The Birth of River Jared Reese!

He's arrived! Almost two weeks early from his due date and six days from his scheduled inductions. He weighed 5 pounds, 15 oz, and was 20 inches long. Here is the crazy and unexpected story of River's birth!

We had a very hectic few days last weekend. We celebrated Christmas with my family and both sets of grandparents in two days. We also had all of Jada's family over Friday to make Christmas cookies, and hosted my aunt and cousin a couple of nights during all the festivities. So Sunday night we had Christmas with the huge Hayes family and had gotten in bed pretty late. Asher decided to act like a new born that night and kept me up until 2 am crying about something or other. Then around 3 am I started having contractions, and I knew from the get go they were the real thing. I was so tired and remember being kind of asleep, but praying (in my dreams perhaps) that they would go away! I was NOT planning on a Christmas baby! 

I never timed the contractions, but they lasted all night, and around 7 AM I woke Daniel up and told him I thought the baby was coming today. We still had company at our house and had presents sitting around everywhere. I had not packed a bag or made any plans for the kids, but Daniel and I both couldn't think straight enough to make a logical decision. Daniel was flitting around the house like a chicken with his head off and accomplishing nothing! We kept laughing at ourselves and our ridiculousness. Finally we took the kids to my mom's house where my sister was still trying to pack up to leave. She stopped long enough to give me a pedicure because Lord knows my toes have to look pretty up in stirrups! We finally left for Lubbock after lunch. On the way, my contractions slowed down and I started to doubt whether we should have come. Daniel ran a couple of errands, and we went to Baby's R Us. This is the first place in Lubbock I can say I labored- several more ahead! 

We got to the hospital around 2:30 and they said I was at a three. They monitored me for a couple of hours and I only progressed a tiny bit. I was so confused as to what I wanted! I didn't want a Christmas Eve baby so part of me wanted to lay still and try to get the contractions to go away. On the other hand, if he was coming, I wanted to get up and walk around to make it go faster. I asked the nurse if I could stay in Lubbock, but leave the hospital because I thought it would be a lot longer before he was born. They agreed, so Daniel, my mom, and me took off. Even as I got the elevators, the contractions got harder. We ordered some dinner, and then went to Target where I bought a rug for the nursery. I kept ducking behind racks of clothes to labor. We also went to CVS three different times! We then went to a random neighborhood to walk around and look at Christmas lights. I was so emotional by this point that I just kept bawling! I just had a plan for Christmas and for this baby and nothing was how I wanted it! And I really just wanted to go home and have Christmas Eve with my kids! Mom just kept laughing because my emotions were really ridiculous. I kept walking really fast and stopping every two minutes to have a contraction and then I would start crying all over again. We stopped at CVS one more time where I made a fool out of myself having contractions in the diaper and nail polish isles.  the time we started back to the hospital, it was 8 Pm. We couldn't even get across the parking lot because my contractions were coming so fast. But we kept laughing because we just wanted to get to the door! Then I stopped to go to the bathroom and got stuck in there for a while. We couldn't make it to the front desk! 

After triage they said I was between a six and seven. As soon as they wheeled me into a room, my water broke (more like exploded). The nurse could barely get me into bed before I started yelling that I needed to push. They had nothing ready and I had to hold that child in when I needed to push so bad! She checked me and told the other nurse to get my doctor, then said there was no time for my doctor, just get another one that was available. Well guess who was available on Christmas Eve? A man who looked like Santa Claus! He was even wearing red scrubs! He got there just in time. I pushed one time, and River was here! From the time I made it through the doors of the hospital to when he was born was about thirty five minutes! was happy because I didn't have to have monitors or an IV or anything.  I hate those things. The whole day was confusing and emotional and funny and crazy, but I'm glad he made it safe and sound. And I'm glad I made it to the hospital in time! 

Here are a few pics. I uploaded them in the wrong order- sorry. 

Overview

Well I haven't updated since Septemberish, so here is an attempt to make up for lost time. Let's see, we went on vacation towards the end of September and it was amazing! We started out in New York and then worked our way up the coast to Maine. Gotta tell you, if it were not for all the wonderful people we know and love here, we would be living up there! It was beautiful! Here is one of our favorite pictures from Maine:

Let's see, what came next? I guess Halloween would be the next highlight. My kids were Minnie and Mickey Mouse, and I gotta say, super cute! 

