owen-ism. When people come over to our house, one of those people will become The Chosen One by Owen. This means that only this person can play with Owen, get his juice, or really anything. Owen becomes glued to this person for the entirety of their time at our house. There’s not normally a rhyme or reason, although if there are guys present, it will most likely be a guy over a girl.

Two years has gone by OH SO FAST! Man. We’ve loved watching this kid grow and I’m excited to see the person he continues to become! My prayer is that I am able to be a patient and loving figure in his life, who points him to Jesus with every action. I am so far from perfect and I fail constantly. But I pray that Jesus picks up my slack and that Owen grows to know Jesus despite of my shortcomings and because of the love of Jesus through me!

Addison’s 4 & 5 month updates!

Turns out I’m even worse at keeping up with a monthly blog than I thought! I’ll just blame it on the fact that now there are two kids instead of one. At this point, Addison is about 5 and a half months old and I never did a 4 month blog or a 5 month blog! Man. I’m slacking. SO I’m going to do one blog that covers both and try my best to keep the two months separate in terms of milestones, events, etc. I know the distinctions don’t really matter to you reading this, but it’s been cool and helpful to go back and read Owen’s monthly blogs to know when he did certain things so I have an idea of what to expect with Addison! So if a Harrison #3 came along in the future, I’ll have two kids monthly blogs to look at! The problem is now I can’t remember anything…
Because I’m combining Addison’s two months into one update and because Owen just had his second birthday, I’m going to save all Owen updates for his own blog post and keep this one just Addison! Here we go!

— 4 months: June 6, 2017 —

Addison turned 4 months in June! At her 4 month check up, she was 15.5 pounds (75th percentile) and 25.5 inches long (90th percentile). For comparison, Owen was 13.5 pounds and 26.5 inches long at four months.

At this point, she was still OK with being held by other people! But for sure when she’s being held by Mama, all is right in the world. You can tell by these pictures that she’s definitely got the head control down by now – even though I think you could say she’s had that figured out for a while!

I’ve said this every time, but man this girl is strong! Owen fought tummy time like crazy and he hated being on his stomach. Addison is much more resilient when it comes to trying to get her head up. Her legs are also super strong. She’s been able to “stand” herself up for a while now, but you can tell she continues to get stronger.

In addition, she doesn’t seem to be as big of a fan of the round pink pillow as she used to be and I think it’s because she’s wanting to sit up. When we do put her on the pillow, she cranes her neck to try to sit up and see everything going on. And even when she is in it, she doesn’t stay in it nearly as long as she used to. It used to be that she basically lived in that thing, but at this point it was not much at all.

Addison’s smile cracks me up. Owen had the same big, open mouth smile that Addison has, but a difference is that Addison will have her tongue out as well and it’s hilarious! She has so much personality and has truly been an easy going baby.

Addison spent her last days as a 3-month-old and her first couple as a 4-month-old at Jekyll Island! We had Annual Conference for the UMC there and the whole family went down! We shared a house with my parents (who also had to be there for conference) and it was fantastic. Last year, we stayed in a hotel with Owen and it was DREADFUL. This was much more enjoyable. We’re returning to Jekyll for conference again next year and we’ve already put in a request for the same house!

Leading up to this point, I was in a packing frenzy. We would be moving houses only 4 days after this 4-month mark so it was pretty much chaos at our house between trying to pack but then still needing to use things that were already packed.

I got to celebrate my first Mother’s Day with both kiddos this year! We went to visit my parents for the weekend since our Sundays together were numbered with us being appointed to a church. Once our first Sunday hit, we couldn’t have any more family gatherings on Sundays with my family so we tried to soak it up!

Owen has begun to show more and more affection toward Addison and it is precious. He has always clearly cared about her, but for the first time, he wanted her to sit by him and he let me take a picture of it! That hadn’t happened before so I was thrilled! 🙂

 

— 5 months: July 6, 2017 —

Baby girl turned 5 months in July! It’s really amazing the difference that occurs from one month to another. I’m not sure how much she weighed at this point because we didn’t do a home measuring, but I’ll tell you this much – she sure is healthy. Ha! There is no doubt about that!

