Id like to take a minute.

So, I turned around and my second kid is 3 months old tomorrow. WHAT!

I feel like I should have some grand thoughts for a post, since it has been so long since my last post, but I am going to settle for reality and a few thank you's.

The last three months have been insane. I don't think I could live without coffee.
And I MOST CERTAINLY have survived by the way of my family and friends - which are pretty much my family.  I would like to high-light a few. You may be completely disinterested in this post...but I need to take a second here!

My Momma, Chris Welker, has turned out to be Super Grandma. The way she plays with Foster is insanely hilarious, she is in her 60's rolling down the alley on a toy with him - full speed ahead. She says she is tired and then gives 110% to playing like a boss with the kids while I work. She got here the first of October and left right before Thanksgiving. The woman stopped her life for 2 months to be at my side and lend a hand. Andrew and I would leave the house for hours with the kids and she would clean my house...like Clean, Clean. REALLY!? She may be a little crazy but she is MINE and I love her soooo stinking much and loved every minute of her being here...Even if that dang walmart pharmacy can't fill a prescription, right mom?!

My Mother in Law, Anne Beard, is one of the finest women on planet earth. I can only pray to be the kind of MIL to Foster and Keating's wives - should they choose to abandon me and move on to another woman who may care for them so much but not quite as much as I do...wait, what was I saying. Oh, yeah. Anne. She was here for the few days leading up to the birth and for the week or two after (I am not sure of any dates anymore), and she has been back in town three times...since. THANK THE DEAR LORD. When she is here, I forget that we don't have a dishwasher, because she does all the dishes! CAN I GET AN AMEN!! I leave the house for meetings and andrew and I go on dates (when our schedules let us)...It's so good. She is so good and I love her so much!

My dear sweet friends and neighbors...Now don't think you can steal them. Amy Bales and her clan. What would we have done without them the last few months?! Can we just say - have extremely boring afternoons and really dirty clothes. Have I mentioned we don't have a washer and dryer? This dear sweet woman will meet me at 11pm in her driveway to take a bag of fosters sheets and clothes that he just threw up all over and wash and dry them and put them on my back doorstep! WHO DOES THIS?! Their doors are open to my family (literally we call their garage our community center) and that is awesome when all of the sudden you realize all the sheets in the house need to be washed and no one has any clean underwear left. And lets not forget mention her sweet 7 year old son who Foster thinks is the coolest kid ever - He plays with fos and cracks him up...you bet when school is out, Fos is looking out the back door saying "Henry?" as well as he can. We call Henry Fosters best friend.

Meggie and Dexter! OH SERIOUSLY. Talk about working out a washer and Dryer. These friends are family. They live right below us and it is not uncommon to find them in our living room after the babes are in bed. The constant "let us know if we can do anything" is sometimes sanity in itself. After a day of sheer crazy with the kids Dexters child like love and humor and Meggie's sincerity is all one needs as a night cap...but there is also usually a beverage to accompany our visits!

Allyson and Werm. Godparents...and lifesavers. I have never met any two people with more love for babies that aren't theirs and a willingness to take them ANYTIME! I have not paid for babysitting more than twice because of these two wonderful people. They have gone from students to interns, to family. Date night comes to you by way of the Werms. They have saved my sanity more times than I count. Allyson works with me, so even just having the two of us in the house in the morning sometimes when things are crazy means that I can brush my teeth...you know? maybe you don't...but maybe you do.

And all of these people are more than helping bodies...They are cheerleaders, confidants, breaths of fresh air, encouragement, and hope that these two sweet babies that I love so much will have the same kids of community I have. I love them. I could not have done life this year without them.

And that is my reality. Seriously. We went to the advent festival and church and got this pic taken to prove it.

Perfect Imperfections

You know what every parent says when you ask them, "Do you want a boy or a girl?"

Well, almost every parent. 

We all say the same thing. 

"I want a healthy baby."

And that is the truth. We all want healthy babies! 

I had a moment in the hospital when I looked at Keating and realized that something wasn't "perfect".

He had 10 fingers, 10 toes, his face was totally sweet and then I saw his right ear. 

"What is that?" "Why does it look like that?" "Is his hearing effected?" 

As soon as I got the hearing screening results back - which he passed with 100% (He is already good at test taking), my fears were gone. The doctors told us it was totally cosmetic and they could refer us to someone who could fix it. 