We went to the Welch Fall Fling on Saturday and then we did a cookout in our front yard for our neighborhood on Halloween. We wanted  to try to give us a chance to build some new relationships and it was a lot of fun! We did a costume contest for the kids as well. Good times.

At some point recently we got to see our baby again! I love getting to see the 4D ultrasounds- it's crazy what you can see! Our little boy, whose name we decided will be River Jared Reese, is doing great! I think he already looks like the other two kids. 

And though this is probably only significant to me, I wanted to show off my new mantel! We didn't have one and I just thought is was an absolute must for Christmas. It's decorated for fall right now, but I can't wait to put Christmas decorations up!

And last but certainly not least, I have a new niece! Baby Brindle was born last Sunday and is an absolutely beautiful girl! I'm so glad we get to live close to her and see her often! Addalie loves her and is really good with her. I can't wait to see her with our new baby!

Ok so that's my brief overview of the past couple months! 

Precious Reminder

Recently, I had a reminder of what is important and precious in my life. Let me elaborate. Daniel works at BE Implement in Lamesa, or better known as the John Deere house. Anyway, two guys came in the other day saying they had car trouble and needed a ride back to their truck. Daniel was volunteered to be the one to take them. Now Daniel does this stuff all the time for people. He is a magnet for anyone with car trouble, and he is always willing to take the time. I love him for that. However, today, he had a bad feeling about these guys. There was nothing wrong with them and they were plenty nice, but something in his gut just didn't feel right. But he wasn't really given a choice, so he went. He took them to the auto parts store, then back to their truck, out in the country about five miles north of town.

When they got their though, there was another guy there. And then they pulled a gun on my husband! They took his keys, grabbed his work phone off his belt and smashed it, and then asked for his wallet. Of course he gave it to them, they took off, and he was left out there in the 105 degree weather. Thankfully, they didn't know about his personal phone in his back pocket, so he was able to call for help.

I cannot believe this happened to him. I mean, he was just trying to help. I cried off and on all the rest of the day thinking about what could have happened. I'm so thankful for God's protection over him that day. It could have been so much worse. I'm so thankful for my husband and family. God has provided for us in incredible ways and this was all a reminder of that. Daniel is the best daddy for my kiddos that I could ever imagine and an amazing husband. I don't ever want to take this for granted!

Make sure take time to be thankful for those precious people in your life and make sure they know how precious they are to you! You never know what could happen to someone. I mean, Daniel works at John Deere in Lamesa, and still had a gun pulled on him!

On another note, we had our target ultrasound this week and our baby BOY is doing great! Here's a pic:

Can't wait to meet the little guy!

Big Announcement

Well, most of you have probably already heard, but we are due for baby #3 on January 5th.... and it's a BOY (most likely)!

BTW

By the way, Daniel is still working at BE Implement (aka, John Deere house). The preaching job is on the side. Sorry for not clarifying that earlier! K bye.

What We've Been Up To

A couple of weeks ago we went to a family reunion in Ruidoso. We had a great time with my entire family! We were all in one crazy condo together and just spent a lot of time hanging out and eating! We went out to the Flying J Ranch one night to eat, took the kids to ride go carts, and saw some of Mama Brown's family we never get to see. 

I realize that I haven't posted pictures of the kids in a while, but the truth is, I've been really bad about taking them. I meant to get all the pictures from other people on the trip, but I haven't yet. So here is what I've got. 

Here is Asher pretending to be in jail at the Flying J. Why is this so extremely funny to kids?

Asher got his first haircut on the trip! He had a pretty bad rat tail that Daniel had a weird attachment to. But its gone now and he looks much better.

All the men were playing golf and Asher wanted to join in. How cute is he?

Addalie riding go carts with her Daddy! This girl loves to go fast! She had so much doing everything with her cousins. I wish they could always be together like this.

They both had so much fun, but this is what they did as soon as they got in the car!

Ok, moving on... so it turns out I have a pretty handy husband! All by himself, he reconfigured these shelves and made them to where the tv would fit. I was nervous that he would ruin the existing wood and we would have to have someone come fix it. But I needed to have more faith! He did such a good job and we are so happy to have the tv off the fire place!

This is what it was like before. So much better now! I'm pretty proud of him!

Both our kids had a blast on the fourth of July. We went to a cook out at Mama Brown's and got to see a lot of cousins again! They just love being outside and Addalie just kept saying "this is awesome!"to the fireworks. Please don't ask me what's up with that huge bow on her head.