An unfortunate thing is that teething began to kick in this month. Teething is pretty much the worst thing. They can’t tell you what’s wrong – they just cry. And then when you offer your finger or knuckle and they gnaw down hard, you realize it. I hate this part because you can tell they’re hurting, but there’s not a whole whole lot you can do except wait for the dang teeth to finally come through. And then wait for the next ones to start. I just hope she doesn’t have the ear infection problems that Owen did!

Sleeping-wise, she’s still doing great! She sleeps really well through the night – the only thing that wakes her up is if she loses her paci. I’ll walk in and put her paci in and then she’s back to sleep!

Babies can start trying out baby pureed food when they turn 4 months so we tried that this month, but it seemed to us like her stomach wasn’t quite ready for it yet. She liked the taste of bananas, but it seemed like it upset her tummy so we put it off for now. We started Owen at 4 months and he devoured them like a pro, but Addison just isn’t there yet so she’ll stick to breastmilk only for now. And let’s be honest. The girl isn’t starving. Ha!

I mentioned in the 4 month update that we don’t use the pink pillow as much because she wants to sit up and that’s still pretty much the case! We hardly use it at this point. we used to put her in the pillow during meals so she could be there and see us, but since she wants to sit up, we’ve started putting her in the high chair at meals even though she’s not eating baby food. She’s loved it! She can sit there and see everyone. She’ll talk her head off too. Ha!

Addison is super super chill. It’s crazy. She’s overall really content. But the separation anxiety has officially started. It’s still kind of small at this point. But easily if she’s crying while being held by someone else, she’ll stop immediately when I take her back.

I’ve always said she has a cute and big personality and it gets more specific as she gets older. She laughs now! Sometimes it sounds more like a cough and sometimes it sounds like a legit chuckle, but either way it’s adorable and wonderful!

In case you didn’t know (somehow), Greg is a HUGE soccer fan. Like obsessed kind of soccer fan. Atlanta got its own MLS (Major League Soccer) team this year and Greg has season tickets so he’ll go up for the home games and everything. Well, it’s necessary for the entire family to have Atlanta United gear so a couple months ago we made a trip to Atlanta to get some to wear on game days. Addison has her daddy wrapped around her little finger and when she’s in ATLUTD gear, she’s even more irresistible for him. Ha! She likes to try to work the Xbox controller too.

I will probably (unapologetically) say this every month, but I absolutely love watching Owen and Addison’s relationship grow. He wants to take care of her and be around her. And she LOVES him. Laughs and smiles at him anytime he talks (especially when it’s to her!). They are the absolute cutest thing. Also, check out those two in the double stroller – who is that big girl in the back?! Because I know it’s not my baby!!

We’re really really grateful to have amazing friends surrounding us. A really fun thing is to watch our kids grow with our friends’ kids – especially since they are all super close in age! Owen and Grayson are finally at the age where they want to play together (instead of just coexist in the same room while playing separately). I’m so excited for when Addison and Emerson are at that point!

Greg’s dad’s birthday is on the Fourth of July and for his birthday, he wanted to take us to Wild Adventures – specifically for Owen to see the animals! It was an amazing day and the kids had a blast – more details on that trip will be on Owen’s 2 year update since the trip was mainly about him! But Addison had fun too! She did a great job considering it was SUPER hot and she didn’t really get a good nap other than dozing off here and there in the stroller. I will say this though. Wild Adventures has an AMAZING Nursing Mother’s Room. I’m talking nice changing tables, a microwave to warm up a bottle, rocking chairs, toys and chairs for younger kids (siblings), and an A/C unit blasting. It was such a nice experience and a great surprise. I assumed I would go sit in the corner of a booth at lunch with my cover over us and hope that she ate. I just happened to be studying the map, wasting time while they were riding rides and Addison napped and I saw it! EVERY place should have something like that!

