Duncan Neirin Tidwell

On April Fools Day we had the privilege of announcing the impending arrival of a fourth family member! Rissa prayed for the baby in my belly, the boy, and we crossed our fingers and toes that she was right and that 'he' would have only ten of each (fingers and toes, that is!) Nine rather excruciating months later on his exact due date, I went into labor.  I have to admit, I was hopeful he would arrive on his due date, because since I didn't go into labor until 5pm, that would have meant only a 7 hour labor! SWEET!! However, as usual, he had a plan of his own. In my own words (and chronological order) here is our labor story:
On Tuesday morning I went into work around 9:30 and did all I could to get my paper work and other duties in order enough that someone else could take them over for a couple weeks...since I do payroll, that is no small thing... I had planned to be at work for about 2 hours, and 6 hours later, I finally went home to have a VERY late lunch and afterward mom came down and we went for a walk.  I had been having much stronger contractions then normal all day, but they were far apart.  The walk did the trick though!!! We hadn't even circled the entire block and I was unable to walk through the contractions.  We kept walking and the contractions kept getting stronger and closer together to the point that Todd finally found us in the neighborhood and took me home to get ready to go to the hospital!  We got there about 8 at night and the triaged us first and warned we might go home...I warned I would be pissed if they did that.  An hour and a half later though, I had dilated another two centimeters and Todd and I literally WooHoo'd and high fived when she said we weren't going anywhere! We weren't anxious to have our little bundle or anything!
We were able to have the exact labor experience we had planned on...all natural, calm and quiet.  By 2:30 in the morning I was ready to PUSH but the nurses urged me not to until they could get a second dose of penicillin in me for my group B strep so I did my best.  But, once I shifted positions to survive the contractions, my IV ripped out, and my water exploded, there was no stopping the pushing! I pushed four times and our sweet son was born!  It was THE MOST painful, beautiful and empowering experience of my life! 
 We didn't find out gender so we didn't have a name picked out...we had a few boy names lined up and kinda found one girl name we liked...luckily it wasn't a girl!!! When we met him, all of us had the feeling he is a very old soul and even his face just has a look of age and wisdom about it.  We named him Duncan Neirin, Duncan is Scottish for 'dark warrior' and Neirin is Irish for 'surrounded by light'.  We love the contrast of the names and when he is in the sun, his little bit of red hair just makes his perfectly round little head glow like a halo of light...you could say it surrounds him by light... and since my name means 'light bearer' it has even a little more meaning behind it.  He was born at 2:58 am after a total of 10 hours of labor.  He weighed 8 pounds, 13 ounces, and was 21 3/4 inches long! I later realized a couple of very cool things about his and Rissa's birth stats... She was born in the 8th month of 2008, he was born in the 12th month of 2012, both were olympic years as well as Presidential election years.  She was born on the 15th, him the 5th.  She was 2 minutes after the hour (10:02pm) and he was 2 minutes before the hour.  He was 8#13oz, she was 2 ounces more, 8#15oz.  He was 21 3/4", she was 2" and 2 1/4" less....19 1/4! I am a numbers person so when I figured all that out it made me smile :)  I know.  I'm a dork. 
He is two weeks old now and he is a wonderful baby.  He is calm and peaceful and eager to take in everything around him.  He has brought more joy into our family than we could have possibly imagined.  Rissa has taken to him like a fish to water...she is a little anxious for him to be old enough to actually play, but all in all she has adjusted beautifully to being a big sister.  She is loving and kind and shares the attention graciously. We are blessed beyond our wildest dreams!! We still haven't stopped smiling! :)
 

4 weeks, 4 days!!

I can't believe that my due date is only four weeks and four days away!! It seems unreal that this baby will be here before we know it!  Unfortunately, we are not ready...

We DO have the changing table in the bathroom.  We did get a cabinet out of our bedroom and replaced it with shelves to give us more floor space for the bassinet/crib.  We do have initials picked out.  We do not have anything washed (clothes, blankets carseat pads, etc) we do not have the bassinet out of the box, we do not have diapers, bottles...nothin'.  I guess the second time around it all seems less important compared to what is coming!

We have been attending birthing classes and we feel much more prepared than we did a few weeks ago, and that is encouraging.  We are going to attempt natural childbirth with no pain meds...(we shall see!) I think having Todd by my side will help me to get through it much more gracefully than last time!  I have noticed a lot of changes lately that make me think we may not make it all the way to our due date of December 3rd.  I have to admit, while not being pregnant anymore is appealing, we really want him to cook a little longer.  Rissa was born in the 8th month of 2008, and the new Alligator is due in the 12th month of 2012 so it would be fun to have him born in December!  Not to mention not being ready, and knowing it is healthier for him to cook as close to 40 weeks as possible!!

I keep calling the baby a he because I can't make myself say 'it' and because I just have a feeling this time is a boy.  This pregnancy has been very different than last time (which is not an indicator in and of itself, but still...) and I just think God knows we need a boy.  Rissa is so excited to be a big sister! She hugs and kisses and pokes at the baby and can't wait to hold him.