Addalie has been behaving really well lately so I took her out for ice cream the other day. She got the Krazy Kolors ice cream! So precious.

And here is my big boy! He does so well about wanting to sit on the potty that I decided to start potty training him today. Of course today of all days is the day he gets a bout of diarrhea. Go figure...

He's already a 100x easier than Addalie. Pray that this continues! He wanted to mow the lawn in his new underwear today. He's turned in to such a redneck here!

Now for some pretty significant news, Daniel is officially the new pastor at a church here in Lamesa! It's called Cornerstone Fellowship and it's a small church that has been without a preacher for quite a while. We have been visiting a praying about this almost since we moved here and just felt God leading us to invest in the community and in this congregation. It's been awesome to see Daniel getting to use his gifts and get excited about something. He is already doing an amazing job and I'm so proud of him. Check out the church on 806church.com (806 is the area code here). He is starting a blog and has podcast on the website.  It's not completely done yet, but I think there is some stuff up now. Please keep us in your prayer! Love!

Our New House

Ok I'm finally posting pics of our house here in Lamesa! We've lived here about a month now and things are going well. I'm really loving this house and how well it functions for our family! If it had a two car garage, it would be even better, but oh well. You will have to excuse some of the boxes and things in the pictures, there are just a few things left to do! But I decided if I waited till it was all done, you would never see pictures. 

BTW, our new address is:

103 N 23rd St. 

Lamesa, TX 79331

Front of the house

This is the view from the front door. There is a hallway to the left that leads to the bedrooms. I have no idea what's up with my picture alignment. It's not cooperating!

This is my bare dining room. We will get a table someday... 

I love my kitchen! The previous owners had completely redone it!

From eating area looking into the living room. We are going to redo those shelves so our tv fits. We won't leave it on the fireplace like that.

This playroom is behind those french doors in the kitchen. It's been perfect for the kids to still be close by but have a place to play. Fun fun!

This might be my favorite room: the laundry room. It's huge! There is a long built in desk on one side and the washer/dryer on the other. It also leads out into the garage.

The kids room is only semi-done. I need curtains, bedding that actually fits a twin bed, etc.

Our bedroom was the only room we painted.

Ok, so I really don't like our bathroom, but it's ok. We might end up redoing this at some point. It's pretty dated... 

Guest bedroom. We keep the pack n play set up for afternoon naps.

 So the hallway is pretty narrow and then opens up to this big space at the end. All three bedrooms and the kids bathroom are off this area. And I've got great storage there!

And the kids bathroom. It's dated too, but not too bad. And it's pretty big!

So that's pretty much it! We feel very blessed to be in this home, even though it took four months! Come visit us sometime! 

April

It is now May 8th and we are STILL living with my parents! We have a great house that we've been in contract on since the end of February, but because there are several people that need to move before we can, it looks like we can't be in till the end of May. I promise to post pictures if and when we ever get our own place! In the meantime, here is an overview of the month of April here in Welch!

Asher loves his Papa! Asher never falls asleep on people, he loves his bed. So you know he loves his Papa, and was really tired!

Asher also loves to act like his Papa. He loves crawling up in the recliner, throwing that neck pillow behind him and acting like Papa. 

Having fun together dying Easter eggs!

It's funny that we got here in Febrary when it was snowing, and now the kids are playing in the spriklers! Yeah, we've been here a while...

My pretty girl on Easter Sundy

It was cool to spend Easter in Welch at church with my parents. I hadn't been there for Easter since high school, and it was cool to have my kids hunt Easter eggs in the church yard just like I did when I was their age!

It's so funny to see my kids' different personalities with things. Addalie is pretty laid back with the egg hunting. She waits till someone points one out, then casually goes over and gets it. Asher on the other hand, figured this thing out pretty quick and was aggressive! He was even sneaking eggs out of Addalie's basket and putting them in his. It was hilarious to watch!

Family pic!

All the kids together hunting eggs!

Asher's new favorite activity: Vacuuming up the "bugs" (moths/millers) all over the house. They are terrible at my parents house but Asher is loving it! He can spot them from anywhere and will not let you rest till you help him vacuum it up. We just leave the vacuum out now days. He gets so giddy when he gets to vacuum one. He shouts "bug!" till you come over then says "got it!" when it's gone. He's too cute! 

And for the most exciting part of April: Baby Krae was born! My oldest sister Jada had her fifth baby, an adorable little boy, and we went to Round Rock to see him. He's doing great and is such a cutie!

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And that's it for April!