Free Christmas Cards? No way!

So, its Lydia's first Christmas, which means this is the first year we can send out a true family Christmas card! It comes just in time for Lydia's one month birthday. My fabulous friend and next door neighbor, Sarah, has so generously offered to take some Christmas/One month photos of Lydia this weekend, and I can't wait! I have decided to use http://www.shutterfly.com for the cards, which is the same website I recently used for Lydia's adorable birth announcements. Lucky for me, I was browsing their website and noticed that they are giving away 50 Christmas cards for FREE! This is why I LOVE Shutterfly! They are always offering great deals like free extra prints, free shipping, and now FREE Christmas cards. How many times did I just say free? Can you tell that I'm super excited?! When you have a newborn, every penny you can save really helps out, especially around the holidays. So after looking through Shutterfly's incredible selection of holiday photo cards, I found three particular designs I really love. They are:

Sweet Stocking Christmas Card - I like this one because it has room for four different photos. This means more room to show off sweet Lydia's Christmas pictures!

Get Glowing Christmas Card - I like this one because its simple and modern. Plus I think the dotted Christmas tree is adorable!

Bright Blooming Tree Christmas Card- I like this one because it also has room for more than one photo. It also has the traditional red and green Christmas tree, but a not so traditional chocolate background. Too cute!

So...which one to choose? After much deliberation, I think I'm going to go with the....

Bright Blooming Tree! This card is too cute to pass up and it gives me three different photo options, and since I'm horrible at making decisions, I can choose more than one picture.

If you are shopping around for Christmas Cards be sure to check out Shutterfly's great products. Here are a few of them:

Christmas photo cards: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

Holiday cards: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards

and even...

Calendars (these make great Christmas gifts!) http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars

A big thank-you to Shutterfly for all of the great holiday deals! If you want to take advantage of their 50 free holiday card give away simply click here and follow their easy steps!

Lydia Adalene

Wow..whew..what a crazy four weeks its been! My beautiful Lydia Adalene Madi was born on November 3, 2010 at 12:56 pm. I must say it was a very easy labor. God is good! (the epidural also helped quite a bit!) After six hours of labor my gorgeous black haired girl made her grand entrance. She weighed 6 lbs 15 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. I am so in love with her! She can be a handful, but what newborn isn't? All day long I find myself staring at her and kissing those little round cheeks. She looks so much like Adam, its ridiculous! Lucky for her, he's a good looking guy. In two short days she will be a month old. Wow, how time flies! I'm finally getting used to this motherhood thing...I think. She's sleeping better through the night and we have switched over to bottle feeding, which she's done really well with. All in all she's one awesome kid. I'm all smiles..and a few dark circles under the eyes. :)

Reflection

So, tomorrow is the big day! I will be induced bright and early in the morning at 5am. I woke up this morning feeling nauseated.. I'm a mixed bag of emotions. I am so excited because I can't wait to meet my daughter for the first time, but I'm also anxious and scared because I want everything to go smoothly and for her to have a safe and healthy delivery. I'm also very reflective today. It's been a quiet, rainy day that has allowed me ample time to think. I am overcome with thankfulness for the Lord's blessings. This time last year, in the month of October, Adam and I miscarried our first baby. It was one of those numbing moments for us. Overcome with loss, sorrow, deep hurt, emptiness, I found myself asking the Lord "What's next?" I remember praying to God and saying "Lord, I have nothing to say." and that was truly my heart. I was for once in my life at a loss for words. I didn't understand why this horrible thing had happened to us, and honestly I wasn't angry, I was just empty. I was so hurt and I couldn't even find the words to pray. It took a lot of healing, many nights of crying myself to sleep, and a lot of prayers from the faithful believers that are my friends and family, until finally I was ok again. Today I thought about the baby that I lost and I allowed myself a few minutes to cry. I cried because I still grieve my baby, but also I cried because I am overwhelmed at the Lord's goodness. Last year we lost a baby. This year God is giving us another one. Wow. How great is our God? It just blows me away. Most of the time I can't see the big picture. I don't understand why things happen they way that they do, but one thing is for certain, the Lord never leaves us nor forsakes us. He is forever faithful.

'I sing for joy at the works of Your hands.." - Psalm 92:4

38 weeks and holding...

DISCLAIMER: I AM ABOUT TO MAKE A PREGNANCY UPDATE. For those of you who might have a weak stomach and/or are easily offended, you can stop reading now. So today I had my 38 week OBGYN appointment, and I have some great news to report. First of all, my OB said, and I quote, "You have a great cervix." Now I'm not really sure what elevates one's cervix to the status of "great", but I was proud. Even more important than my fabulous cervix, however, was the news that I am now 3 cm dilated and 60% effaced. Dr. P said that if I don't have Lydia by my appointment next Thursday, then we will schedule an induction then. She seemed pretty confident that I would have her before next Thursday if I continue to dilate at the same pace as I am now. Now it becomes real. I could potentially have a child this time next week. That's a pretty exciting/terrifying thought. Exciting because I can't wait to be a mother and be able to hold my sweet baby, love her, comfort her when she is upset, teach her things... and terrifying because I'm afraid I have no clue what I'm doing. You don't get a practice run with these things. You get two days in the hospital with nurses and doctors to help you and then they pack you up, ship you out, and wish you good luck. I was lying in bed the other night and looked at Adam and said "Babe, do you think we'll be good parents?" He said "Yeah, I mean I think we will just have to figure it out as we go." Not exactly the vote of confidence I needed (i was hoping for a "We'll be the best parents ever!) but he was right. I think parenthood is just one of those things you have to figure out as you go. One thing is for sure, there will be lots of praying going on in the Madi household and sweet Lydia will be loved beyond belief.

My apologies

So, one of my dearest friends, Beth, informed me that the whole world probably doesn't care to be alerted about the status of my vajayjay. So to those of you who were offended by knowing that I am 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced, I apologize. A funny thing happens when you're pregnant, especially nine months pregnant. You suddenly lose all inhibitions and modesty. Maybe its due to the fact that you're morbidly obese (what could be worse, right?), or maybe its the fact that various complete strangers responsible for bringing your baby into the world have seen your junk. I don't know, but either way, I'm strangely comfortable with sharing all of my experiences with you guys. However, for your sake, I will leave out the unnecessary details.

My first post!

With baby Lydia well on her way, I decided it might be neat to start a blog to document my adventures as a new mom, so here goes nothing. Yesterday I had my 37 week appointment with my OBGYN. Turns out, Lydia might be closer than we thought. I was dilated 2 cm and 50% effaced. 4 cm dilated with contractions is considered active labor, so the doctor said if I start experiencing any contractions to call. So now I play a waiting game. I've successfully scrubbed every single entire inch of our house, organized the kitchen pantry and our closet as well as color coded all of Adam's tshirts. I'm not sure, but I think I may be nesting. Hoping for Lydia to come sometime in the next week before I start scrubbing our toilets with toothbrushes. More updates to come!