Anniversary!

Andrew and I celebrated 7 years of marriage yesterday. On the heels of having a new little boy, we weren't sure if there would be any "Celebrating" going on, but just our own little family enjoying each other.
HOWEVER. We were blessed with Andrew's parents coming to town and Granny Annie's baby whispering...I felt great leaving Foster at home for the first time while Andrew and I went out on a date and got that sushi that I have been waiting for!

My husband is truly a gem. I am aware that I am a mom now and that means that my time has to be shared, but I am also very aware that my little boy will learn MUCH about love by watching Andrew and me. I know that he will learn how to love and treat women by watching his dad love me (and me loving Andrew). I know that if Andrew and I don't take time to date and to put our marriage first that  our child will miss out on learning about God's love for him and for us!
So...Date night it was. And it was awesome!

7 Years of Marriage. July 16th

Thanks for the baby sitting Grandma and Grandpa!

home

Welp, it turns out that giving birth is really hard.

Today is my birthday and I have received countless texts and calls and Facebook posts and I am so grateful for each one of them. Thanks for your love!

Foster is doing an amazing job eating and sleeping...but mostly sleeping in the daytime...which I hear is normal. Today for my birthday, he got me the gift of actually sleeping in his pack and play on two different occasions. Now to hope that he will do it during the night. 

For those of you who are wondering about the name Foster Isaac we chose Foster because it is Andrew's Granny's maiden name and Isaac we chose because of Sarah and Abraham waiting on their precious boy, Isaac...and it means laughter, which we love! 

So, I have been horrible about responding to messages (which I know that no one really expects me to) because I am having a harder time recovering. My blood pressure spiked during labor and they had to put me on magnesium sulfate, which kept me from having seizures, but stops the labor and causes you to feel like you have the flu. So, they had to increase the pitosin so that labor would not stop. 

So there I was 12 hours into labor and feeling like I have the flu, my skin aching, throwing up ice chips, and feeling the pain of the contractions. (little did I know I would have a few more hours of this).

So skip ahead to having the baby...which I did. Welcome the sweetest moment of my life when Andrew looked at me and said "I love you so much" followed by a push and him telling me, "Its a boy"!...bring on the tears. and then they put Foster in my arms! dang. 

So, because my blood pressure was so high, I had to stay on the magnesium sulfate for 24 hours after delivery...So for the next day I still had all the symptoms of the flu.

from there, the process of healing has been hard and I have had to take it extra easy so as not to upset the blood pressure issue. 

This afternoon, I feel a bit more normal. Thank you God! 

It is super helpful that I have great family who have given us a ton of time to recoup (talk about 3 hour naps and lots of refills on my water) and a sweet little boy who makes me giddy. We have also had a ton of wonderful friends who are making sure we are eating and have all we need to manage. 

Andrew has been my hero! Best husband ever, as usual. He is so supportive and encouraging and tending to my every need. He is amazing. Tired, but amazing! haha! 

So, what you all really want to see...here are a few more pics of the sweet boy. 

in the hospital

Foster ready to come home! 

Andrew as a baby, I think Foster looks like him. 

Baby and Daddy!

Uncle Thomas came to visit! I think they like each other.

me and my baby! 

Thanks for all the prayers and the birthday wishes! Love you all! 

It's A Boy!

Foster Isaac Beard

Born June 27th, 2012 at 5:40pm

7lbs 12ozs

20 1/2 inches

Yesterday was a long but amazing day.  I'm sure Sarah will want to give you all the details...so I'll just share a few things.  Sarah did amazingly well.  Foster is doing so great and is so handsome.

As of now...

I still cannot even believe that I am writing updates instead of posting a pic of my newborn.

This morning the nurse called my name, I stood up and walked to the door and she rolled her eyes, "seriously?"
"I know!"
She checked my blood pressure, and laughed when saying, "I was kinda hoping it would be just high enough to ship you over to Labor and Delivery."
"Is it high?"
"Not at all."

We go into the appointment and my doctor lets us know that we can schedule inducement, and suggests  Friday. I suggest sooner, we settle on Wed. Morning.

So, the latest news as of now is this.
We are sleeping in our house tonight knowing that this very well may be the last night in our home without a kid.

Both sets of grandparents are here, ready, and waiting.

As long as we don't get bumped from a list by an emergency, we will head to the hospital tomorrow night, and begin the process of "getting ready for labor and delivery". We will sleep in the hospital and if I have not gone into labor by 8:00am (which lets face it, the way things have been going I will probably not) I will be moved to L and D and start the pitocin.

So, in a dream world,  we will be meeting our baby by Wed night.

Thanks so much for all the prayers, thoughts, and well wishes. This journey has been super emotional and exciting and we cannot wait for our baby to be here and to meet you! Your prayers and text of encouragement have been priceless gems to us. Love to you!!

