Wailes Kennedy Sims

Whew. Hi. Anyone home? I feel like I just came out of blogging hibernation. Or just hibernation at that. I stay inside our little home a lot. I realized I hadn't left the house from Saturday - Wednesday last week. Baby brother is keeping me busy, but he is truly a joy. 

Wailes Kennedy Sims entered our world on December 18, 2013 at 3:45ish P.M. Labor (if you even want to call it that) and delivery were so enjoyable. Weird, right? My epidural obviously didn't work with Harper Lee. She was so painful to birth, ha. But worth it. Daniel and I checked in to the hospital around 5 A.M. with our best friends, Mark and Amy Brown, who were also having a baby boy that day. We got settled in a room around 6 and the nurse "started" an IV. There's one part I hate about a hospital and it's an IV. Bahhhh. I get nauseous just thinking about it. They missed my huge vein 3 times with Harper. I about died. Really. Not really, but close. This time I requested it in my arm (not my hand), but the nurse convinced me my vein was so big that she could get it in, no problem. Wrong. I'm starting to hyperventilate just writing this. The vein burst (or something along those lines) and it didn't work. I could feel blood all over my hand, and I suddenly got sick. Sweaty, nauseous, sick. I could hear, "Now, I just did 6 IVs and this is the only one I missed. We'll have to do it again." I wanted to crawl under my bed and just hide from all the needles. That was the worst part of labor.

Mark, Amy and Tate Lawson Brown (hiding somewhere!)

won't be the first time she'll be on top of him 

I was already 3 cm dilated, so I decided to get my epidural. The hospital was full, and I did not want the pain to increase and the anesthesiologist be in another room. I slowly became numb from my waist down. The epidural worked! Hallelujah! My legs felt like 1,000 pounds, but who cares? I slept the majority of the day. Not many people were there, which made the day so relaxing. Daniel stayed outside of the room playing with Harper and "entertaining" family. I kept telling my nurse what a great day it was. I was alone. I love my alone time.

Dialation was really slow all day. Finally at 3:15, I was 10 cm. The nurse told me it was time to push, and I looked at Daniel with a sign of, "Are you going to hold my legs, because I'm not sure they're still attached." I got to 6 seconds (out of 10) and the nurse told me to stop pushing, she was going to call the dr. I was so shocked it was this easy, I asked for a mirror! Ha! Yeah, that enjoyable.

(I would add the cute videos, but my phone won't transfer them to iPhoto.)

Let me back up. That morning it was 30 degrees outside. It had warmed up to 75 that afternoon, and the heat was still on in the hospital. My room was burning up. I had a box fan on my the whole day, but had to turn it off come pushing time.

The doctor came in, cleaned everything then Daniel got nauseous. It was hot, 10 people in the room and the smell of the betadine was strong. I don't think he saw the baby come out. I'm pretty sure the nurse told him to sit on the couch.

Most relaxing delivery ever. After 3 pushes, he was here! Practically perfect 7 pound 8 ounce baby brother. That's when I got a little emotional. When Harper was born, I was just praising God I didn't have to push another time and she was healthy. With Wailes, I could take everything in. Ah. Wonderful. Beautiful baby boy.

Our time in the hospital was great. A somewhat babymoon without a funny toddler running around stealing our attention :) Speaking of sister, she LOVES her brother. My biggest challenge has been keeping him alive (not smothered by her). She would hold him every second of the day. It's a big blessing! Of course, she now acts out when visitors come, because she wants attention. It's totally normal and to be expected. I'm hoping she will grow out of that soon. We talked about brother the entire time I was pregnant. I'm assuming that helped with her transition. Who knows.

So, that's our baby story. Pretty boring, but I'd do it again. In a heartbeat. Our babies are so loved by many. You. Thank you. Life would be much harder without your support. Our church has played a major role in our lives. The community at Pear Orchard has blessed us immensely. From food every night (Daniel especially thanks you), to picking up Harper to play, to visiting in the hospital, to welcoming us back to church and just loving us. We would be a lonely family without the church. Praising God for sweet community. Speaking of good meals (this might be TMI), I told Daniel I was regularly going to the bathroom. He said, "Me too! All the time." We looked at each other and said, "It's the good food!!!" And laughed for awhile. I cook, but we eat at 5:30, and starving by 9, so we end up eating a lot of junk. Anyway, that story was too funny for me not to input it. Sorry mom. 

Oh. His name. Daniel and I could not decide on a name. We didn't bring the subject up for awhile, because we had such a hard time with Harper's. We wished we would've saved Daniel Harper Sims for brother, but it's done. We finally decided on Sunday night that it would be Wailes. I was sitting on the couch watching, Alaska: The Last Frontier (if you have Netflix, watch it!) and said, "What about Wailes? I have a cousin named Wailes." It's from his dad, Leven Wailes Magruger, who is my uncle (by marriage). So, it's somewhat a family name, but Daniel and I really liked it. Daniel said, "Ok, that's it." The next day I asked Julie to monogram 2 outfits. It was done. Lets just hope we have a girl next (in years to come), because I do not want to play the name game again. Whew. 

Leven "Wailes" Magruder (the 4th, maybe??)

By the way, I hope to start blogging more frequently. Two random/very kind women sent me messages last week talking about my blog. I was shocked and humbled. Big thanks to both of you! I don't know how you stumbled across me, but I'm glad you did. Writing has been an outlet (as I'm sure it is for every 5,000,000,000 mommy blogger). I have few moments to myself during each day. Those moments are usually spent ten toes up. I told Daniel, since we have been married, I have either been pregnant or nursing. Which ultimately means, I'm tired. I sleep when the kids sleep. The only reason I'm typing now is because Daniel fell asleep putting Harper to bed at 8:00. Between my commitment to being a wife and mom, time alone is few and far between. But... I really want to commit to writing again. You don't have to read it, but I'm going to write. 

Christmas. Don't even get me started on Christmas. 

facetiming in on Christmas Eve at dad's

Christmas Eve at the Tigrett's house

LeeLee and Mr. Phil 

We planned Wailes' birth so we wouldn't be in the hospital on Christmas day. God had different plans.  Just goes to show Mary cannot control everything.

Look, I am so tired of seeing mommy bloggers post about how hard childrearing is, they wear spit up all day, ... blah, blah, I've read a lot of them. I hope this isn't like that. I want to be real, like I'm talking to you in my living room. Except... I type better than I speak. I don't mean to discredit the bloggers, by any means, I've just read the same post on 3,000 different blogs. Mine might sound just like that.... lets hope not. I hope it's more gospel centered than Mary centered. Unlike my Instagram. Please don't think I have a perfect life. I pray I don't portray that. I like/love pictures. One day I'll figure out how to work Photoshop on my computer... one day. Not today. 

Ok, going to bed. My little boy will be up in 3 hours. And 3 hours after that. And 3 hours after that. And... you get my point. I'm exhausted.

Books I'm trying to read, This Momentary Marriage by Piper and Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges (Bible study, so that keeps me accountable!). Gospel Powered Parenting is next. I've started it several times. Oops. Has anyone read these? Really enjoying them so far. Here's to putting God first, marriage second and children third. I've had that backwards for the past 2 years.