-Thankfulness-

November is one of my favorite months of the year. Unfortunately it is the month where the weather really starts to turn cold, snowy, and gloomy in Colorado, however that does mean warm holiday drinks! mmmm.. It is a favorite month because I spend the whole month thinking of all the things I am thankful and trying to think of how to narrow it down to 3 things to list off at our Thanksgiving dinner. While it is very important to spend the entire year being thankful for all of our blessings, Thanksgiving really seems to bring it to the forefront of everybody's mind. As we drove home from spending 2 -very short- days with family, I decided to get on facebook and I was overwhelmed by all of the posts about people being THANKFUL! Thankful for family, friends, food, football, pie, life, puppies, skype, any many many more things. I am so encouraged that there is so much to be thankful for in a world where there seems to be so much darkness, sadness, and hurt.
This November was a month so packed full of blessings I didn't even know where to begin when it came to our tradition of going around the dinner table on Thanksgiving and saying what we are thankful for. Jason? Elijah? The rest of our family? Life? Food? A roof over our heads? Freedom? Grace? Love? Koa;)? Health? You know you are so incredibly blessed when you don't know where to start, and you can't begin to count your blessings. However, this year I have been reminded that everything we have been blessed with isn't really ours. We are given the opportunity to enjoy our blessings, and it is important to not take them for granted, but ultimately they are God's, not ours. Good will give and take away as he sees fit, and it is so important to enjoy the family, food, and life we have been given while we can.
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." -James 1:17

So speaking of things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving, it wouldn't have been the same without Elijah. Our little man is 3 weeks and 3 days old right now. Where has the time gone? I feel like the first few weeks are just such a whirlwind with Doctor appointments, newborn screening, dirty diapers, and feeding every 3 hours. Also mixed in with the madness though are alot of baby snuggles, sneezes, and gassy smiles. I feel like every day I wake Eli up in the morning he is leaps and bounds ahead of where he was the day before. This wiggly little guy has even ROLLED TUMMY TO BACK 2 times!!! Where was the newborn stage? I talk to people who have 5 and 6 week olds that are finally fitting into 0-3 month clothes, and here is our big boy who never wore newborn clothes, and is wearing 3 month outfits already! 2 month olds that are finally 9 lbs, and our little munchkin is 3 weeks old and weighs 10 lbs! It is so exciting and fun to see the smiles forming and eyes focusing. Jason is really enjoying that he can start to interact with Eli and he recognizes his voice and face. Such a fun fun time, and we are learning the importance of taking it one day at a time and enjoying the baby steps.

Professional Procrastinator

I am finally getting around to typing up a new post! As many of you know or will soon find out, it is HARD to get anything at all done with a newborn in the house. Between eating, sleeping, crying, pooping, and me not being able to take my eyes of this little guy, not much gets done. Words can't describe how grateful I am for people being here to help, and my incredibly patient husband.
Many people have been wondering about Eli's Birth Story/My Labor Story.. So here it is!

Baby Eli was due on October 24th, and I had counted down the days (I even had hopes he would come early!).. Lets just say this whole journey has been a lesson on trying to make plans where only God can make the plans. We had this great plan that he would come on time, we would go home for hunting season and hang out with family, and everything would be perfect. Lesson learned - when it comes to babies being born - there are NO plans.. They will come when they are good and ready. Eli just happened to be on the 12 days late plan.
I woke up on Monday and had kind of lost hope that he would come before the induction we had scheduled for Thursday the 7th. I hadn't had any sort of contractions or signs that the little guy was coming, other than TONS of braxton hicks for the past few weeks. I had tried any and all forms of natural induction, including castor oil (yes I did try it.. nothing..) So monday I went and got some groceries, went to the library, got apple cider, and spent the day baking bread, cookies, enchiladas, chili rellenos, muffins, and turkey burgers for dinner. That night we got ready for bed and at 10:40 as I was about to fall asleep I felt a popping feeling and a bit of a gush of fluid.. To put it mildly I was shocked and not really sure what happened.. I told Jason that I thought my water had broken.. Sure enough not a minute later - SUPER PAINFUL CONTRACTION! We had planned on me laboring at home for a few hours and then going to the hospital when I couldn't handle it any longer. Well again as far as plans are concerned.. Eli and another plan. After an hour of contractions coming full on lasting 30 seconds to a minute and coming every 2 MINUTES, I HAD to go to the hospital. We loaded up and I had about 6 contractions on the 10 minute drive to the hospital, and 5 walking from the parking lot to our room. Safe to say my body and baby were not messing around. When I got there I was 5 cm and 100% effaced. My plan that I did end up being able to go through with was a NATURAL birth -drug free- so I hopped into the tub to help deal with pain. After an hour I couldn't handle it in there anymore so I got out and started trying to convince Jason that an epidural was in my near future. My midwife said she would check again and see how much I had progressed.. I was already at 8 cm!! Still, they were the craziest pain I have ever experienced, so I kept trying to convince Jason. Luckily 2 contractions later I was at 10cm and more than ready to push! I pushed for an hour and Elijah Paul Frink came flying into our arms at 4:15AM on Tuesday, November 5th, 2013.

After the most mind blowing and exhausting 5 1/2 hours of my life our son was born. He weighed 9 lbs exactly and was 21 1/4 inches. Everybody was a little shocked to say the least. Our lives have been completely changed forever. I had heard that when you have a baby, it's like your heart is walking around outside of your body, and I have NEVER heard a more true statement. When I see our little boy and his daddy snuggling on the couch, I can't help but get a little weepy and think about what we have to look forward to as a family. We came home Wednesday and it has been a whirlwind for the past week and a half getting used to all the changes. I've decided it really doesn't matter how much you prepare, or how late you are, there is nothing that can prepare you for when they actually get here and all of a sudden in a matter of seconds you are a parent, and you have to know what each little cry means. But it is encouraging to know that Elijah is learning, just like Jason and I are.
So there is the birth story. I already can't remember what it was like to be pregnant, and I'm quickly forgetting what it was like to just be a family of 2. But I couldn't imagine going through life with any other 2 people than Jason and Eli.
Thank you everybody for your prayers, support, and encouragement. I have never needed those things more.