My little baby is three weeks old already! I can't believe how fast time is going by - the weeks and each day! Every day seems to slip by me so quickly! Especially when I spend most of each day just staring at Jacob. Watching him sleep. Watching him during play time. Watching him watch me. I love to just watch him.
But a lot has happened in the past couple of weeks. Other than the fact that our little man continues to grow and change every day! Just after my last blog post, Austin left us for a few days. He headed over to Dike where he joined other teachers and administrators from D-NH to go to a conference in the Cities. He left on a Saturday and didn't return home until late Wednesday night. We've been apart before so this was nothing new, but this was the first time we'd be apart with Jacob around. And I have to say it was really hard to say good bye to him. Although I'm sure my extra hormones didn't help anything! I wasn't worried about having help with Jacob because my family was coming down to help. But it wasn't the same without Austin around. I didn't know how much I loved having him around and helping with Jacob until he was gone. Plus, I didn't want him to miss having that time with Jacob. If you were to ask him, he would probably tell you that it was hard for him too. Although it was good for him to go and meet some of the new staff he would be working with and conferences are always good for professional development, but we sure missed him around the house. We did skype every night so he could still see Jacob and so Jacob could hear Austin's voice. And we were glad to have him home again!
Once Austin was home again, Jacob and I each had our two week check-ups at the doctor. Jacob's appointment was first and he did great! Unfortunately his appointment was right around feeding time so he got a little fussy towards the end but it wasn't too bad. He's continuing to gain weight and was up to 9lbs 3oz! The doctor said he looked good and didn't have any concerns about anything! His next appointment won't be until 2 months and by that time we'll be over in the Cedar Valley so we're currently in the process of looking for a new pediatrician over there.
My appointment also went great, although Jacob kept stealing all the attention of the nurses and Dr. Platt! :) I was told I was looking good as well and was given permission to start lifting some heavier things, but not to over do it. After my c-section, Dr. Platt sent part of my placenta to get tested to see if it was infected and at my appointment we were told that the results had come back and it was infected. This would explain why Jacob had a fever when he was first born. It also means it was a very good thing we had the c-section and we did it when we did. Although this wasn't at all what I wanted, I couldn't be happier with Dr. Platt and we completely trust her judgement. She made sure that Jacob and I were both safe.
One of the things I was so nervous about having a c-section was the recovery time. But I believe that Dr. Platt did such a great job and because of this, my recovery has been easier than I expected. I have to remind myself that I did have major abdominal surgery! I would completely forget because I felt so great. I think it also helped that I had such amazing family and friends helping me out from the beginning, including Austin of course! I still get a little sore sometimes, but overall, feeling great! I also have to laugh because back in March when my dad broke his foot, I remember telling him to listen to the doctor and just take it easy! Stay off your foot, let other people help you out, etc. Well it turns out I am more like my father than I thought. :) I would try to do a lot of things around the house when we first got home and Austin had to "yell" at me and tell me to take it easy! I'm lucky to have a man who cares about me so much!
Jacob is now three weeks old. Every day he's growing and changing so much! And overall, he's been an amazing baby. We really have been blessed! His feeding schedule has been pretty consistent as well, which has been good. However, he's hit his three week growth spurt and has had some cluster feedings - where he'll get hungry every hour, hour and half. And he'll feed for a lot longer as well. I have to tell you, this has been exhausting for me. And it also makes me so grateful for his normal feeding schedule! He also seems to be a little more fussy during this growth spurt. Normally he's such a good baby that only cries when he's hungry, needs his diaper changed or has a bubble or something. But right now he's been harder to calm down. I'm hoping this will end with his cluster feedings! But even his fussy times now are nothing compared to what it could be, and for that I'm thankful. It does test your patience though! :) Last night was pretty great though as Jacob slept for six hours! Austin rocked him after I got done feeding and put him down so I could go to sleep and then was blessed with six hours of sleep! During a normal night, he'll feed two, maybe three times. As much as I loved getting those uninterrupted hours of sleep, I'm not sure I want that to continue every night. I think because of our time in the hospital with Jacob's low blood sugar, I get nervous if he goes too long without eating. I'd rather wake him up and feed him so I know he's getting food! Plus I'm afraid if Jacob doesn't feed more at night that it could affect my milk supply. If Jacob continues to sleep well at night, I'll probably try to get up at least once to pump to help my supply.
Austin and I are also both learning what Jacob wants. We're learning what different cries mean, if he's just fussing or if he's really hungry. When he really gets to crying really hard, it has this quiver to it. Austin hates hearing it and wants to do whatever it takes to make it stop. I, on the other hand, find it a little amusing because Jacob just likes to be dramatic. :) It mostly happens during bath time which Jacob doesn't like. We're still doing sponge baths right now so maybe once we actually give him a bath where he can sit in water, it might be different!
Jacob's also getting stronger every day! He does great at holding his head up by himself at times and is able to do it longer and longer. We've also been doing tummy time, which he's awesome at! He does best at lifting his head when we have him propped up on the boppy or a pillow. He's even been able to lift and turn his head from one side to the other to follow our voices sometimes. When we put him on his tummy flat on the ground, he doesn't do the best at lifting his head, instead he tries to roll over! And I think he's going to do it before long! He can roll his top half to his side but he hasn't gotten his bottom half to do the same. But he's moving those legs so I know it won't be long! We've also been doing a lot of play time on a play mat that we have and he's starting to focus on some of the toys that are hanging in front of him. Or at least it looks like he is! He's also been really finding his voice these past couple of days. He likes to grunt and almost growl sometimes! But he's making other vocal noises as well and it's so fun to listen to! He also makes the best faces - both while he's awake and sleeping! I can't help but laugh at them sometimes, they're so adorable and funny!
