Elodie Rue

Elodie Rue

1/29/21

7:12 am

5 lbs. 15 oz.

18.5 inches

Newborn pictures:

 

January - New

2020 wasn't an easy year for anyone. But, somehow, It was a good year anyway.  It was full of good memories and new experiences.  I don't know what the future holds. I don't think it's going to get any easier. The one thing I do know is that despite all that has happened in 2020, in the world and in my own personal life, God has been constant and is drawing us in to more dependence on Him every day. 

As we look forward to the year ahead, 2021 will (and already has been) a year of new things.

January has kicked the year off with a lot of new things.  Gateway hired Amber as our Assistant, and Pete and Jolene and our Alternates. We officially opened Maple house and started taking referrals.  Mid- January we took our first resident and then quickly took two more. We had our first few times on as Leads that went pretty well. 

Gideon and Aurelia have been handling all of the change and newness like pros. They love having residents in the house and don't like being off duty. 

lots of fort building goes on these days

They were exercising. I was sitting on the couch

We had a few good snows. The kids love playing in it. 

After we come in, we must always have hot cocoa. With marshmellows. In the cocoa and on the side. 

Legos have become the favorite toy here. They will play for hours. Gideon has become quite inventive and can build some pretty cool things. I love watching his imagination. 

:)

At 36 weeks, the sono showed the baby was measuring small. I was not surprised. But, despite telling them that Gideon was 6 lbs 2 oz, Aurelia was 5 lbs 14 oz, and Nathan's family has all been small 6 lb babies, They still sent us to a high risk doctor for a second sonogram. 

I knew where this was going. This is the way it went with Gideon. They thought he was too small, guilted me with "your baby isn't getting enough nutrients and might die" and sent me for an induction. My body wasn't ready for it, Gideon wasn't ready for it, and he was born 3 weeks early at a completely normal weight. 

It was very stressful. Obviously, if something was truly wrong, I would do anything to keep my baby safe. I just struggle to trust whether there really is anything wrong. 

Anyway, after much prayer, we went to the appointment.  The sonographer and doctor looked over everything and pronounced that we were just going to have a small baby. Nothing was wrong. We just have small kids.  It was an incredible answer to prayers since this doctor is notoriously more induction-trigger-happy. 

But from then on, I had the feeling the baby could come any day. They could suddenly decide I needed to be induced. And, on top of that I had twice weekly testing for the baby (yay for clotting and being "high risk" sigh.)

This was all happening as we prepared to move residents into Maple House and open up.  It was a lot. 

But then I'd get to see this squishy face on sonograms. 

Our first resident moved in!

One evening I got to go to Chelsea's Bachelorette party. 

we ate out at a fancy restaurant. 

Then, we went to Lydia's house for the party. 

:)

It was a good evening, despite the fact that such parties are always awkward occasions for me.  Despite being married for 7+ years, I still don't like gifting undergarments. :P 

However, if one must be slightly uncomfortable, it is best to attend a bachelorette party with Kacie.  She gives such ridiculous gifts, she dies of embarrassment as it is being opened...

hehehe

Finn joining our kids for snacks:)

two very tired kids 

We finally got a working oven and stove!

The old one was original to the apartment and blew fuses if you used too many burners. 

"I'm Mary".... awww

Joseph?? nope. Gandalf. 

Ha!

Nathan started reading the Hobbit to Gideon. And, he loves it.  Now when he plays, suddenly it's about hobbits and dwarves and mountains. :)

Sunshine!

more fort building

Yay for packaging that can double as a toy 

They built a campfire in our most recent large fort :)

so fun

Games at Maple house :)

More snow!

And then, at my 39 week check up, my blood pressure was high. Now, seriously, I get super nervous every time I go in because, well, I feel like I have slight PTSD from Gideon's experience, and every time they find something else.  I've checked my blood pressure at home multiple times and it has been normal. It's always higher at the doctors.  Anyway, apparently this plus my small baby was enough to send me for more testing at the hospital and an induction. 

It was so frustrating. Again. 

There is definitely a place for inductions, there is nothing ultimately wrong with them. (Except- they require you to be at the hospital the whole time, strapped to monitors that always itch and slide off and require nurses to be forever coming in to readjust, they require IVs that pump you and the baby full of unnecessary fluids which exaggerates the babies weight loss, pitocin makes contractions more intense and sometimes too intense for the baby- increasing risks of C-section. I could go on. I've gone through it. I hate it.)

So, sitting in the hospital waiting on test results and my blood pressure went down. And stayed down. And stayed within normal range the entire rest of my stay. 

But, they still wanted to induce so we agreed to stay at the hospital, get some rest, and be induced the next morning. 

All of this was happening while my kids had nowhere to go. Nathan was coordinating people to watch them. Thankfully, my mom was pretty much able to drop everything and come out by that evening. 

It was a rough rollercoaster of emotions. Trusting God and yet still praying for what we wanted. I felt like David fighting until there was no turning back and then being at peace.  And we were. As frustrating and disappointing as it was, the decision was made, and I was at peace. 

But, then God answered our prayers and wants anyway. Instead of giving me a good nights sleep, I went in to labor on my own in the hospital.  

Little Elodie Rue was born at 7:12 AM on 1/29. 

She was 5lbs 15oz, 19.5 inches long. 

Going home

meeting Grandma

and grandpa

Aurelia is in LOVE! 