— Family Update —

Our family has had a lot of change over the past few months! Not only did we physically move houses (although only about 15 minutes across town) so there was the packing, moving, unpacking part. But we moved appointments from being Campus Ministers to being the Senior Pastor (Greg) and Associate Pastor (me) of a local church! It has been an adjustment, but one that we have welcomed gladly and been so excited about. The church has been fantastic. I mean seriously. I’m not sure we could have asked for a better welcome from a church family. We already feel at home here and we really do mean it when we tell the congregation that we are here for the long run, as long as the Lord and the congregation wants us here! Our new house has become our home and the church has been phenomenal. There are big changes coming on the horizon for our worship service, but we’ve been met with excitement and readiness from the people so here we go!

Addison is 3 months old!

Baby girl is 3 months old! Because there is no check-up at 3 months, we’re not sure of her weight, but going by the fact that she was almost 13 pounds at 2 months and she’s only gotten chunkier, I would say she’s definitely at 14 pounds at least! The funny thing is that our guess for Owen’s weight at 3 months was only 12.5 pounds! I LOVE my chunky baby girl – from her chunky thigh rolls to her adorable chubby cheeks. She’s perfect in our eyes.

Like I said, Addison definitely seems to be getting plenty to eat! I mean, look at this girl! A lot of people refer to babies as “squishy” and I never really got that expression with Owen because he was so lean, but Addison makes that phrase a reality. I love holding this girl. She’s definitely gotten the hang of breastfeeding which makes it way less stressful and more relaxing and enjoyable. Oftentimes when I burp her, she’ll fall asleep on my shoulder so I like to linger in the glider for a while longer so I can soak up those cuddles. It is so so sweet and I know that she will soon become more restless and not stay in that position.

Addison has become a fantastic sleeper, which is completely different from those first few weeks when she would only sleep while lying on us. It started with her only waking up once in the middle of the night – normally around 4:30am – from an 11pm feeding before bedtime. Then it slowly became 5:30am then 6:30am and sometimes 7:30am! At this point, it can be anywhere between 6:30-7:30am, but the awesome thing is that I can lay her back down and either go back to sleep for a bit or get ready. This month or next I’ll probably start trying to give her a bedtime and put her to bed around 8pm (same as Owen) and see how she does.

Baby girl is smiling and talking SO much! She will smile and talk to several people, but my hearts swells when she immediately smiles and talks as soon as she sees or hears me. She definitely knows her Mama!

Addison is such a joy to our family! She has been the perfect addition to the Harrison crew in so many ways. I really can’t wait to see what her personality looks like as she grows.

Owen is growing SO fast. It blows my mind that he’ll be 2 years old in just a couple months. It’s as if he learns at least one new word a day. He catches on to words extremely quickly and repeats us often. Still no sentences necessarily, but he can at least somewhat tell us what he wants!

He is so smart! He likes to build – and then destroy – but then sometimes build it again! We took him to Stevi B’s for the first time and he LOVED the arcade! He “played” Skee Ball and got a few tickets! He was so proud. He still hangs out in Addison’s room while I feed her and recently he has started taking the books from her book rack and sitting on her giant stuff animals to read.

Owen and Addison make my heart swell. Owen has started trying to “take care” of Addison by wiping her mouth with her rag and putting her paci in her mouth. He likes to make sure that her blanket is on her and even says “uh oh” when he sees her paci out of her mouth. Likewise, Addison loves her big brother! She lights up and starts smiling when she hears him talking. It is so precious.