WHAT??? 

Fix it!? That is seriously ridiculous! 

I looked at that sweet little notch in his ear and let him know that it was something that would set him apart. Something that would be "his thing". This is a perfect imperfection. 

Also, it will either save us from the earring conversation completely, which we will have to consider, since his dad had earrings...or he will want two in that lobe! Either way, we love it and will not consider "fixing" it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Perspective for the "me of two years ago".

Perspective. Am I right, second time parents?

I just keep thinking, "If I knew then what I know now, I think this would have been much easier the first time around." But as I have had this thought, I also have this thought; "There is NO WAY I could have this perspective if I didn't experience this parenthood thing the first time" - and I think its good that way so when you come home with the second one, it's a bit easier!

So, what would I let my first time parent self know, you may wonder? or not. you may not wonder at all. If you do, read on...If you don't care...stop reading now.


Sarah,
For most people, when you have your first baby, the husband sleeps at the hospital each night on the worlds most uncomfortable "sofa" where they are woken up at least every 3 hours when the woman has to feed the baby. A lot of people choose to keep the baby in their room with them, which means that there is even less sleep happening. So by the time that you head home from the hospital, you are both already totally wiped...and then you get to take the baby home. Why they let a new parent take a baby home will be beyond you!

When you come home from the hospital with a baby, the amount of responsibility you feel for this new life is absolutely overwhelming. I had this thought that there was no one that could care for this little life like I could (when, really, what did I know about being a mom). I remember Andrews mom MAKING me and Andrew take a nap after we brought Foster home from the hospital before she would leave to go back to KC. She had to make us because I kept refusing. I felt like I was totally neglecting my baby if I were to (Gasp) take a nap while he was sleeping!!!
You will search the diaper for any amt. of pee or poop, praying that they are getting enough food. In the night, each noise that they make could be a sign of them choking, or stopping their breath patterns. Their sneezing could mean they are sick, their little breath intakes that are so sweet could mean they aren't breathing well...Worry. Worry. Worry...and why wouldn't you, you have NEVER done this before!!!!
With Foster, the first time you left the house without him was almost a month later when Andrew took you out for a sushi anniversary dinner, and trust me, we ran out and ran back as soon as we could.

I am not saying that any of this is bad or wrong at all, it is the way it is...Im just saying that now I have a totally different perspective...and that changes everything.

So, what would I suggest to my previous self. I would first say, "do what you gotta do" or "do what you think is best", but here are a few things I may offer in a gentle tone to two year ago Sarah.

1. The hospital is stocked with health care professionals who are paid to care for you and for your baby the few days after it is born. It is okay to send your sweet willing husband home for at least one of the nights in order to get some sleep so that the both of you are not well on your way to zombie land when it comes time to go home. This time, I sent Andrew home to be with Fos, and I sent Keating to the nursery, and for those 3 hour intervals, I SLEPT SO HARD! I recuperated and used those nurses for what they are paid for...delivering pain meds, checking my vitals, and bringing me Keating so that I could nurse him...and then taking him back and cuddling him...and whatever else you precious nurses do.

2. Your mom and mom-in-law, may actually know how to keep a baby alive while you sleep. And, it's actually a good thing to put the baby down and let it fall asleep so that it knows that it can...even though all you want to do is cuddle the heck out if baby and pass it around for all to hold...RIGHT AFTER THEY WASH AND SANITIZE their hands.

3. After this first baby, your world is upside down - 100% different...but it is actually still pretty restful when you get a new born baby in your house during the day. They eat, you try and keep them awake, they sleep, and they poop and pee - sometimes on you and sometimes on your furniture...and that is what they are supposed to do. Sleep when they sleep (which you know you have heard a million people tell you that and you think, "how can I? What if they stop breathing?"). But 2 year ago me, listen, its all good. Sleep when they sleep - watch your favorite shows (or start something new) when they are sleeping, I was gonna say awake...but lets face it, they are only awake a few hours a day.

These are probably the 3 things that I would tell myself, but I may also say to her,
"With your next one (which is gonna be way sooner than you think), you will venture out of the house on your own, without either child on day 5 and on day 6 of its life. You will be surprised how natural it feels to have a baby around. You will love this baby as much as the first one, so don't worry about that. AND believe it or not, grandma has got this-let her help you!"

