A Year and a Half

I pulled Reese out of her crib yesterday and sang the "Happy Halfyear" song to her. She smiled and listened to the whole thing before going about her usual conversation of "uh-oh" everything {lovies she deems important} is on the floor.

Can't believe my baby toddler is 1 1/2!!! Just too old if you ask me! I know some exciting {and nerve-wracking} things are around the corner like potty training, moving to a big bed and a full on conversationalist and we can't wait for those but really!?! I'd like her to be a "wittle" girl just a bit longer. I guess that's why the Lord gave us Allie so quickly. So we could keep on enjoying babyhood!

So without further ado...here's our 18 month old:

I love that her personality is showing itself more and more. The below picture is proof of that! She's starting to understand what it means when the camera comes out and I say smile.

~ After her checkup she is 21.6 lbs! Yowza! That would put her in the 13th percentile. She's in the 45th percentile for height and head circumference so the doctor isn't concerned. She'll probably just continue being a little feather weight. :)

~Though not the most flattering of words...her favorite one to say is "poop". I'll hear this whenever she's actually gone #2 or it's just gas. All I have to say is hopefully potty training will be a cinch because she's so aware of her bowels.

~I think we should buy a farm...or at least stock in the milk industry. Milk is Reese's favorite drink and if I'd let her, she'd drink it all day long. 

~Reese LOVES with a capital "L" crackers! Anything such as Cheese Its, chips, pretzels or crackers themselves constitutes a cracker and it is just oh.so.exciting when we open the pantry door to get her one.

~She has learned the importance of prayers before eating and if I forget to pray before starting our meal, she'll hold her hand out {to hold mine} and say please. Lord, may her heart always be tender towards You and the things that matter to You.

~I am happy to report...yes, with a huge smile on my face...that she is now so so excited to go to nursery on Sunday mornings! I'm not sure what changed but starting about 4 weeks ago there was no kicking and screaming nor tearing my hair out as we pried her away to go to her "teacher." YAY!!! In fact, I couldn't pass her off soon enough 2 weeks ago and she kept trying to get out of my arms to go play. What a blessing!

~Still getting better and better at playing by herself. I'm excited for the day when Allie gets to join her.

Pics from the weekend

Loving some daddy time!

Reese and Papa through the window at 

Andria's restaurant in Ventura!

Being a ham knowing that the camera is out!

My happy, smiley and {bald} baby girl!

Caught her in the middle of a sneeze...too sweet!

I love this newest little princess more and more each day! She brings us so much joy with her coos and smiles!

From Clive

There's something so exciting about receiving a package in the mail...even if it's not for me! Reese's friend Clive (who I wrote about HERE) sent something to her all the way from Kansas so I had to get some pictures. Thank you so much, Clive! Reesie loves her new book!!

 Love you my friend, Amy! Thank you for loving my girls and thinking about them even though you're far away. Counting the days till we see you in October.

Updates on the girls

Allie at 1 month:

~Already to 10 pounds! We had to hit the size 1 diapers way sooner than with Reese. Made me really sad to see my newborn grow so fast!

~A day shy of 6 weeks she started smiling. She smiles all the time in her sleep and I'm really hoping its a sign that she'll be a happy baby.

~Allie loves people and attention. When one of us hasn't spoken to her or interacted with her in awhile she'll start to cry. As soon as we give her attention, she's a happy little clam. Takes after her mama in the social department. :)

~ The car and for that matter the car seat is NOT her friend. This has been a shock to my system because Reese (for the most part) loved the car and to go places. R and I both have gotten used to our drives consisting of constant, no let-up screams and wails. It breaks my heart and I'm hoping she outgrows it soon.

~ Allie loves Reese. She likes to watch her, when Reese comes in to her line of vision, and often will give her a big smile.

~Allie is an amazing sleeper! I'm so blessed and so thankful for this! Last night she had her best night yet of 10 hours straight.