We celebrated Easter with my family this year at my dad’s church because when Greg and I take our own local church this summer, we won’t have the opportunity to visit my family on Sundays anymore. Owen got to do an Easter egg hunt, which he loved. He would walk around and call them “balls” and would walk toward a particular one, walking past several on the way. Ha! It’s always nice when we get the whole family together. 🙂

Well. We said goodbye to our Wesley of Macon family at the end of April and it was a rough night. These Wesley students have truly become our family over the past several years and it was hard. We’ve hired a new campus minister and we have full faith that he will be great for the job and the students. We know the ministry will be taken care of, but it has been apart of us for 9 years so saying goodbye is emotional.

The good thing is that we have received our appointment at a local church and it’s still in Macon! So we would be saying goodbye to the seniors regardless of whether or not we moved, but now we don’t have to say goodbye for good to the younger students! In fact, now we have the ability to be fully friends with them without the boundary of also being their campus ministers. We’re really excited about this new church and the direction it is going. We are confident that God has placed us in the perfect place for us to grow and be challenged.

On a super exciting note, Greg and I have been planning a trip to Disney World this fall! We found out that kids under 3 are free so we knew we needed to go before summer 2018 when Owen turns 3! We looked at our calendar, picked some dates, chose and reserved our rental house, got the tickets, and we’re good to go! We’re SO excited and know that Owen is going to LOVE it! Addison will be 8 months old so hopefully she can enjoy it too!

Until next month. 🙂

Two months in!

Addison is 2 months old! And let me tell you. This month was far better than the first month. I forgot to mention last time that that first month was so rough that Addison may be the last addition to the Harrison crew and if she was born first, she might be an only child. Things have changed now thankfully! I think that when you get far enough away from the first few months with a baby, you forget how tough the first few weeks are and that makes it even harder. Because Owen is such a relatively easy kid now, I forget that he screamed and cried for hours everyday and we had to bounce him and sing to him constantly. But there is an end to it. There really is. And we’re finally getting to the end of this rough patch and ready to move on to the next one!

Addison had her two month appointment this past Monday and she did great! As a reminder, she was 8 pounds 3.6 ounces and 21 1/4 inches when she was born. At this appointment, she was 12 pounds 13 ounces and 23 2/14 inches long! She is in the 90th percentile for both length and weight! This is very different from Owen, who was the 99th percentile for length and 30th percentile for weight at this point. We’ve gone from a long and lean string bean of a kid to a tall chunky monkey! Bathing Addison is a completely different experience from bathing Owen because I have to make sure I clean her rolls and I didn’t have to with Owen! Ha!

I have officially had to retire Addison’s newborn sized clothes and move her to the 0-3 month clothing. Truthfully it probably should have happened a couple weeks ago, but I wanted to stretch it out as long as I could (figuratively speaking). After we finish going through the size 1 diapers that have already been opened, we’ll move her to size 2! That is different from Owen as well. With Owen, we moved up in size when he peed or pooped out of the diaper a few days in a row. Addison hasn’t really done that yet, but we’ve definitely got to move up because they’re too tight on her legs!

Apparently there’s something in my kids where they hit 2 months (give or take a few days) and they have a completely new outlook on sleeping, for the better! Owen started completely sleeping through the night a few nights before turning 2 months and now a few nights before Addison turned 2 months, she all of a sudden she started only waking up to eat once in the night! She clearly knew that Mama was losing her mind with sleep deprivation. Ha!

Addison has started smiling a lot and doing the baby cooing and it is the best thing ever. I forgot how amazing this part of babies growing up is! She has started recognizing me more and more and it’s the best! I love that smiling face!

Owen has been learning more and more words everyday! This kid is so smart. He is enthralled by everything around him – especially dogs and anything in the sky. He points to the sky and says “jet” and has a bunch of animal noises that he does, while he laughs. Some of his favorite (and most consistent) words are: trucks, jet, woo woo (puppy), uh oh, whoa, up, and ice. We’re finally beginning to be able to decipher what he’s trying to tell us.

He’s always been a big helper, but that has increased even more since Addison was born! He loves to help reload diapers into the baskets, carry laundry, and carry Addison’s diaper bag. In fact, he will only carry her bag (not his own) even though they’re the same kind of bag!