How is Foster coping?

My biggest fear with having a second baby was how Foster was going to react. 

He has been doing awesome. As you may be able to tell from the photos below, he loves to show his brother off. He understands that when we say "brother", we mean this little baby. 

He loves to give him kisses and he loves to point to his nose, and whenever anyone comes to the house,  he grabs their hand, walks them to wherever Keating is and points to him.

He is doing great and we are super proud of him. 

Fos kissing Keatings head.

the Beard boys, minus Brian - UNCLE BRIAN COME SOON!  

Sharing Grandpa's lap

Sharing Grandma's lap

seriously, how could they get any cuter?

This is in the hospital - Fos visiting me and Keating.

This is also from his hospital visit.

Thanks for stopping by and for caring about my kids!

What's in a name...Take 2

So, we named our second child 

Keating Elijah Beard

We get two responses. 

1. How do you spell that? KEATING

2. Is that a family name like Foster?

Why yes, yes it is. 

Keating is named after Mary Keating. 

Mary Keating was Fosters Grandpa McGoldrick's great grandma.

She would have been Keating and Foster's great, great, great, great grandma.

We found out the day that Keating was born that Mary's Daughter was born on Sept 20th too...and she would have been 116!

So, that is the story of why we named him Keating.

Elijah means "the Lord is my God" and since we did a family name and then a Bible name with a meaning that we love for Foster, we decided to repeat the pattern for baby number 2.

and thats the way it is.

Thanks for stoping by.

Sarah

Foster's first birthday party

I cannot believe I have not posted anything from Fos' actual party! 

So here is the quick version and the story in pics.

It was surfer themed. I made cupcakes with fish and sand.

We had "Surfs Up" playing in the background. There were a ton of Fos's friends here - which are mostly our adult friends. 

He got lots of gifts. 

He ate his cupcake while holding a balloon. 

I think he liked the cupcake.

And also. If you pay the extra $.16/balloon for that chemical that helps hold the helium, they will last for like more than a week!! INSANE! 

It's the final countdown! like for realz.

About 6 months ago, I thought, "well, I have 6 months with Fos before another baby comes." While that seems like a long time ago, the fact is that there will be another baby tomorrow.

It is official. If I don't go into labor today, I am being induced at 6:00am tomorrow morning. 

Get ready for the Beards to be a family of 4!

I woke up this morning (Foster had made his way into bed with us), and I looked at my boys in bed with me and thought..."Wow. This is it. Our last day as a family of 3." What do you do with that? I will tell you what! We make plans to head to Klyde Warren Park for a food truck lunch and let Fos play in all the water while we eat!

We are so blessed. I have wanted to complain so much throughout this pregnancy - because it has been sooooo hard - but I fear I will seem ungrateful. That is just not the case! I cannot believe that after all the years of thinking that we were unable to have kids, the Lord is blessing us with two! TWO! Andrew and I are so excited and so grateful!

as we count down the hours we have remained busy.

Last night was youth group, where Andrew leads worship. Since there is always a chance this close to the due date that Andrew would be gone, he had to have a contingency plan. The plan was that he would just do an acoustic set, and then if he had to be gone, they just wouldn't do music. We obviously didn't have a baby yesterday, so we were at youth...and then Andrew asked if I would lead with him. Of course I said yes...but then you know, Foster couldn't let us do it without him joining in. Sorry for the quality of these...

So here is a video of just Andrew sound checking...and Foster thinking he was a part of the show. I am not sure if you can see him "singing" along...but that is def. happening.

Then when I agreed to sing - this is how that ended up...There is a shortened version of this on
Instagram...but here is the full clip.

Well, friends, I would appreciate your prayers for tomorrow and cannot wait to introduce you to the newest Beard...and find out if its a girl or a boy!

Also, the Dieke's set up a care calendar for us so we have some meals, if you have asked me about that, here is the info.

http://www.carecalendar.org/logon/160095
and enter
the following information in the appropriate spaces:

CALENDAR ID : 160095
SECURITY CODE : 8680


Love you all!
Have a great day!

Also, Here is a pic from this summer of the all the boys! They look like a bunch of Swedish
kids...being superman. I wonder if we will have another Superman or a Wonder Woman!?

Foster, Charlie, Eden, and Fred.