Bittersweet Birthdays

This week is a bittersweet week for me. At the end of it (well actually at the beginning of next week) my little guy will be turning 2! I seriously cannot fathom how this is possible. I did manage to do one thing well, I kept a journal all throughout my pregnancy and so at times like these, I enjoy going back through my entries and reading about what was going on 2 years ago. From about July 20th until I actually went into labor, I prayed faithfully each night that it would be "the night". I was so done being pregnant at about 36 weeks. Praise the Lord he didn't make me go a day past my due date, yes, I was one of the 5% of women who go into labor on their due date. Lucky me. It would have been luckier if I had actually given birth on my due date. But God had bigger plans. 22-hours-in-labor bigger plans. Ha. Oh well. It was worth it, every second.

Reading through my journal entries is such a trip. 2 years ago today, August 3 2009 I journaled about crampy, shooting pains in my abdomen. I wrote "I still don't think it's labor. This is why I really wish my water would break, or something SUPER OBVIOUS (I actually wrote in all caps) would happen" Things like this make me smile because God is so faithful. He knew how nervous I was about not getting to the hospital on time, and that I wouldn't know what labor was. My water broke, that is how I knew I was in labor. God sure does have a sense of humor though, I definitely had plenty of time to get to the hospital. ..."today was my first official day off of work...our internet got installed and I put together my new desk chair-desk/computer are tomorrow's projects-along with grocery shopping, cleaning the kitchen and finishing more laundry." This makes me laugh because anyone who knows me knows that I hate cleaning, and if you know me really well you know that my house is rarely clean unless there is a larege gathering or something planned at my house. I mean was this nesting or what? Three days before I went into labor I was cleaning and organizing like crazy.

Then the last little tidbit I'll share from this journal entry was my favorite part I wrote..."and now the baby has hiccups ♥" I drew a heart next to it :) Being pregnant was so wonderful. Don't get me wrong it was horrible in it's own way, but seriously there is nothing like growing a human. It's a miracle, a mystery, a blessing. One of those things that makes you sure that there's a God who loves you watching over everything. I just said at dinner with friends last night, every once-in-a-while I'll get a gas bubble and still think there's a baby moving in my belly. No lie, the baby is approaching 2-years-old and I feel like I can still feel him moving around in the womb. Maybe I'm crazy--I'm definitely NOT pregnant, so don't get any ideas--or maybe that's just God's little way of reminding me of life's precious miracles.

Back to the baby being 2. Talk about time flies when you're having fun. Being a mom has brought new challenges to life, new fears to reality but mostly just joy. Jack makes me laugh daily, he says the sweetest things. He is going to be a very thoughtful little boy. He LOVES to wrestle, crash his cars and play in the mud-he is all boy. He also loves to draw, sing, and snuggle. I'm getting a lump in my throat just writing this. I've begun to learn the importance of Proverbs 22:6 "train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it" Everything I say, do and participate in affects this child and his thinking. So moving into this 3rd year of Jack's life, Proverbs 22:6 will be my motto to keep me motivated when the going gets tough-as I'm sure it will get tough.