We are thrilled about our new lil' Christmas present and cannot wait for everyone to meet him!  We are having family portraits taken in mid December so I will be sure and let everyone know when we have wonderful photos to share! Love to all of you!

Rissa is FOUR!!!

It is hard to believe sometimes just how much life can change in such a short time. Rissa has grown into such a strong, smart and funny little girl!  She loves to make people laugh and does it as often as possible.  When she does something funny, we try to emphasize comedic timing, but she usually just keeps going with it until its really not funny anymore.  BUT she is getting better! She cracks jokes and has a wonderful sense of humor.  She is loving, but not necessarily affectionate.  She tells me all the time that she loves me, and when she does give a good hug, it is AMAZING, but they are given on her terms (I actually got a wonderful one this morning!).  She speaks very well, especially for her age, and she is getting better and better about using words properly.  She is easy to understand as long as she thinks a little bit before starting a sentence... otherwise it does get a little sputterish.  She is HUGE.  While she is just now turning four, and so should be wearing size 4T or maybe even 5, she is easily in sizes 6 and 7 in the girls sections.  No more toddler clothes for her!  She is tougher than nails.  She has been to the ER twice already, she plays like a boy and cries less than one!  She is SMART. She luckily doesn't seem to have my gullible streak (yet) and she remembers everything.  And I do mean, everything.  She remembers every time she has gotten hurt and which is worse, ("The time I was on the mountain at the lake and fell because I was wearing my crocs was worse than running into the door at school cause I have a scratch still from the mountain!") she remembers trips and activities from last summer, remembers people who come over and why and what she did with them ("Aunt Jakie came over and we had tea! And you gave us cream and sugar, then we put the pedialyte in the big teapot and drank it! But you have to hold the lid on when you pour!") it is so neat to see.  She wants and needs to know peoples names, first (sometimes middle) and last.  Then she remembers them F-O-R-E-V-E-R.  Unless they look like someone else that she met at the same time..then she gets slightly confused.  Blondes for example...put 3 of them in the same group that she meets...she doesn't do as well next time knowing who is who, but she will figure it out and then she knows.  She loves to read, she memorizes poems, and loves to sing and dance.  She had the teachers at school convinced she couldn't draw because she would always just scribble and be done, and then she sat down and drew stick figures with necks and heads and hands and basically said, take that, and hasn't drawn another one since!  She is STUBBORN.  VERY STUBBORN.  Luckily, though, so is her Mommy.  :D  And Mommy is the Queen so Rissa doesn't win very often.  She is happy to play alone, but loves to be around people.  She knows the town.  Knows where Frenchman used to be, knows which office is mine, knows what street to take, knows if we go a different route somewhere, it's pretty cool!  She also loves to know how the family all fits together.  She loves talking about how everyone has different names, how my daddy isn't her daddy and she and her cousins have the same grandma and her first name is Donna but she calls her YaYa, and on and on and on...she is getting pretty good at the family tree!  She pretends to be shy with new people, but it only lasts for a couple minutes, then they are best friends.  Daddy is her Superman.  Always has been!  She is convinced he can fly, and anytime he does something cool (like open the pantry) it is because he is so strong! I love how much she loves her Daddy!  It is beautiful to watch their relationship blossom into what it is today.  She loves talking to the baby, too.  She is so excited to be a big sister! She lays on my belly and waits for a kick (she is usually the only person the baby will move for!) and she will sit up with bright eyes and say, "I felt him kick my head!" or "I felt him! I really did! I felt his face!" it is precious!  She is going to be a wonderful big sister!
I could easily just keep going but I want to share how she spent her birthday yesterday.  She has been a wonderful little girl the past several days! She is so excited about her party this weekend, and has known her birthday was coming up.  It has been so nice! The night before her birthday we went to United and she picked out a big fancy cupcake for her to eat at school on her birthday.  We then picked out 18 other ones for her to share with her friends.  She was SOOOOOOOOO excited about that silly cupcake with they "crowns" (crayons) on it! ...side note...that seems to be the only word that I correct her on that she doesn't then repeat the correct word...interesting...BUT...I digress.  She got up, put on her fancy dress and birthday girl party hat and was off to school with her cupcake! She was so happy to be with her friends and had a wonderful day! After school we went to Mr. Gatti's with G and Grumps and had dinner and played game after game after game!  She is EXACTLY 42" tall, which is the minimum to drive a bumper car.  Soooo... we rode! The very first hit, she almost started to be a baby and cry, so I started laughing and hit her again! It was all smiles after that! Three times after that to be exact! She had a blast!  We then went to ToysRUs for her to get her gifts from G and Grumps.  She got to pick out an umbrella and a bike helmet as well as a bell for a bike and we told her to ask Santa for a bike and maybe if she was good then someday she might get one!  We went home (while she had her bike helmet on the entire time) and while we distracted her on the porch Daddy ran in and put a bike on the porch behind her.  She turned, grabbed her face, jumped, looked back at me, HUGE smile, looked back at the bike, grabbed her face again, it was precious! She jumped on the bike after several 'thank you's' and was off!! She is thrilled and it was so much fun to spend such wonderful times with her on her first memorable birthday!! It was perfection! Talk about a great day to turn four!

