Happy Birthday Mattalyn Kay

Mattalyn Kay Stania was born on May 8, 2010. We found out we were expecting in the fall of 2009. It was a blessing and I was hoping that this pregnancy would result in having two children within one year span of each other. As it would happen however, I was nursing  and there was a mix up with the insurance. I would not be covered until January. So at five months pregnant we saw the doctor and had three different due dates!  There was mine which was the 15th, the doctors which was around the 20th and then the ultrasound which put us at the end of May.

Mattalyn came on none of them.

 On the morning of her birth I was teaching Shannon how to go down the stairs on her back side. We got to the bottom and I walked into the kitchen. Just as we stepped inside, my water broke. It was right out of the movies! My first delivery was an induction so, I didn't know really what to do. I called the Dr and was told to come in. Still having alot to do.....I started on the to do list.

We weren't packed, Matt was at work, our arrangements for Shannon were not going to work, and the house was A MESS! By the time we got to the hospital the staff told me they were not sure I was till coming in!

My water broke at 7:00am and I believe we got to the hospital somewhere around 11:00am.

We walked the hall over and over and over. I suppose the time it 

took for her to come reflects her personality??? Mattalyn has reddish hair and takes her time to do things. She could be called stubborn and lets you know very quickly if she doesn't like the situation. She is very particular in her thinking. One day we had a friend over with her twins. The little boy had his sister's silky. She decided he needed to have his and his sister needed hers so she arranged this with no prompting from the adults. If she is put in her crib with a stuffed animal that doesn't belong. She lets you know it doesn't belong there. You get the idea.

Well, she came at 9:13pm in the evening. We used the ball, walked, waited.......and she came!!! The past two years have been a wonderful journey. She has this red tight curly hair that makes me want to tousle it every time I walk by. She loves freely often going up to people and hugging them with no pretense (we will have to work on that). Her love for her sister and brother is unending, the very moment she wakes calling for her big sister. Anywhere Silas is she can be found patting his head or trying to kiss him.  She has a sense of humor that I cant describe but if she can get you laughing she will do whatever causes you to laugh over and over. Often times she climbs on my lap and snuggles into my arms. Her two fingers and a ugly old black baby dressed up as a duck accompany her anywhere and are often her source of comfort. 

 We are blessed indeed. I can't wait to see what this little girl does in life!

Happy Birthday Shanny!!!

Today three years ago, at this very moment, I was sitting in a hospital room waiting for Shannon to arrive. At 6:01 pm she would enter this world and change our lives forever. Shannon has been a blessing. And as the first child she has tested the depth to which my idols are ingrained into my being and how much I am going to rely on God to "change me!" 

She came into our lives with fierce intensity having traveled down the birth canal with no notice to anyone in the room. Everyone kept telling me when I had the urge to push let them know. So, I laid there waiting for this "urge," that actually never came. The epidural I had was enough that I could feel the mild discomfort of the contractions or pressure if you will. I kept feeling the mild discomfort (but not pressure in my behind) and reaching down I noticed I could feel her. Well, this caused a lot of people to get into action. And with three cycles of pushes and about 15 minutes she was born. To my disappointment she was whisked away to the NICCU. You see I had a fever that had grown with the passing of time to 104.5 and apparently she had a fever of 102.5.

I spent the next several hours in the delivery room on ice to bring my fever down and then waiting to meet my daughter. On the way to my room the nurse took me to the NICCU to meet her where I was kicked out for having a fever. The moment at last came. We met her. I distinctly remember the heat from her little body and how delicate she was, the look of pride in my husband, and the surreal feeling of being a parent for the first time. 

Although my placenta came back normal and the tests from the blood taken on her came back negative the hospital kept us and gave Shannon treatments twice a day for the next several days. Our whole stay in the hospital was a week. She gave us quite the introduction into the new world of parenting and has continued.

It would seem to me that the way she entered the world has been an indication of her personality......She is outgoing and extremely friendly, determined to do what she wants and when (as indicated by sitting, standing, walking holding things, getting a tooth, and many other things before she was "supposed" to), she has a sensitive side that demonstrates great empathy towards anyone and thing(including ants found traveling on her which I was to throw outside). Often times she can be found "mothering" her siblings and her friends siblings despite their wishes (often repeating Momma's instructions or corrections). She has quite a flair for "girly" things which I often wonder where it came from. She can be found on any given day (today included even with a temp of 102) asking to wear "princess" dresses, play jewelry, and wear  her crown from gamma Ehman. Her childlike faith has been an encouragement with her often asking to go to Sunday School, responding to situations wanting to "pray," and often praying with a thankful heart without being told. Her tenacious spirit in attempting to understand her world is as with her personality: intense too. She is always asking why things work, how, who this person is or that, or asking to play games or do learning activities. 

I am so blessed and thankful for all the ways in which God has enabled us to grow as parents and in our walk with Him due to her influence in our lives!  Thank You Lord!

 

"Training our Children"

The realization has occurred to me these past 2 (almost 3 years), that parenting needs to be purposeful. Before having children I had all sorts of ideas of what it would look like and how it would be. I babysat alot and felt I was really good at it. What I didn't take the time to think on is  I watched these children and gave them back. Perhaps it involved games, crafts, TV, toys, singing, playing outside, or any other numerous amounts of activities. However, I was not responsible for the "training up in the way they should go." Oh, yes I was an influencing factor, but not the one with the heavy burden of responsibility.

It is with this in mind that we have recently begun "Tot School." This idea was recently introduced to me through a website and a very good friend of mine.

Our First Lesson.

Shannon loves this book and the little song so she was fairly excited to begin this unit. Each week we will also have a word of the week with a corresponding verse. This weeks word is Listening and the verse is Proverbs 4:1.

"Listen, my sons, to a father's instruction; pay attention and gain understanding."

After introducing the verse and having Shannon repeat it, we read the story.

 Shannon's task for today was to retell the story. Which she had a blast doing.

Making her monkeys ......

Jump on the bed .......

over and over and over was her favorite part!

Shannon has on her "pack-pack" so she can go to school and is really happy about getting to play!

 The entire lesson took about 15 minutes and was a whole lot of fun!

Resources used:
Get Wisdom! 23 lessons for Children about Living for Jesus, Ruth Younts
thttp://www.1plus1plus1equals1.net/
http://hetkowski.blogspot.com/2012/03/easter-part-1.html

Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, Eileen Christelow

Shannon is my eldest. She is 36months and as hilarious as ever. All day long she says these little phrases that make me continually wonder when did she grow up. AND....where did she get that from. Recently we have been working on keeping her pull-up dry. I say working but really we just celebrate when it is dry. Today we go to take the pull-up off and she gets and excited tone and big smile and says, "It's dry Momma." I go to feel the outside and tell her it is not dry. She says, "only a widdle bit of pee." Ha! The pull of chocolate treats at its best attempt to rationalize.

For Future Generations

I am at a point in my life where the realization of what I want and what God has given me are two very different things. The dream, as you would have it, would be that my children would grow up being a part of an close extended family having Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and Grandparents. The key to all of this would be that the extended family would "Love the Lord with All their Heart, Soul, and Mind. This is not my life and it won't ever be. But, I have hope for the future. My husband and I will raise our two girls in the "nurture and admonition of the Lord." We will do so with the hope that God will penetrate their hearts and that they will come to love the Lord "with all their Heart, Soul, and Mind. And, although they won't have my dreams for extended family now....one day the dream will be realized through the generations that came. 

I have come to realization in daily life that...so much goes on. I want to remember it, delight in it, and to encourage, relate to, and engage the reader, you.  So it is with this in mind that this blog is created.