Wide Open Blue Eyes

Two days before the start of the Christmas season, we received our first gift. Shelden James was born on Wednesday the 24^th of November. Needless to say, it was like no other experience we had ever had. From the dad’s perspective, it was a pretty grueling process, and I’m sure that my sentiments were shared. I received a few calls and texts throughout the day before wondering if this could be it and making it challenging to focus on the important tasks of the day. Somehow, processing documents for building permits, and writing reports on potholes becomes difficult. We had actually been attending a birth class throughout the week, and the last session was scheduled for the evening of the 23^rd. What better way to start the labor than learning about what could go wrong in labor, and what the dad is supposed to do in the event that no professional help is present. I think I got an hour of sleep that night before being shaken awake by Lauryn and asked if we should ask the midwife to come over. The plan had been to have the birth within our own home. I was initially somewhat hesitant with this plan, but it became reinforced through the classes that we attended, and I noticed that minimal if any safety is given up in exchange for the security of giving birth in a select environment and being in control of the decisions made, but I digress. Starting at 10:30 that night and on was an experience that I won’t ever forget. Skipping the technical and\or graphic details, all indications showed that our son would be born at 10:00 that next morning. Things were progressing nicely (if I can use that term) all night long until the process grounded to a crawl, and Shelden didn’t end up making an appearance until close to 6:00 in the evening. I gained a lot of respect for Lauryn in those long hours when we more than once would have packed for a trip to the hospital and a possible emergency operation had it not been for a consistent strong heartbeat on the monitor, and a resounding determination by Lauryn. Waves of joy and relief filled all as a healthy “bouncing” baby boy let out his first cry, and was put into the arms of his awaiting mama.

Interestingly enough, weeks before, Lauryn had planned a Wednesday birth mainly so that the proud papa would get a few extra days to stick around and be a proud papa. Despite popular belief, some things actually do work out according to plan. Times as we now know them have quickly changed. Much of the inspiration for this blog has come at the ungodly hours of 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning with a pair of wide open blue eyes staring up into mine waiting to take another lap around the coffee table before promising to be a little quiter over the next few hours before repeating the process. It is the start of great things to come that we could previously only dream about, and a new appreciation for the great God that makes all of this happen.

A Recap

I haven't blogged in a while, so I will try to get one more post in before Shelden arrives. Which by the way I wouldn't mind being tonight, but since that doesn't look to be the case let’s see if I can update you a little on our lives the last few months -as if I can remember. I feel like my memory has been so bad lately.

In September we flew to South Carolina for a friend’s wedding. We also decided to make a baby moon of it. We ended up staying right outside the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina in a lovely Bed and Breakfast. We got a fantastic deal and got to get a room with a jacuzzi, which I absolutely enjoyed. It was a blessed and refreshing time to both of us.

Speaking of blessing we have been blessed abundantly with showers this year. First with all my wedding showers now with baby showers.

In October my dear friends in Beaumont gave a Panda themed shower. Below are some pictures from that. It was great getting to see everyone there.

This was from my mom. Isn't it cute?!
A gift from Granddad

My mother-in-law, sister-in-law and Pastor's wife all so gave us a lovely shower.

This is the beautiful cross stitch my mother-in-law made for Shelden.

Then a week ago Daniel’s work gave us another one. They took up a collection and got us our High Chair, Baby bouncer as well as some other things. Shelden is going to be one outfitted little baby!

While I was blogging, a package arrived for my aunt in England. Below is a picture of the beautiful blanket, hat, booties, and mittens she made and a little tiny England soccer kit! I love it! Thanks Aunt Linda! Granddad will love seeing him wear it!

I have felt great the last few weeks! Some of it may be due to nesting but I have also been going to the chiropractor and I think that it has given me more energy. I think I feel better and more energetic now at the end of my pregnancy than I have the whole rest of the time. I have all so been able to stay on top of things much better.

We are finishing up our birth classes this week. Yes, we are finishing taking our birth class the week of my due date. We singed up for them in October but the class didn't make then.

Well, that is a little of what has been going on the last few months. Hope to have another post very soon! :)

Shelden's Nursery

27 weeks

Well, as some of you know I have been making Shelden's baby bedding and as promised here are pictures ...

A big thank you goes to my mom for doing all the cutting out!

And now here is our sweet little one's nursery!!!
I am so pleased with how it all turned out!

Our Home

I have wanted to post some pictures of our house for a while now so without further ado...

Welcome to our home!

Our son's name

In that we figured that you may have an interest, we are pleased to inform you that we have chosen to name our son,

Shelden James Falkenstine.

The name Shelden was found by Lauryn and means, "Steep Valley". A valley is often considered a lonely or desolate place, however by definition, such a valley would be surrounded by mountains. The inspiration for this comes from Psalm 121:1-2 "I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth." This has always been a verse that Lauryn likes, and was the life verse of Daniel's hero George Washington Carver who took this passage at its literal face value.

James is the author of the 20th book in the New Testament, and happens to be Daniel's favorite. It is full of illustrations of wisdom, and is a namesake of a life well lived.

Daniel

It's a...

Yesterday we found out who our sweet little baby is. We waited until today to tell because we were going to be seeing my parents and I wanted to tell them in person. I had told them if it was a girl, I wanted to do a tea set theme for the nursery and if it was a boy, I wanted to do a panda theme.

Well, we decided tell them by giving them a gift... I told them I thought that the baby should have a little of its theme at their house.

Below is what we gave them....

YES, IT'S A BOY!!!

It was so amazing to see him moving around. To see his tiny hands and feet and to watch his little heart beating. He kept turning his face towards the Doppler, like he was saying "Hi, Mommy and Daddy".