Owen LOVES his baby sister. He gives her kisses all the time and will only take pictures if she’s in them also. In fact, there are times that he won’t give Greg or me a kiss good night until he gives her one! He’s so interested when we do things with her like when I give her a bath or feed her. He hangs out in her room with me while I feed her and he plays with his “trucks.” When I sit in the glider, he insists on being the one to hand me my nursing pillow. He’s an amazing big brother already. I can’t wait to watch them grow up together!

Owen has developed a newfound interest in all of Addison’s things. It’s like he must have whatever she has! When I put Addison’s headband on her, Owen insists on wearing one too. He wants to sit on her pillow and is always climbing onto the play mat that we pulled back out for her to play on – he’s waaaaay too big for it. Ha! And when I was taking Addison’s 2 month pictures, Owen insisted on also wearing a sticker so I put the 1 month sticker on him (since I wouldn’t need that one again) and he wore it around the house for the next like 30 minutes.

We have finally figured out a solid morning routine. Usually what happens is I feed Addison, get Lucy, fix Owen’s breakfast, then we all go get Owen. He gets so excited when I bring Addison into the room so I’ll sit at the end of his bed and we take a picture of the three of us. After getting him dressed, we go eat breakfast at the table while watching Chuggington. It’s become a pretty good routine for us!

After breakfast, we usually play with Owen’s trucks or go outside, with Addison in the carrier. When Owen goes down for naps, oftentimes Addison and I will take a nap in the recliner with her on my chest.

Sometimes we’ll go on “adventures” which Owen LOVES. We may go to the park or to the Wesley House or sometimes if they’re just driving me crazy and we need to get out, I just drive around town. Thankfully both kids like the car! I took both kids out to Publix by myself for the first time and we survived! The awesome thing is that Publix gives a cookie to kids while you shop so Owen was plenty preoccupied and Addison was in the carrier. Since then, we’ve been out a few times just the three of us and so far we haven’t had any meltdowns, but I’m sure that will change at some point. Ha!

Speaking of that, a few weekends ago Greg went on a weekend retreat with Wesley so I had the kids to myself. I was a bit intimidated at first thinking about it, but we actually did really well! I took the two of them to the food trucks for lunch on Saturday and we actually made it to church on Sunday morning! It was actually pretty encouraging. Up until that point, I had only had them from waking up to dinner time when Greg got home. That weekend, it added dinner, bath, and bedtime. I know I could have just skipped baths, stayed at home, and missed church, but I wanted to try to have a normal weekend.

Like most parents, I was worried that I couldn’t possibly love another child like I did Owen. And in a way, I was right. I certainly love them equally, but it’s not the same. I can already tell that my relationship with Addison is/will be different than my relationship with Owen – in a good way! I’m not sure if it’s because it’s a mother/son and mother/daughter relationship or because Owen was first and Addison was second or because their personalities are so different, but I LOVE that the relationships are different. It speaks to their uniqueness and how we bond differently. I love that little boy and little girl more than I can express or explain.

Here’s to continued good months and even better sleep! 🙂

Addison’s 1st Month!

Addison has arrived! Well, she arrived 6 weeks ago so I’m super slacking on the updates, but turns out having two little ones leaves very little down time! Ha! I’m going to try to keep this post focused on the first month rather than the additional two week so I have something to write about for her 2 month update!

Addison has been…unpredictable…literally since the moment labor began. As a reminder, her due date was Sunday, February 19. Two weeks prior, on Sunday, February 5, I spent the whole day in bed with the stomach bug that Greg and Owen had a few days before and had been having some pretty strong Braxton Hicks contractions. I came out of the bedroom to make some toast and lie in the living room watching the Super Bowl with Greg. After the game, I went back to bed and had a much more intense contraction. I went to roll over in bed to get my phone to tell my mom that we might be going to the hospital that night when my water broke in bed at 11:30pm. I got a shower while Greg got our bag together and a friend came over to listen out for Owen while my parents started the drive over.

