Thoughts on Sweetness.
Iowa is famous for its sweet corn. Today the Reynolds crew took a little outing to the downtown Farmer's Market - sweet baby in tow. Alex enjoyed a snooze in his stroller/carseat and Jason and I just enjoyed being "out" for a bit. Since all of our Iowa friends say the peaches 'n cream sweet corn is the very best, we bought some of our own. So far we've put it to use as a great backdrop for a photo. We are also planning to cook it later to see if it lives up to its sweet reputation.

Lately I have been thinking about the sweetness of life... Yeah, I guess the sweet corn and sweet baby have gotten to me.

Mostly it is that each day I am purely overwhelmed by the goodness of God. Just last night I was talking with Jason about the dimensions of our faith that have grown at each new stage. Before I married Jason, although I had a wonderfully full single life, I had no idea how sweet married love could be. I believe God's goal in marriage is to give us a glimpse of His glorious character as He reveals it through our spouse. Jason's love for me is a very real reminder of a God who never leaves me or forsakes me, and always deals me more grace than I deserve.

Parenthood has brought a new dimension. More than ever I am challenged to trust God with everything concerning Alex. When I am tempted to stand over his crib for the third time in 20 minutes just to see if he's breathing...I have to trust that God is taking care of him. Probably where I'm most challenged though is to constantly ask God to remind my heart that no gift that He gives me here on earth is better than the eternal gift He's already given me. Oh how easy it is to look at a sweet baby and love it more than the One who gave it...

I'm learning more and more each day that my job is not to hold on white-knuckled to everything God's given me - even though they are all wonderful gifts. Instead it is to accept each gift (and each new dimension of faith) with a grateful heart, knowing that God does not owe me good gifts. He just gives them.

And I am grateful for His overwhelming sweetness.

My Loss is Alex's Gain.

Check it out - Alex has gained a double chin! He's been a super good eater and has done a great job at his eat, play, sleep routine. We go back to the doctor tomorrow for his official 2-week weigh in, but judging by his chin, I think he's on the right track.

I went to the doctor today and I lost 29 pounds. Wow, that (post) pre-eclampsia diet is a doozie. Guess my loss is Alex's gain!

Gig 'em Aggies!

Pirate Mama...

Alex, Jason, and I have had a restful week at home. We have caught up on sleep and enjoyed having my mom here. She seriously does everything around the house...what a tremendous blessing it has been to have her here. Not to mention that she is soaking in all of little Alex she can before she heads back to Texas. He sure does love his Mimi.

My blood pressure has continued to improve this week, which is good news. As for my "Pirate Mama" photo, you might notice that my face looks a little different. On our last day in the hospital, I noticed that I had lost some feeling in one side of my face. My eye was droopy, my lip numb, and it just seemed overall limp. So after visiting with the Neurologist, we found out I had what's called Bell's Palsy. Bell's is basically a swelling of one of the nerves that affects one side of my face. It's not dangerous and usually resolves on its own after a couple of weeks, it's just sort of a nuisance at this point. One of the important things is to keep my eye covered so it doesn't dry out, since I'm not blinking normally...

Hence, the patch. It's actually kind of fun - my new role as Pirate Mama. I do try to take it off when I'm feeding Alex, though. I don't want him to think his mommy is planning to wear a new costume and invent a new character each week. I'm perfectly happy with my new dual role as just plain Mama to sweet little Alex and just plain Mama of Jason's son.

Life is sweet.

Aaargh!

My Husband Hearts iMovie

In between feedings, Jason has been busy on iMovie. I'm impressed with his first little movie of Alex's first days. It's amazing how time off work (and tremendous inspiration) can bring out such creative genius...

Favorite Pictures from Days 3-4...




Alex was not a big fan of the bath in the hospital. I'm not sure the nurse cared for him screaming either...based on her hand gesture.
Now, Alex's daddy has a LOT of experience swaddling babies. In fact, he's so good that he WAY outshines mommy in this area. But even with a really tight swaddle, this is how we found Alex after his nap yesterday. So we nicknamed him our little Houdini.
He has plenty of room to grow into his carseat.

Alexander Lee is here.



We are so happy to announce that our tiny gift has arrived. Alexander Lee ("Alex") arrived at 1:59 a.m. on July 11. He weighed 5 lbs. 9 oz. and is 18 inches long. He is healthy and beautiful.

The delivery went so well. As many of you know, we were planning to do a totally natural birth so the last couple of days completely threw us for a loop! Ultimately, God had a timetable for Alex's arrival and we trusted Him to answer our prayers for a safe and healthy delivery. We also trusted our doctors, who were very concerned about my pre-eclampsia and about Alex. So we induced Thursday at 3:00 p.m. Thankfully my body was cooperative. My water broke naturally, I dilated fairly quickly, got the epidural (twice, thanks to a one-sided one the first time around), and pushed Alex out at 1:59 a.m. on Friday. Labor went faster than we thought it would and we were so thankful to meet him sooner rather than later.

My blood pressure issues are better now and I am feeling better today than yesterday. Alex is also feeding wonderfully - a truly answered prayer since he didn't get to spend all that extra time in the womb fattening up and getting stronger.

I will get back to my main job of feeding Alex, so enjoy the few photos. We'll post more once we are home and settled.

We're at the hospital.

So, just a short note. Due to high blood pressure and a couple of other symptoms our midwife was concerned with, we are now at the hospital. We came last night and we have begun a "slow induction". I'm glad they are helpful to my expectations - because this is probably going to take 24-48 hours. This means that we are hoping my body will go into labor naturally (with a little help from a couple of different things) and Baby will be on his or her way later today or tomorrow.

So, for now we are waiting to meet our little one and praying for strength for what seems like may be a long day or two. Please pray with us...our only desire is to have a healthy baby and healthy mommy. We are completely trusting in God's wisdom as to how He delivers both of these things to us.

Waiting with joy,
Nicole (& Jason, the fabulous labor coach)

You know you are 9 months pregnant when...

You consider that crushed up fruit flavored Rolaids might be a good topping for vanilla ice cream.

Sometimes my pregnant state and the crazy things I consider are alarming.

I fought the fruit flies...and I won!

And this is a photo of my prize.

Since summer began we have so much yummy fruit in our house, but we have also have some unwelcome guests. Fruit flies. These tiny little flying creatures drive me nuts. They are quick and it seems like they always escape my attempts to swat at them. So, what did I do when I was at the end of my rope? What else? I went to Google. I found this great website about how to get rid of stuff and learned how to set a trap for these little flies. And it worked! All it took was a little apple cider vinegar with a few drops of dish soap in a glass. Within hours, I had my prize of 4 little fruit flies - dead.

I'm sure the war is far from over since summer fruit is still around, but at least now I know how to fight my annoying little enemies. If any of you are waging a war of your own at home, check out the trapping strategies online. They really do work!