(Gideon is indifferent)

So, January ended with Elodie as yet another new thing this year. :)

Pardon my wordiness in this post. If you care to hear more about the birth itself, another post is coming when I get a chance. :) 

In Christ

~Michelle

December

 December came and went in a blur. It was full of traveling and festivities. 

The first few days were a little more quiet so we had time for some fun. 

don't you love toddler fits... sigh

This boy and his fashion sense kills me.

I made the kids a makeshift advent calendar.  Each day we put sparkles on the number.  Not my smartest move as a parent. Sparkles are awful. They go everywhere. but the kids LOVED it. 

piggy jammies and a tutu

a walk out to see the chickens

December 5th we took a super quick trick out to Illinois for Kirk and Lexi's reception.  We were in Illinois less than 24 hours. 

Somehow, with  a little coordination, we were able to snag a quick picture of the whole family! We were all in one place for the first time in quite a while. 

all the cousins (minus Logan, who was having none of it.)

look at that. we are all dressed, smiling, and in one place.

And back to Indiana we went. 

mixing up some batter

they love to help

We had some fellow Andrew Peterson fans over one evening to watch the Behold The Lamb of God livestream.  BTLG is some of my favorite Christmas music. It's one of the VERY few CDs I'll listen to year round. (and I'm a pretty big Christmas-music-in-December stickler)

Playing a round of Resident before the concert. 

Gideon loved helping me put presents under the tree

what a beautiful sight

One day they wanted to match....

so yellow pants and dino shirts were the obvious choice.

The sibs decided to get my dad a new chair for Christmas. I got to do the shopping at Klopfenstein Home Rooms. We had a pretty handsome and helpful salesmen (Kray. hehe) 

Aurelia modeling a chair

Gideon wanted to get Grandpa a red one. 

Back at Maple we had a few days of baking. 

molasses cookies

cutting sugar cookies

decorating them....

Aurelia just ate frosting

:)

olives are suddenly popular here

making fudge :)

I'm always happy when it's warm for  December.  We are able to get out and play and it wasn't unbearably cold. 

frizbee throwing :)

snack by the Christmas tree

Lights up at Maple

Nathan had some friends come to visit one weekend. 

making breakfast

a leftover Thanksgiving turkey for supper

playing with the kids

Aurelia wanted a leg

so did Gideon :)

Lots of games were played

With moving and sickness, and summer, and Covid... Gideon FINALLY got to go to Sunday school.  He's a little unsure if he likes it or not. "the other kids sing too loud" ha. 

He got to sing in the virtual Christmas program. It was funny to watch. Suddenly he looked like a little boy again. He did great. He sang and did the hand motions, even though he said he wouldn't.

We got some snow! :) It wasn't much, but the kids still had fun. 

I went out shopping and couldn't resist getting them matching PJs

Aurelia discovered I had kitty wrapping paper. She tried to steal it. 

I caught her...

And then we started loading, and loading, and loading up the van.  We headed out to Illinois for a full week of Christmases. 

We do not travel light. Especially for Christmases.

happy to be back at the farm:)

dress up. hehehe

First Christmas of the trip: Big Wyss.

a group of us ran over to Faire Coffee in the afternoon. 

lots of games and conversation :)

The after party was at Fred and Di's.  Since we could put the kids down and just leave them with my parents, Nathan and I got to go too. :)

A hilariously wonderful debate on the theory of relativity.

Christmas 2: Wyss Christmas at the farm. :)

We went to church in the morning, came back for a relaxed afternoon of opening gifts and eating. 

Aurelia got a bitty baby! she was pleased. 

Gideon got construction Duplos

chaotic but fun :)

After all the gifts were opened we surprised my dad with his chair...

Oh dad.... hahaha 

The kids helped themselves to way more sugar than they needed

They played really well all day, which was so fun

We had a few more quiet days at the farm. 

We visited friends:)

We had clear skies and were able to see the Christmas star. It was a little underwhelming, but still cool. 

playing with my old Polly pockets

Troy came for a visit

And then we left for the Brakers. We stopped at the Aunts on the way to visit and then made it to their house by afternoon. 

Rebecca had all the cousins over one morning to make a gingerbread house and decorate brownie-men,

Christmas day we dressed up and headed to Church.

I made them take the obligatory picture

:)

We opened gifts in the afternoon. 

The cousins and Aunts got matching Tshirts 

more game playing

We left pretty quick the next morning and traveled all the way back home. 

Stockings ready for our Christmas

:)

I had fun with breakfast

"cookie" pancakes

opening their stockings

Gideon helped me make dessert. 

opening gifts

:)

very excited by his new book

a high chair for her doll!

astronaut costume :)

"I'm Bob!"

\

our "fancy" dinner

steak

The kids liked the fancy table

and the sparkling juice

dessert was sugar cream pie. 

It was fantastic. I honestly could eat the whole pie by myself. no problem.

Kacie, Claire, and Gabs came over to play games one evening

Aurelia wanted to look like a "Bucorn" 

We got an icy snow. The kids had fun walking and slipping around. 

Checking out the frozen lake

coloring

The last of Aurelia's Christmas gifts came. :)

She was sooo happy.

Gideon colored on himself with non washable markers.

 After a few sound scrubbings it had mostly faded to a light pink hue on his skin, 

but it took a few days to go away.

haha I'm glad it was winter.

We decided we should take the kids out to eat as a last hurrah before Maple opened with residents and we had our baby.  They think it's so cool to eat out.  

Cracker Barrel 

And then, like that, it was New Year's Eve and crazy 2020 was over. 

In Christ

~Michelle