Greg and I got to the hospital around 12:45am. Because my water had already broken, they moved me from the Observation Room to a Labor and Delivery Room pretty quickly. Soon after that, they took some blood to check my platelets to determine if I could have an epidural. My platelets were at 69 which means unfortunately, the anesthesiologist on call that particular morning would not give me an epidural. I was pretty crushed. I got super lucky with Owen because my levels were the same, but that anesthesiologist on call gave it to me anyways. The next few hours were really rough. I have never been one who wanted a natural, epidural-free childbirth. At all. And to be completely honest, if no epidural is what my future childbirths would look like, we may be done having kids. Ha! Around 4:15am, I felt Addison drop and I realized then it was time to push. When the doctor and nurses came in, Addison was already crowning and at 4:26am, baby girl was born! She was 8 pounds 3.6 ounces and 21 1/4 inches long!

Continuing the theme of unpredictability and nothing going as planned, my parents were going to stay with us for a few days to help out at home and with Owen. Well, while I was in labor at the hospital, my mom got extremely sick. So much so that the next day, she went to a Quick Med and was given a slew of medications to help her get through it. She and my dad went back home for her to get better since she was extremely contagious and thanks to rest and the medications, they were able to come back later in the week! Thankfully, Greg’s dad was incredible and took a day off work to be with Owen until we got home and was a tremendous help. And Owen loved having some solo Granddad time. 🙂

We took Addison to her four day old pediatrician appointment and she was 7 pounds 12 ounces, which is a normal amount of weight loss from birth weight. Unfortunately, Addison’s jaundice levels were high so we had to return the next day to get her blood tested again. We were told that they needed to be at 14 or lower and her’s were 14.9. We went back again on Friday and they had gotten even higher – 16.9 – so she had to do home phototherapy. Basically, they gave us an iPad-sized tablet thing that had UV lights on it. It had to stay shining on Addison’s skin for at least 23 hours of the day – basically, all the time except for during baths or the process of changing. We went back again Saturday afternoon after having her on the lights since Friday morning and her levels were at 14.2 so they let us stop with the lights! We had to go back yet again the following Monday to follow up and they were at 14 so at that point we were done for good with the jaundice testing!

Overall, breastfeeding is going well. She’s consistently gained weight and has dirty diapers. But, man is it a battle! She fights me to eat – not because she’s not hungry, but I think she’s still figuring out how to eat. It can be pretty frustrating because I don’t know if she’s just slower to figure it out or if it’s because this time around, I know what I’m doing, whereas with Owen, it was new to both of us! In addition, she’ll eat on one side and act like she’s done and then about 45 minutes later, she decides she wants to eat again which can be really irritating. But she’s definitely improved and we have fewer frustrating moments than in the beginning. So far, she has had two bottles and she did alright in taking those. She kind of fought Greg, but in the same way she can fight me. She eventually ended up finishing the bottles!

Another battle: sleeping. Oh lawd. I should clarify though. Addison WILL sleep during the night…if she’s lying on you or in your arms. I’ve spent several nights over the past six weeks sleeping in the living room recliner with her lying on my chest or falling asleep in the glider in her room after feeding her. The frustrating thing is that she has spent entire nights sleeping in her crib in her room in between feedings so I know she can do it! She’s just inconsistent and I’m not quite sure how to handle that. For a long time, we fought her on it and tried to make her sleep in the crib but that just resulted in us getting zero sleep in the night which left us cranky and irritable the next day. I’ve finally just given in and if she doesn’t go to sleep in the crib after trying once or twice after I feed her, we just go sleep on the recliner. I’m hoping this isn’t one of those instances where I’m starting a bad habit, but right now I just need us all to survive with the most amount of sanity as possible.

The one thing that Addison and Owen have been the same one is that baby girl has reflux like big brother. We’ve gotten her on Zantac and that seems to have helped a ton with the pain she was in, but she still spits up quite a bit. Again, not consistently like Owen, but when she does spit up, I swear it’s everything she ate for the past few days.