Reese at 17 months:

~ Reese loves her little sister. She loves to give kisses, pats on the head and always has to tell her goodnight. She's done so well with the transition of someone else taking mommy's attention!

~She's into EVERYTHING! I thought I had "babyproofed" the house when she started crawling but being a walker has brought a whole new meaning to that phrase.

~Thus because of the above statement discipline has increased 10 fold. I'm more worn out at the end of the day because of Reese than my 7 week old baby. She has started to push the boundaries and is quickly learning that we aren't budging. I'm learning that consistency is the key and to back my word even if it means discipling once nursing is finished.

~ It brings me so much joy to watch Reese play by herself...something she's getting better at. Especially when she takes her books off the shelf and looks at them without Matt or I.

~Slowly starting to put two words together: "all done mommy" and "bye bye daddy" are two that we've caught on to at least for now.

~ Taking walks in the evenings and bath time are two of her favorite daddy times.

~ Going to Marmee's house during the week. She's starting to recognize her Grandparents house when we drive up and I LoVe that we live close by!!!

~Saying "Poppy" and "Nana" on ichat when we talk to my parents. Love that too!!

Welcoming Allie Joelle pt 2

In honor of Labor Day here is the rest of Allie's birth story! Enjoy!

Finally at 7:45am my mom came downstairs to find me in good, strong labor. I was so relieved to see her and started crying as soon as she was next to me. My mom is incredible! She defines comfort, tenderness, understanding and empathy. Having done this 7 times herself she knew exactly what I was feeling and just the right things to quietly reinforce when the pain or intensity would overwhelm me. Her gentle words of "let the contraction go all the way down and out" and "relax your shoulders" constantly ran through my mind and really allowed me to let my body work. 

Once she saw me and knew how long I'd been laboring, she suggested I try taking a shower. The BEST idea of the whole experience. I LoVeD the shower and could have stayed there till Allie was born. There was something so soothing about the water hitting my back and yet still standing to let the contractions do their job. This is also my favorite moments of Allie's birth. I was all alone (my mom and Matt were upstairs in my parent's bathroom getting the jet tub ready for me) with my thoughts and prayers. This is when Psalm 62 played over and over again in my head. This is when I told the Lord, I don't like this, I don't want to do this and I just want it over. I poured out my fears, prayed once again that the Lord would meet me during this birth and keep me from a really long labor. And He responded so graciously. It was almost as if He spoke audibly..."Ashley, I have created you to have this baby. Trust Me. Put your full dependence on Me and believe that I will be right there with you. Have faith that I have heard your cry and will answer you." I cried again. I didn't know that this was going to be so different from my last experience but in my vulnerability I thanked the Lord that He had quickened me to pray to Him rather than do this on my own strength. Birth is emotional!

From the shower I moved ever so slowly to the tub upstairs. A memory in and of itself. I think I had 2 or 3 contractions during that time which all were within earshot of poor Reese. Even though she hadn't seen me at all that morning, she knew it was me making the noise and she didn't like it. She wailed as I moaned and it broke my heart that I couldn't be the one to comfort her and tell her everything was alright and Allie was on her way. Thankfully being upstairs took me far enough away that she couldn't hear me. I didn't like the tub as much because I had to sit down. The contractions seemed almost unbearable and I found I had to keep changing positions to try to find the best one. I'm so glad my mom was right there with me through these. When Matt had finished loading up the truck with our things for the birth center, he told me he thought it would be a good idea to get out of the tub, go for a walk, try the tub again after that and then call Judi. I looked at him just as a contraction finished and said there is no way I'm going on a walk!! Before this I had been compliant with all his suggestions. Up until this point. This is how he knew I was serious and he realized he needed to listen to what I wanted to do. My mom encouraged him to call Judi and see what she thought. Her thought was Judi might tell me to go on the walk and then I would. So Matt called and Judi thought we had gone back to sleep after my first bath at 4:40am. She said that because we hadn't called her back she believed my labor had stalled. Then, what makes me laugh now, is she said, "Matt, is that Ashley I'm hearing?! Matt said yes and she said "You need to get to the birth center NOW!" Matt said great and we would be there in 10 minutes. Little did we know that she was at a hair appointment and told the gal she needed to rinse out the dye right then because she had to get to a birth!