Annular Eclipse and Other News

Last night Todd, Rissa and I, Todd's parents, my parents, Bobby and Jennifer and my friend Brittany all went out to CapRock Winery to view the Annular Eclipse!  It was so much fun!  They ran out of food much earlier than they expected, so we had KFC instead.  Dad showed up with welding masks (which was great since they also sold out of the special glasses) and we had a blast!  Mark and Rissa got their picture in the paper and so did Brittany and Donna!  We also got some pictures on the website Spotted, so that was cool, too.  It was a great evening, here are some pictures including the pictures in the AJ and Spotted Lubbock.

 The whole gang, this was on Spotted Lubbock

 Here is Brittany reacting to the view and Donna enjoying it, this was in the AJ today

 Handsome men who got their picture on Spotted!

 Mom and me 

 hehe, which is Brittany and which is Aileen?!

 The picture of Rissa and Poppy from the AJ today!  

Us ladies on Spotted Lubbock

Jennifer has some KFC in her hand so Britt had to hold her glasses for her. 

Rissa really loved the welding mask!

I took this with my camera looking through a welding mask, it doesn't do it justice, but it is a cool shot. 

It was a wonderful evening!  And I am so glad that I have figured this blogging thing out enough to post some pictures, too!

In other news, I am still pregnant, about 12 weeks along now, I am ready to be finished with the first trimester.  It is going well, just moving along.

On Thursday, Todd and I met with Rissa's teachers to check up on her progress and get an idea of how this past year has helped her grow.  Her teachers were very optimistic and proud of her.  She is extremely intelligent, empathetic beyond her years, and is growing into her own emotionally.  She can make the proper sounds for almost all letters of the alphabet, can do simple math, ties her own shoes, and has a wonderful sense of humor!  They are constantly surprised by her, and have to remind themselves (just like we do) that she is only 3, not 5!   The only thing her teachers wanted to work on was the fact that in her drawing book, while she was able to give great descriptions to her drawings, she was only scribbling.  They said she needed to be drawing shapes and stick figures with their arms coming out of their heads.  Later that evening, I was sitting with mom on our porch and was filling her in on the parent teacher conference.  We went to dinner, she wanted some paper to draw on, and this is what she drew!  

Todd started it with the larger headed one on the right, then Rissa drew several, one is Daddy and one is me.  Then Todd drew our house on top and then later Jennifer drew the detailed ones in the middle (guess which one is my dad?!) lol, and she drew the cat.  But Rissa drew all the rest!! We were so blown away!  The next morning Todd took the drawing into school with him to show Rissa's teacher, and she was so proud!  She said,"Well, I guess she proved us wrong!  She never fails to surprise us!"  And if you notice, there is not ONE with their arms coming out of their head :)  I am a proud momma, to say the least.  She keeps us on our toes and never ceases to amaze!  We can't wait to see what she does next! 

NEWS!!!

The past couple of weeks have been life changing in the most amazing and miraculous ways!

First, Todd and I were able to attend a marriage retreat that has blessed our lives and marriage more than we could have ever have imagined.

After we got home, my mom told us a story about Rissa saying her prayers and praying for her baby.  As mom asked and tried to find out more it eventually came out that Rissa was praying for 'the baby in Mommy's tummy' who she said was a boy named Aberlin.  Like any good Mommy, I listed to her and took a pregnancy test and sure enough!! We are going to be the Tidwell Quartet!

Exactly a week later, we signed on our new house!!! We ended up getting the one I posted in a previous post and we couldn't be happier!  I will post more pictures once we get moved in.  

Today we got the keys so we are going to have pizza on the floor of our new house tonight!  thank you all for your love, prayers and support, we will keep you updated!! :)

Our First House (hopefully!!)

My last post was so sad, so I wanted to share some potential good news!  After crashing at my parents house for over 4 months, we have found a house we love!  We are wearing them down on the price so we aren't quite there to owning it yet, but hopefully we will soon!  All the prayers you have available for us to get this house would be appreciated!  Here are some pictures...

 

 I love the swing and Todd loves the lamp post :) We are such nerds

The house has a VERY open concept in the living areas and is beautifully updated

Great built in entertainment area!

I dream about this kitchen!

There is only one bathroom, but it is HUGE

Loft / Playroom

Basement / Office

                                                                Great little backyard!

                                  This is a two car garage that is built in front of a two car garage that has been turned into a workshop!  It is great!!

We are so excited about the prospect of being in a new home, we hope all of your lives are going wonderfully!