Owen and Addison are so different from one another in so many ways. Physically, to Greg and me, Owen and Addison look nothing alike – it’s rather funny! Addison has much more almond eyes and it took a while for us to even see them! But their differences go deep. Ha. I’ve told several people that I legitimately feel like a first time parent all over again because I’m clueless and just guessing with this girl! Owen was predictable and like clockwork – he ate every 2 hours pretty much on the minute. That includes at night, which means he was waking me up every 2 hours. A huge difference here is that after I fed him at night, he would go back to sleep immediately which means I got a solid hour and a half of sleep at a time, whereas with Addison, she doesn’t go back to sleep right away (if at all) and might require sleeping in the recliner. She’s just much needier than Owen was and it can really wear me down.

Honestly, it took a change of mindset for my attitude to change. I was so focused on how different the two were and how this time is more challenging in ways and it kept me from sleeping and would make me irritable and at my wit’s end. One day I just sat and thought about it and made the decision to focus on who Addison is rather than fall into the comparison game. This has brought so much more joy. By no means is anything any easier. She’s still not sleeping without us and still wants to be held constantly; the difference is that I’m choosing to find joy in holding her because I know she won’t want this forever and I’ll miss it.

Owen does an amazing job with Addison. He’s such a good big brother! When we first brought her home, he was a mixture of uncertain and indifferent – not in a bad way, just not really phased by the change in our house. We tried to be really intentional about including him in anything we did with her and making sure he still got our attention. For example, when I feed Addison, I would go into her room, but I kept the door open so he could wander in and out so it was never shutting him out or that Addison was taking Mama away from him. He’s LOVED that! He’ll come into the room and bring toys or play with toys in her room and wander around. Poor girl has not gotten the quiet, peaceful feedings that her brother got, but our house is neither quiet nor peaceful anymore so this is life. Ha! As time has gone on, he has really become fond of her! He’ll give her a kiss or put her blanket on her and is just so sweet with her. I can’t wait to watch their relationship grow!

The hardest part about having both of them is when Owen wants my full attention or wants to be held while I’m holding Addison. It absolutely breaks my heart and there were plenty of guilty feelings in the beginning. Something that has completely saved me this go around is our baby carrier. We had it with Owen, but hardly used it. It’s a completely different story this time. I use the carrier everyday to hold Addison so I can still play and interact with Owen. The bonus is that she falls asleep in it!

Speaking of Owen, he is doing great! He’s had another ear infection since his 18 month appointment, but we took care of that with medication. He loves to explore, loves Lucy, and loves to help me with pretty much anything. If there’s something I want him to do, I just word it as “helping Mama” do something and he’s all about it! In fact, Owen gets mad if he finds out a chore has been done without him! He cracks me up. 🙂 My Nana is a hairdresser and she gave him his first haircut! It was getting rather long in the back so she trimmed it and also shaped up around his face and he looks like such a big boy now! No more baby!

As a whole, everyone is doing well! I didn’t struggle with any sort of postpartum depression or anything with Owen, but I got close this go around. It really all came down to the amount of sleep I got the night before. Once I figured out that I need to just be flexible with Addison’s schedule instead of focusing on what I did with Owen, it all changed and I became much calmer and more peaceful – even though the circumstances didn’t change. The entire time I’ve been thankful to have Addison in our lives, but in the midst of really difficult and tiring days, it’s hard to see the positive, but it’s there. I just have to adjust my focus.

I mentioned in the last post that Greg and I have decided to leave Wesley Foundation and enter into the local church pastor life. Since then, our Board of Directors have been conducting a job search and Greg and I have been patiently awaiting a phone call to find out where we’re going! Honestly, I’m at complete peace about this, even while waiting blindly. I feel confident this is where God is having us go at this stage of life and I’m excited to see what the details of that calling are! Here we go!