When Matt told me Judi's words, I got really excited. Finally! We were leaving the house and I was so ready to go! The ride wasn't that bad. Maybe adrenaline was carrying me through here. I had 3 or 4 contractions and felt every.single.bump but Matt was a good, calm driver and got us there safely. Just as we arrived at the birth center and I was getting out of the truck, I heard Judi's car screaming down the road. What a rush to see your midwife in a hurry for you! :) She was immediately by my side with her hand on my back just as another contraction started. She ushered us right upstairs to our waiting and prepped room and had me get on the bed to check my dilation. With a smile on her face she announced, you are a 7!!! I couldn't believe my ears. And yes, I cried again! (As the tears started she leaned over and  whispered, it's ok to cry, Ashley. You're releasing hormones and that is completely fine and GOOD for you) Thank you, Lord! I really, really had prepared myself to hear a 3 or 4 cm dilated. A 7 blew me out of the water! 

They turned on the jet tub and this time with directions from Judi about how I needed to relax, the tub felt different. She had me think about being in Hawaii floating in the warm water and letting everything go as the waves washed over me. Funny. I would have rather been anywhere than there at that moment but I worked to do the best I could to listen to her instructions and follow them. She said to me...you can either do this the hard or easy way. The hard would be to resist every contraction and to fight what was happening to your body. The easy way...embrace and surrender to all the feelings. I so wanted the easy, fast way! What's amazing to me, though, is how I wanted to be in sync with my body. I wanted to work with it and to not resist. During Reese's labor, at the end of those grueling 39 hours, I physically could NOT relax, could not work with the contractions and felt completely overwhelmed. Almost as if my body was literally shutting down. Here in these moments with Allie that feeling was so foreign. I know it is the work of the Lord and Him answering so many of yours and my prayers! In fact, because I was able to function and work through the contractions I asked Judi when I was going to be in transition. This is what I had been taught was the hardest part of labor. She said, "Honey, you were in transition when you got here." I literally couldn't believe my ears. This was as hard as it was going to get? I didn't have to prepare myself for something even more difficult? I really believe this news gave me the energy to finish well.

The next two hours seemed to go on forever and yet were so quick. That's a contrary statement in and of itself but it's true. The contractions were long, intense and took lots of work to remain calm and relaxed. Matt was my rock throughout this time. As soon as a contraction would start, I would lock eyes with him and together we would ride out the waves. I found myself drawing from his strength and energy. He was the biggest encourager that I could do this and that so very soon we would have our baby. Judi asked me if I wanted to still try and deliver in the tub to which I said yes. Up to this point my water remained intact and Judi thought that breaking it would help to finish up my dilating. I remember being nervous to let her do it just because I had heard how painful labor becomes once that cushion is gone. She felt that at this point it wouldn't matter and so I gave the go ahead. Things went quickly from here but because there was meconium in Allie's fluid Judi thought it best to deliver on the bed. The next few contractions were strange as I felt my body changing from 1st stage labor to 2nd. That incredible urge to push came; something I'd not experienced with Reese because of the epidural I finally gave in to to finish my 40 hour marathon. Such a powerfully strong sensation and almost surreal as though my body took over and I stepped back to get out of it's way.