Our baby boy!

I also made cupcakes to celebrate.

The last few weeks

Well, let me see if I can recap a little of our lives the last few weeks. I seem to be blogging just once a month.

We spent Memorial weekend here. Daniel sanded and varnished the floors in the guest bedroom and nursery. He taped everything off and used a water-base stain so that it wouldn't bother me or hurt the baby. The floors look so beautiful now. I can't wait to start fixing up the nursery!

Daddy working on "Speedy's" Nursery

My sister-in-law Corrie and her kids came down Memorial Day and stayed for a few days. Daniel and I enjoyed some niece and nephews time. We took Katy, Conner and Clayton to the zoo Saturday before last. We had a great time, the Sea Lions were a favorite. Clayton seemed to really like the monkeys, he would stare straight ahead into the monkey cage and burst out giggling every time a monkey ran by then just sit there staring until the next one ran by.

I will say I got over heated, I came very close to having a heat stroke, if I didn't have one. Jackie (my midwife) had to call in a prescription for me late Saturday night because I was so sick. I went to see Jackie on Tuesday because I still wasn't feeling well and we planned to go to Mississippi to see family. It was such a relief to hear the baby's heartbeat, I had been really worried about the baby with my body temperature going high. We are praying there will be no ill effects from it. BTW, we should find out what we are having on July 2nd. :)

We ended up getting to go to Mississippi; Mom and Dad went with us. It was a quick visit but a good one. My Uncle Mike and Aunt Debbie along with one of their daughters (Phoebe) and her family were there. This was my first time to meet Phoebe's husband Joe, Dad really enjoyed having another Brit in the family to talk to. Thursday (June 10th) was Meemaw's 82nd birthday, as well as my parents 32nd wedding anniversary. All the family that was there (32 people, including babies) went out for breakfast at a little restaurant/antique store. Which of course was right up my alley and I had never been there.

Phoebe and I with her daughter Eva

Joe, Eva and Phoebe

Enjoying breakfast at Serendipity's

Meemaw and Peepaw with their children/children-in-law

that got to be there.

Meemaw and Peepaw with their grandchildren/

grandchildren-in-law that got to be there.

Meemaw and Peepaw with their great grandchildren
that got to be there.

I think that is about it. I can't believe that it has already been almost four months since our wedding and that in a little over five months we will have a little one joining us.

A little heartbeat!

I got to hear my sweet little baby’s heartbeat for the first time yesterday!!! It was so wonderful to hear!!! I have been feeling horrible, but hearing that tiny heartbeat helped make everything better. There really is a little one in there… I am not just sick with some horrible stomach bug. :)

Just a thought that has been going through my mind lately…

I have felt like the Lord has given me a blessing the last few weeks and in a way I don’t know that I would have considered a blessing before this. I had some problems week before last, after which morning sickness began to really hit me, and found I could consider the morning sickness a blessing. It just brought home that lots of times we miss blessings because they don’t come in “packages” that we expect them to. The Lord is soooo much bigger than we often make Him out to be. He has so much that he wants for us to learn, but how often are we willing to learn? Our Lord is able to teach us even when we are unteachable. But do we see it as a blessing? What is a blessing to you? Is it something that is always good or what you want? Even if something is uncomfortable it can be a blessing, lots of times it is our perspective. We are so blessed, and not just with the “grand” blessings Christ sometimes gives us or even with the everyday blessings we tend to forget, we are blessed to have a Savior who loved us so much to lay down His life for us. But we are also BLESSED to have a Father who continues to love us and teach us. That is not just how I wanted to say things and it may not mean anything to you, but it is what the Lord has reminded me of the last couple of weeks.

Our New Life Together

Daniel and I decided we would like to start a blog. We will try to keep you “a little” up to date on our lives. The reason for our blog name (A Cord of Three Stands) comes from a verse in Ecclesiastes which was used at our wedding. "And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken." Ecclesiastes 4:12 We want to always be reminded that it is through dependence on God alone that our marriage can stand the test of time.
Married life is wonderful! We enjoyed our first week and a half of marriage in New England. We flew in to Portland, Maine on Sunday evening and than on Monday we drove to Lisbon, New Hampshire, where we had a cabin for seven nights. The Lord blessed us with snow while we were there. They had not had any snow since January, but on Monday had a big snow fall. We felt the Lord provided it just for us. Everything was gorgeous driving up through the White Mountains with all the snow on the trees. We loved our little cabin! It had a kitchenette and fireplace, there was also small brook (half of which was frozen) that ran behind the cabin.

On Monday the 8th we drove to Vermont where we stayed at The Thatcher Brook Inn, a Bed and Breakfast for a couple of nights. The owners Bob and Carla were both so sweet. I would definitely recommend them if anyone is looking for some where to stay in Waterberry, VTDuring our time in New England we visited eight states, drove into Canada for a day, went to the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory and on a sleigh ride among other things. We came back on the 10th and enjoyed a few days here before Daniel went back to work the following Monday. We even went camping. This was a first for me and I found I really enjoyed it.

Well, that was a short recap of our first two weeks. Last week was not as fun as I spent most of it in bed with the flu. I am feeling better now, although I still have a cough. Now, I am just trying to figure out where I need to start organizing the house.

One more thing and I will close our first post out. Last Sunday the 21st, we had a shocker…………………….

A little Falkenstine will be joining us before the end of the year. Yes, you read it right, we are expecting. It wasn’t what we had planned, but Our Lord knows best. We are excited, but still in shock. I am feeling well, just a little dizzy at times. Please pray that all goes well and “Little Speedy” :) arrives safe and healthy.