Week 3

1 day v 21 days (not much change in these!)

Three weeks have come and gone, and I have a super special milestone to report.
Harper is showing more interest in her bubba! And me, for that matter. This makes my heart smile! She’s been a total Daddy’s girl lately, and not wanting much to do with me when he’s around. She always likes Max, but still from afar. The last two nights she has been extra loving, wanted to sit with me on the couch, and asked to hold him. Yay!! The start of sibling love, indeed.

We had a challenging few days with her. Though Daddy’s been around to give her plenty of attention, it’s definitely a big transition for everyone, and I am glad she is finally getting adjusted.  She’s full-time in her own bed, so that’s a change. And we have began implementing an actual bedtime routine as well. Still working on the naps being “regular,” but to Kyle’s amazement, we are making progress there too. She’s starting to become okay with the process of going to sleep. I think once he goes back to work next week, we will get in an even better flow, schedule wise. The rough days were when our schedule was completely off, and she would nap late, or not nap at all, causing her to be grumpy and extra whiney. Harper? No way! 😉 I felt bad for Kyle at times because she is literally 24/7. Clinging to him all day. Then bedtime would take hours some nights, and she’d wake up in the night and he’d be back in there, and wake up early too. Oh well, that’s what he signed up for! He says if that’s the worst thing we have to face as parents right now, he’ll take it! Everything else has been pretty great. Four whole weeks of him being off spending time with us is awesome, and we will be sad when he goes back.

Now for Max-

Big boy! Doctor said she expected him to gain two pounds next time we go back, and she’s right on the money. He is already at 11 pounds! Thriving. I love it, means I’m doing something right. Can’t imagine what the 3 and 6 week growth spurts will be like, if we haven’t had one yet. His check-up is Friday, and I’m guessing he may get a couple shots. 😦 Already size 1 diapers.

This week, we’ve visited with all four sets of the great-grandparents, he and I went to Wal-Mart, and today to Kohls and scored several cute outfits (for him) on-sale! I figure I’m not sure how much longer he will be able to even fit in the 0-3 month stuff, so I’m buying 6 months, to be prepared!

He still sleeps A LOT. He’s awake more, but naps for hours at time throughout the day. At night, he usually wakes up twice to nurse, like 1:00am and 4:00am, then 7:00am and we get up.. or not and sleep in! That’s been nice. I’ve learned cabbage beef soup is a no-no for me to eat. That night he was up crying with gas pains, no fun.

Still has to sit propped up and slouched. But look at those big feet and belly!

He’s a pretty special little fella. Next week I’ll have to find some motivation to be productive, but right now I’m just gonna stay on the couch and cuddle my loves. 
(Repeat pics from FB, but I like them here too.)

XO

Photo post

Well just wrote that last post on my phone, with the handy WordPress app! So thought I’d occasionally post some of my favorite old photos from my iPhone, to remember some great moments! I have over 4,000 pictures! 😱

Ill start with some of the very first pictures of Harper.

The Once and Future Babe

Well, things did not go as planned at the doctor.

Warning.. possible TMI and sensitive details ahead. For this exact reason, we never told anyone about this pregnancy, besides parents and siblings. So, if you are reading this, you are just finding out. Sorry, but I’m glad I made that decision! We would have told the rest of the family around 10 weeks, like we intend to do next time. Even though I’m making it public, it is a very personal issue and I don’t want to talk about it, at all, to anyone, because it will make me sad. Unless you have recently experienced a miscarriage yourself, in that case, I would be happy to talk about it with you. I’d just rather get it out there, and move on. Miscarriage happens to most women I know, it seems. I try to think of people who have only had healthy pregnancies (that we know about…lucky them) and I think of more who have experienced a m/c. I hate the word. My mom has lost four babies, as well as other women in my family, so it’s always felt like an impending doom. Now it’s here and it’s happening to me. This is my story.

We had a bad feeling, since the spotting for three nights in a row. I’ve had this doom over my head the whole weekend before. Mother’s intuition? However, I tried to stay positive, like I am now. We had an ultrasound done and could tell immediately something was wrong. There was no baby. I was 8 weeks, so there definitely should have been, and I know my dates are accurate. No baby. Only a sac. My heart sank and we were crushed. I was crying, so the lab lady led us to another room so the doctor could come in and talk with us.

Apparently this is a common reason for a miscarriage in early pregnancy. They didn’t tell me the scientific name, but I researched it and found that it’s called a “blighted ovum.” A sac forms, and your body thinks you are pregnant, but a baby never forms, only the sac. The doctor said this could have been from too many sperm trying to get in, so it never fertilized correctly. Needless to say, going from excited to see my little bean and to already being two months in, to no baby, was disheartening. This happens to some women, who go back a couple weeks later, to realize they had their dates wrong and now there’s a baby. This isn’t my case, and my body is starting to realize it and will “officially” miscarry on its own, and pass the sac (ew.) If it doesn’t, I will have to be admitted to the hospital for a procedure, which I find to be more traumatic and awful, so I’m praying that doesn’t happen. It gives some women more closure, but it will set me back.