Now, if you want to read a HILARIOUS post about one of my friends who recently gave birth, you should check out Allison Sloan's blog and read the last two posts. I have read it twice and CRIED HARD from both laugher and sweet sentiment.

Thanks for stopping in!

the blessed curse

"Are you kidding me?" This is the phrase that I have begun to say about 9 million times a day!

The last 6 weeks have been a crazy roller coaster of "your baby could be here today!" and yet, here we are two days past the due date. 

I called this post the blessed curse, because it has been so hard thinking that baby was going to be here so early and then thinking about the nicu and family not getting here...ETC. 

And then the blessing is that the Lord is SO GOOD! First of all, because there is a miracle baby in my belly, and there was little to NO belief from us or the doc's that this baby was going to go full term. 

In fact, in my first sonogram appt. I was told that I will not have a baby larger than 7lbs. 

On Thursday my doctor told me that as of a week ago baby measured 7lbs 12oz and that if she was wrong and our baby was only 6lbs, she wanted me to bring baby in so she can see what those "cheeks look like on a 6lb baby." I just laughed! This baby is not going to be small...and its cheeks will be much like its moms and dads were. 

You may have seen these pics on Facebook, but I hope those cheeks are ready to get kissed, because if they are anything like ours were, I know there are a lot of people waiting to kiss them. 

This is me.

This is Andrew!

The other very obvious blessings that we have received in these last few days is the outpouring of love, prayers, and thoughts from our friends and my family is in town and Andrews is headed down soon (should be here Monday). 

I cannot tell you how many people have just texted me messages of encouragement! It has truly been a long, long wait for Andrew and I to meet this baby. We are talking almost 6 years now. I think I can wait a few more days...if I have to.

News on the plan:: If the baby hasn't arrived by itself on Monday, we have an appointment first thing Monday morning. We will then begin the inducement process...and we will definitely have a baby by Thursday! Thanks so much for all your prayers and your friendships!  We have amazing people in our lives and are incredibly grateful! 

I will let you know as soon as we know something!! 

WE LOVE YOU!!

Andrews first

Today is so fun! My sweet, sweet husband is celebrated as a father for the first time. I know, the baby isn't born yet, but it's fun to think that baby could be born today! (One can dream).

I have gone on and on about how amazing Andrew is, but really, could one ever say enough about such a huge blessing in their life? I cannot wait to see Andrew be a daddy. It makes me sooo giddy! I know how much he loves me and how how he shows it, but to imagine watching him show love to a "little" is beyond my imagination.

Andrew, you are a gem. You are the strongest and gentlest man I know. I am beyond grateful for your leadership in our home and I cannot wait to walk with you through this next chapter...which I would love to start today! haha!  Thank you for being a peacemaker and exhibiting Godly character to everyone you encounter! Thank you for making every thing we do so much fun. 

Happy First Fathers Day!

Man I love this guy!

Now, I know y'all love those silly stories I tell about Andrew, so here is a new one.

 Remember I am in my 39th week of pregnancy. 

My parents are in town and we went to Ikea to buy some shelves and a cheap lamp. I sat in the back seat with mom, I was behind Andrew. We got out of the car in the parking lot and Andrew had his water bottle in his hand. He shut the door and I shut mine and he stood right in front of me and said, "this is what it should be like." 

I was a little confused, because as he was talking he dumped water between my feet. It splashed up on my feet and legs. 

It took me about 1 second to realize that he was making an "if your water breaks" joke. I immediately started laughing and had to lean on him...at this time mom was walking around the car and looked at us, looked at the ground and then did one of those really deep breaths and yelled, "Did your water break!?" 

Which of course made us laugh even harder. 

Once I stopped laughing I explained my husbands sick humor and we all got a really good laugh. 

Incase you were worried, it was hot enough that my shoes were dry before we got into the store.

While I am typing and reading this, I am realizing that you may not think it is as funny as it actually was, but oh my gosh, it was really funny. 

Love you Andrew! You are the best! 

I just like to laugh

We, in the Beard household, love to laugh. We have such a good time with life because we know when to take things seriously and when to just let it crack us up! 

We love laughter so much we are considering Isaac for the middle name of our child, if it is a boy, of course. So...I thought I would post a few things that made me laugh this week. 

For those of you who know Andrew really well, you know he HATES spiders. I saw this on Pintrest the other day and thought, I bet he has done this before! 

Today, this was linked on my Facebook wall by a friend, and former student, Katja Jones. She thought this was totally "me and Drew". When I read it, I laughed sooooo hard and thought, "yep, that's about right!" For our whole marriage I have referred to myself as "us" and "we"! 

I hope you get a laugh out of it! 

Have a fun day!