Oh yeah, I have this thing called a blog.

Ye Old Blog needs a little dusting off. Any readers left out there? Not that there were that many to start with, but anywho.

So... what's new with y'all?

Me? Oh I've just birthed a new human into this world. Not much.

For real guys, life has happened and this blog has been knocked way down on the priority list. I've missed my little interweb community though. And I'm going to try to get back in a little at a time. I think I can handle one to two short little posts a week. So, to start off, I'm going to try to get y'all up to speed on what has been going on around our home. Please note that the following are in chronological order.

-I was laid off from my little part time job in October. Although it was a scary time, it has worked out really beautifully for my family. Being home is exactly where I'm supposed to be right now.

-Jackson turned 3 in November. 3 stinking years old. Where has my baby gone? 3 is proving to be an interesting age. Jackson is fun, smart, sensitive, playful, kind, and helpful. His cognitive/ motor skills are simply amazing. But 3 is quite the sassy age as well! I sometimes think Jackson is 3 going on 13. But he is such a joy. Here he is at his school birthday party. Precious!
-December was a great month. We had such a wonderful Christmas. It was so fun and laid back. Exactly what this girl needed. We took it all in, knowing it would be our last Christmas as a family of three.
-Our New Year's celebration was relatively laid back. We went out to eat at the Kani House with some of our dear friends and then came back home for dessert and fireworks. My pregnant self was in bed by 10pm. But fun was had by all. Here is Jack all bundled up to watch the firework show.-Of course, January held a pretty big event for us. Our sweet Bennett "Ace" was born on January 22. The condensed birth story is as follows:

I went in for my week 39 appointment suspecting that my water was leaking. My midwife checked me and told me I was 4cm dilated, but no, my water was not leaking. She stripped my membranes, telling me that labor was soon. She thought I would be back at the hospital within hours to have the baby. My mom and I went to the mall to walk and try get some contractions started. No dice. I can't tell you how disappointed I was when I went to bed that night. I know it wasn't going to happen, but I just felt like I was going to be pregnant forever! The next morning I woke up and decided to go walk some more with Kyle. While we were at the mall, I just started feeling lousy. I was freezing cold, and just had zero energy. We came home and I tried to get some rest. I took my temperature and had a very low grade fever. I called the midwives office and they told me to come in and they would get me checked out. I saw a different midwife an d she decided that yes, my water was acutally leaking and that I needed to get to the hospital ASAP so they could start IV antibiotics and get my labor started. Even though I felt horrible, I was so glad that our baby was on his way. The entire labor I had a high fever and my bloodpressure was dangerously low. I recently read on another blog that you have to walk very close to death to bring a new baby into this world, and I think that is so true. Even though there were issues during labor, it was relatively easy. I had my epidural at around 7 centimeters, and pushed for about 45 minutes and Mr. Bennett "Ace" Van Nus arrived on January 22 at 1:29 in the morning. He was beautiful and a very healthy 8lbs 15.5oz.

Ace was put on antibiotics shortly after birth to try to prevent infection, since I was feverish when he was born. Unfortunately, he did get an infection that caused him to be in the NICU for several days. His breathing was very rapid and shallow, so they wanted to watch him very closely.They determined his infection stemmed from my water leaking for a long period of time before he was born. But finally, after 5 days, we were able to bring our little man home. God was so faithful to us during this time, and poured His grace and love out on us. I truly do feel we are divinely favored.


-February... was I around in February? It really does just seem like a huge fog. We were all adjusting to our new life and to the lack of sleep. February pretty much consisted of: breastfeeding, some doctor's appointments, laundry, breastfeeding, burping, afternoon naps... you get the point. Here's some sweet pictures from that crazy month!


(end photo taken by Heartstrings Photography. So gorgeous!!!)

-March has been wonderful so far. I hope I don't jinx myself by saying this, but we finally seem to be falling into our new pattern of life. Ace is sleeping very long stretches at night. He eats on a schedule. And he is taking a great morning and afternoon nap every day. Generally, he is a very happy baby. Jackson is an AMAZING big brother. He helps me with anything he can, and he adores his little brother. I have seen no real signs of jealousy at all.

So, stick with me here. I have some new pictures to upload from my camera, so you should be seeing them very soon. I hope you are all doing well!!!