Pushing was my least favorite part of delivery. I had looked forward to this moment having been told by many that you finally get to do something about those contractions rather than just endure them. But wow! It wasn't even so much the "ring of fire" I'd heard about. I think it just boiled down to a baby passing through such a small area. It hurt. A lot. And with each push I was making it hurt more. I just wanted her out. I remember going from a gut-wrenching push to all of a sudden yelling. Judi so calmly and lovingly told me to put that energy right back into pushing. That's where I wanted to give up. I didn't want to keep going to experience more pain but there was no choice. I just wanted this to be over.  (side note: Judi's calm amidst the storm raging in my body was the biggest comfort. I half expected her to be just as worked up as I was but her strength and gentleness put me at ease. I knew I could trust her with my life. She allowed me to push a lot sooner than maybe a hospital would as she helped melt away the last of my cervix that wasn't dilating. She told me just what to do when and I loved her for it). I'm told that I pushed for 4 maybe 5 contractions which is about 3 pushes during each. Again it felt like forever but was only about 30 minutes. At 12 noon exactly little Allie Joelle Mehringer entered the world. She was put right on my stomach and the midwives realized that the cord was wrapped around her ankles. The reason that it took 30 minutes instead of maybe 10. The cord kept pulling her back in as I would push her out.

I'm really without words to describe the overall experience. Yes, I was in pain after just having had a baby but at the same time I felt so powerful, victorious and full of praise to my God that He brought me through this! I kept thinking...if I can do this so can every other woman! I'm such a wimp when it comes to sickness or pain. I hate it. Those that know me well know I'm the first to admit I'm sick and will ask for prayer to be better SOON! So to go through this with no pain meds and to come out on the other end elated and excited only proved to me that it can be done!! Another realization about Allie's birth is that not one time did I say I couldn't do it and that we'd never have any more kids. Those were words that poured from my mouth with Reese. Not so with Allie and I give God all the glory for that! My belief that natural birth works is restored and it is my prayer that from here on out we can have the rest of our babies with Judi. Both her and Jessica were the biggest blessings and it is because of their service to us that we had such an amazing experience.

Welcoming Allie Joelle pt 1

Our precious daughter arrived 6 weeks ago and all the free time that I had as a mommy to a toddler got put on hold and of course for a wonderfully good reason. I'm not sure how all you moms find the time to blog. I don't want to give this up (and maybe it will just be for a season where my posts are short, sweet and to the point) but it's sure tough to squeeze time in when all you do is feed, burp, change diapers, read books, make breakfast, lunch and dinner and then finally get two minutes to use the bathroom yourself. The other day (or maybe it's been every day) I realized that from the moment I got out of bed I hadn't stopped doing something for either Reese or Allie until about 11:30am. I hadn't even had the chance to look at myself in the mirror. I guess that's "Welcome to the world of mothering two, Ashley!"

Ok...so the real reason for this post. Here is Allie's birth story. This is mostly for me to look back on and remember all the details. I haven't yet done this on paper and I think typing it would prove to save me a lot of time that I don't have. I'm sorry if it seems bold, extreme or maybe even raw. Birth is intense but I feel that by leaving out some of the emotions, I'll forget how God met me in this birth.

The story really begins on Monday 4 days after my due date. I was discouraged by the days passing without any signs of going into labor. None at all. I'd have the occasional braxton hick but nothing really painful and definitely no series of contractions my midwife Judi said I needed to have. Another point to make here is that Judi was planning to go out of town to see her family exactly one week from my due date. My whole purpose for being in Alaska was to deliver with her so this news put me on edge. Back to Monday. I decided that if I hadn't gone into labor by then I would have a massage where the gal could work on pressure points specifically for starting labor. This proved to be a good decision. Once the massage was done she encouraged me to stay active and even to take a walk to try and aid contractions. My mom and I went on a walk at 3pm. Within that hour I noticed contractions happening regularly. They were good and strong but I still was working to keep my hopes at bay. I've learned from reading MANY stories and being around birth in general that things can stop as quickly as it starts.