So, we are sad that we won’t be having a little newborn in September. 😦 However, we are choosing to remain very optimistic. Not to discredit anyone else who has gone through this, because I know it’s devastating, but for us personally.. since no baby ever formed, we’re albeit less severe. We feel if there was a baby but no heartbeat or something, that’d be extremely worse, a different story. For couples who have been trying for a long while, or have no other kids, I couldn’t imagine their pain.  We had only been TTC for two months, so we will definitely be able to try again here soon and hopefully get better news! If Kyle hadn’t taken off the rest of the day yesterday, I would have been alone and crying all day. But we came home, played with our sweet precious baby we already have, and of course puppy!

ETA: I’m glad I hadn’t bought anything yet for this baby, but I feel pretty gloomy today. Now I’m behind on all of my business frames and obviously can’t tell them why.

It’s all in God’s hands though. It’s definitely a spiritual matter. It’s my belief that God definitely does not CAUSE these things to happen, as “it happened for a reason”…no. Maybe? We can say that about somethings to make ourselves feel better. But I believe He created the laws of science, such as gravity and weather cycles, just as he created women’s bodies to do miraculous things like carrying a baby for 9 months and then being able to sustain life and feed it, with milk. He created our bodies to know and terminate pregnancies that haven’t formed right, or at all. Nothing we can control, nothing I did wrong. It’s all pretty amazing, even though we never want to lose something or someone so dear. And He always gives us his love and it’s our job to seek Him in these times, to show us the way. To become better people and to learn from our experiences, and to grow closer in our relationship with God.

This is more of a journal, for my benefit, so I want to include it in my blog. It’s a defining point in my life, to definitely be better a better person and Christian. Besides teaching your children about God, showing them love, and educating them, I think the greatest gift you can give them is siblings.  When you have no one else, or when your parents have passed, (ideally) you will always have your siblings. Your sisters and brothers by fate, your best friends by choice. If I didn’t have my sister and sister-in-law, I would no doubt be crazy. They are such blessings to me and I want Harper to have as many siblings as God intends. 😉

This blog will still remain “Sevenly Bliss,” of course, as this is the journey for our seventh family member. Whenever that may be, I’ll be ready. Maybe more ready, now that I have a few more months to catch up on…life. It will remain unshared for quite a while longer, but that’s okay.

Have a great day!

Seven.

Meet the family!

My daughter Harper is my purpose for life. She inspires me to be a better person than I could have ever imagined. I’ve dreamed about having a daughter since I was a little girl, and she’s absolutely perfect. Whiney, but super sweet! 😉 She turned one in January. Her favorite thing is being outside. She would sit out there all day, every day, rain or shine, if I’d let her. She loves reading, her TV shows, dancing, and bath time.

My husband is my rock and best friend. I couldn’t imagine a better father for my children and I’m so lucky he chose me to be his wife! We got married 9-10-11 and have since enjoyed typical newlywed adventures such as buying a home and starting a family. His biggest hobby is running/working out, and he loves watching movies. Trying to get him into being a Mr. Fix-it, because I’m ready to start some big house projects around here!.. Our honey-do list remains stagnant for now… We have a lot of fun just relaxing at home and spending time with Harper and the pets..and that seems to take up all of our time.

Here are the kitties, Maxi and Harlow. Sisters – and they are good (BIG) cats. They have a great life of eating, sleeping, and playing.

Our newest member of the family:

Hudson
Cooper
Bentley
Achilles
Simba
Vandy
Winston

Shadow! The Golden Retriever.

Although I loved all of the names we picked out, he couldn’t have them all. It was very hard to decide, and for everyone to agree on one. Little guy follows me around everywhere, and plays with his shadow, so it just seemed to fit! He is a dream come true, I’ve been bugging Kyle for months to get a puppy. It’s his first inside dog, and we didn’t know how the cats would react. Luckily, they don’t mind him at all. He’s our first Golden and I’ve only heard great things about them. I am SO excited to have little Shadow and know Harper and he will become best buds.

And finally… there’s me. Hannah, the mom and wife of this family. That’s only 6….but guess what!! We’re expecting!!  This is an answered prayer, for Harper to have a sibling. We are thrilled!! Baby #2 is due September 23. I haven’t told all of the family yet, waiting for our first ultrasound and OB appointment this Wednesday. So, this blog won’t be published until at least then, but it’s a good outlet for me. This will be my third attempt at a blog, since I’ve gotten married, so I hope to keep it up! The last two times lasted a mere week, but I just want this one to focus on family and my personal affairs involving such. I love to write, and attempt to be crafty. Not so good at cooking healthy [delicious] meals, but learning as we go. I’m a stay-at-home-mom; not always an easy job, but it has a lot of perks! I have this little side project Etsy shop going on called Love and Lullabies. So far, it’s mostly just for “fun,” to give myself an opportunity to be creative and starting to make a little income for my family. It’s a lot of work; just started a couple months ago.. but feels great to be able to contribute somewhat financially. Hope to get more organized and more products, so it can grow bigger! I do have my hands full, regardless.

If you’ve gotten this far, thank you! It’s always nice to know someone else is reading, other than me!  Sevenly Bliss is my journey: through a second pregnancy, raising a one year old, taking care of our pets and the house, and being a wife. There’s so much more to it, but trying to keep this simple and to the point. Welcome!