Joel is ONE!

One year ago, we were able to meet our sweet miracle baby!  All 3 lbs 13 oz of him!  It is so exciting to see how he has grown over this past year, and how God has grown me!  When I went into labor 10 weeks early, I never thought I'd think that was a perfect situation-but I DO NOW!

Because I'm me, and this is what I do, I have to reflect a little :

I spent lots of time sitting on the couch when I was pregnant with Joel.  It wasn't as terrible as one would think.  It was actually really humbling.  I learned to accept the help of others (thanks mom and dad) and everyone else who came to babysit and bring meals!  Not to mention ALL of the people that were praying for us!  It's kind of nice to just get over yourself and know that you can't do it all on your own!  We were meant to be a community and help each other.

I knew I had issues during the pregnancy, how can you ignore hemorrhaging multiple times when your pregnant? ;-)  I was VERY convinced that it would all go away, that I would have a full-term (at least 9 lb baby), and that everything would be a "MIRACLE!"  Seriously!  When I went into labor I really thought "Great, now I'm not going to be part of a real miracle!" It's fun to look back and laugh at my ideas!

When we first moved up here to Virginia I got involved in a Beth Moore Bible study of Daniel and it really helped clarify so much for me.  See, we can be delivered FROM the fire, but that isn't always what God chooses to do when we are in the midst of a trial.  There are also two other scenarios: We are delivered THROUGH the fire or we are delivered BY the fire into His arms.  Although I thought I was going to be delivered FROM a trial (bed rest, preemie baby, c-section, etc) God decided to deliver me THROUGH all of that and help refine my faith.  I am SO THANKFUL that I was not kept from going through this experience.  I've met amazing people, I've loved a baby more than words, I've learned to empathize with others on so many levels.  You really have no idea what it's like to leave your child at the hospital for weeks on end until you have done it.

I am so thankful that my water broke-that God sent us that sign that it was time for Joel to be born!  Do you remember, I was cleared off of bed rest about 14 hours before my water broke?!  Once again, man may have ideas about what is good, but God is in CONTROL!  I am thankful for technology and ultrasounds that alerted the doc to the fact that Joel was not doing well.  I'm thankful for c-sections that got our baby out quickly and healthy (Yes, me- Ms. NATURAL BIRTH herself is thankful for c-sections!)  I'm thankful for nurses and doctors that love and know how to care for babies.  I'm even thankful for the tubes that helped feed him and monitor him.  I'm thankful for medications to help get rid of whatever infection I had.  (I still don't fully understand what was wrong with me, but I'm glad it went away.)  I'm thankful for all those hours up in the NICU holding my little miracle baby.  I'm thankful for how well he learned to nurse and that he continues to do so (no birthday cake eating pic's here-the kid really just loves his Mama!)  I'm thankful that there are heroes out there that donate blood.  The day Joel received his transfusion, he was a totally different baby!  He got better so quick and never had another "issue" after receiving blood.  I'm thankful that God chose not to deliver me BY this "fire" and gave me more time here to raise these precious little one's and love my man.  It's important work-HIS work-and I don't take the responsibility He has given to me lightly.

I'm thankful for so many things, the above is just a start.  I'm very convinced that Joel is thankful to be alive too!  He really is the sweetest baby you have ever seen.  He is always happy and content.  He very rarely cries and the boy loves to giggle at and watch his brothers and sister.  He's crawling all over and loves to explore by putting things in his mouth!  He has 6 chompers and is 17+ lbs.  (Okay, I'll admit it, it will be nice when he sleeps more than a 3 hour stretch!...but I suppose that is my fault for not doing anything about it.)  He just started eating food this past week.  We are doing Baby Led Weaning (BLW) so he self feeds all his food.  No purees! :-)  It's fantastic.  He also had his first turd (suppository-induced). So sad to see formed up poo.  (Aren't you glad you're reading this?)

He is incredible and we all love him so much.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOEL!!  We are so blessed to have you in our lives and to have the opportunity to love you and watch you grow up!  What a way to celebrate our 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY-by having your 1st BIRTHDAY!  What a special day!

*We aren't having an actual birthday party for Joel, but you just became part of his virtual party!   (WOOT!)  We would LOVE it if you would go donate blood in honor of him!  YOU could save a life!  What better birthday present could you give someone?!

If you are new to this blog: feel free to check out THIS post about when he was born (although when I reread it I'm pretty sure I misspelled a bunch of things and probably got some details wrong-but it was the best account I had at the time :-)  Also, THIS post about him being home from the hospital.  Since November, I've been side-tracked with blogging about FOOD, FOOD, FOOD!  We have switched to a Paleo diet, and I have been blogging lots of the recipes we use.  If you like good, healthy food, read away!