Contractions continued to come and I kept on with life. By evening I knew I wanted to get out of the house and enjoy one more time with Matt just in case this was the real thing. My mom offered to put Reese to bed and we took off for an all un-eventful trip to Sports Authority. :) Matt needed a new watch and the Lord knew we would need a stop clock that night to time contractions. Matt took his time looking at ALL the watches they had while I paced around in lots more discomfort than I had been up to this point. I just wanted to sit down in the middle of the store. But that would have been weird and I'm sure would have had a lot of people worried. Plus I knew that to keep moving was the best thing to keep things progressing. He found a watch and then we headed to Cold Stone. Ice cream is a great comfort food!

Arriving home, I got a lot of questions from my cute siblings who are 13, 11 and 6. They kept staring at me out of the corner of their eye and I think were in some disbelief that I was actually finally in early labor. They didn't want to go to bed and miss the action. We assured them that it would be awhile still and that of course we'd let them know when Allie was about to arrive. I remember my dad giving me a kiss on the head before he went to bed and said he'd be praying for me. It was so special to be around my family and to have all their care and support.

Matt went to bed at 11pm at I tried to lay down too. However, I was up almost immediately and let him know that I just couldn't sleep through these contractions and for him to go ahead and get as much rest as he could. I told him I'd get him when he was needed. For 3 hours I labored/worked by myself. The house was quiet and having that time really prepared me for what was ahead. Part of me was really wanting to sleep not knowing how long the journey ahead would be but the other part was really excited that this could be it. We would finally get to meet our girl! By 2am I knew I couldn't go on by myself. I wish I knew how far along I was by this point. If I had to guess I'd say 4 cm. It got to be more intense, I had to breathe/moan through contractions, and they were much more painful/longer. At the time I wasn't laughing or smiling but it's funny how you can tell an experienced dad from a new one. Matt wasn't thrilled when I came to get him and took awhile to get out of bed. So different from that night that I went into labor with Reese. :) But he came with me and we labored for 2 1/2 more hours before calling Judi. Her instructions were to get in the bath and see what happened from there. Things would either intensify more or ease up to allow me to sleep. The former happened but slowly enough that we didn't see the need to call her.

SIDE NOTE: Our motto going into labor was that we wanted to remain at my parents house as long as we could until I couldn't stand it anymore and HAD to get to the birth center. For Reese, our inexperience had us leaving our apartment 7 hours after what I thought was "real" labor. Too many hours (32) were spent at the birth center that should have been at home laboring and going on about our day. Fast forward to Allie: we weren't in any hurry to go anywhere!

From there I got out of the bath and continued laboring. It was about 6am or so. I remember telling Matt that at this point I really wanted my mom to be with me. He said no and that it would be better to let her sleep because we would need her later on. Ha! It's so funny to look back on all this. What I didn't know was that I was progressing a lot quicker than I realized and things were harder much sooner. But for good reason! If I had to guess I'd say I was dilated about a 5 here and had no idea that Allie would arrive in only 6 more hours. Going back to Matt being a second time father: he was super relaxed about my pain and intensity of the contractions. Almost to a fault. Example: A contraction would start. {Ashley} begins breathing, moaning, focusing on making all her muscles relaxed and limp. {Matt} s-l-o-w-l-y gets off the floor from having just fallen asleep, reaches over, starts to rub Ashley's back but then has to resist falling asleep, rubs his eyes, mumbles something about doing a good job and "you can do this", realizes the contraction is over and then collapses back on the floor to fall asleep and repeat said cycle. Haha! Second time dad for sure! This would be the reason why I was requesting my mom. Later on at the birth center Matt is incredible and all I wanted was him but at this point there was much to be desired. :)

Keeping me busy...

I miss blogging a lot! I haven't given it up...in fact I've been trying to write Allie's birth story for about 5 weeks now. :( It's coming! I promise. It just may take a little bit longer. I don't want to condense the story...mainly for my own memories' sake. It was an incredible day and I don't want to forget.

So, while you wait...here are a few pictures from the last few weeks since we've been home from AK!

Watching Baby Einstein with dad!

Date night out!