In other non-Jacob news, we finally have a place to live! We found a cute and small two bedroom house in Reinbeck, Iowa which is just 10 minutes south of Dike. It's a very small town so we'll do most of our major shopping and stuff in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area but the price was right for a house! We're planning on moving the first weekend in August so if you're available, you can definitely come help us! :) Once we get over there and settled some, I'm going to start looking for jobs again. Although, if we could manage it, I'd love to just stay home with Jacob but we need the money! Austin starts school on August 15th with students starting the 21st. I think he's anxious and excited all at the same time!
Overall, I think we're falling into a great routine as a family. And we couldn't be happier. It has been a transition and we're still learning and still gaining patience every day. But we also couldn't be anymore in love with Jacob or with this new life. I love being the wife of an amazing father to my son and I love being a mother to the most perfect son! :)
Three years ago, Austin and I made the decision to move to Western Iowa when Austin accepted his first teaching position at Riverside. At the time, it was a huge decision for us. We were newlyweds, I had a great job and we were living in an area where we had been throughout our college years. We were comfortable where we were. In fact, you can go back and read old blog posts from that time to see how we came to the decision to move and what that all meant for us.
I'll admit right here that while there was some excitement over our move, especially for Austin to start his first teaching job, I was somewhat leery about moving to Western Iowa. After Austin had officially accepted the job, we came out here to start looking for apartments. I really wasn't impressed by what I was seeing and had some doubts about if this was the right decision or not. But we found an apartment we liked, in time I found a great job in Omaha and we started to make this our home.
Now if you were to ask me if I think we made the right decision three years ago, I would say absolutely. This is where we were meant to be at this time. We've developed some great friendships with people and have some very supportive communities that we belong to.
My co-workers at UNO became close friends very quickly and have made going to work for the past two years feel nothing like work. :) I've been blessed to work with such a great group of people and in an environment where we can have fun together both at the office and outside of work.
The staff, students and parents of the Riverside School District have also been of great support to us. They welcomed us into their community with open arms. Again, I say that we've been blessed to get to know many of them throughout different events and activities. We actually moved to Oakland after our first year out here and being a part of this district has been great. Austin has really been able to grow the vocal music program from the ground up over the past couple of years and that would not have been possible without the support of the community.
I would also say that we've been extremely blessed to be a part of the Grist Mill Theater community. After participating in the production of "Annie" last summer, we made some great new friends. This group of people is one of the best that you'll meet. Welcoming, supportive, fun. It was a great experience that left us with some great new friendships.
When we had family or friends come and visit us, many of them would say how great of a community we're apart of and how lucky we are to know such great people. And I would agree. Austin and I are both so grateful for all of these friendships and the support we've gotten over the past couple of years. It's meant a lot to us.
The one downside - and I mean it, there is literally just one - of living in Southwest Iowa is the distance to our families. It's a five hour drive to my parent's home in Minnesota and a four hour drive over to Austin's parents in Eastern Iowa. This has been hard for us as family means everything to both Austin and I. And I know I should feel lucky that we don't live any farther away than we already do! I think five hours is definitely my limit.
And so we've always said that at some point, we want to get closer to our families again. Especially when we decided we wanted to start a family. But deciding if now is the time to leave Riverside hasn't been an easy decision. We tried (unsuccessfully!) to convince our families to move here so we wouldn't have to leave! :) But in the end, we want to be closer. And with a baby on the way, Austin started applying for jobs.
I do want to say here that Austin wasn't going to apply for just any job. We weren't looking to leave Riverside because we didn't like it - nothing could be further from the truth. He was only going to apply for jobs that put us closer to family and that would potentially be in larger school districts. We were also looking for larger areas so that finding a job for me hopefully wouldn't be too difficult.
And there were some jobs that fit what we were looking for, mostly back in Eastern Iowa. He applied early and we didn't really think we'd hear back from any of them that quickly. Soon I had left for Minnesota for two weeks for work and that's when things started to happen.
On the Wednesday of the first week I was gone, I had a text from Austin saying that Dike-New Hartford had called him and wanted him to come interview Thursday - as in the next day! And while I thought "hm, that's really fast!", I was also excited. For those of you that don't know, DNH is located about 20 minutes west of Cedar Falls and Waterloo - where we lived before moving here. In fact, my old job at Kruger Seeds was actually located in Dike! So this is all very familiar territory for us. The Cedar Falls/Waterloo area, being just 30 minutes south of Wartburg, is about as close as we're able to get to halfway between our families. The drive is three hours up to my parents and just two hours down to Austin's.
So Thursday, Austin drove over to Dike for his interview and I anxiously awaited his call to hear how it went. Finally he called and told me all about it. He said he really like the people he met with, thought he could get along with them really well and thought the program would be a great program to come into. He also said that they were doing more interviews on Friday (the next day) but were hoping to have an offer out to someone by Friday evening. Well, in our experience, these things tend to get stretched out and so we weren't expecting to hear from them right away.
Well Friday comes and before the day is over, Austin is calling me telling me DNH has offered him the job. And that they want an answer by Monday. Well I'm not sure how Austin was feeling but I was a little bit shocked! That wasn't much time for us to consider everything and the worst part was that I was still in Minnesota while Austin was back here at home. Not being together to make such a big decision was frustrating.
We spent a lot of time on the phone that weekend, going over everything. The benefits of taking the job, the stress of moving with a newborn, me having to find a job, being closer to family, taking a look at the district and seeing if it's a place where we could stay for a long time... etc. It was a lot of back and forth. In the end, it's about putting it all in God's hands and letting Him guide us to the right decision. The only problem was that a weekend isn't a lot of time to try and listen for an answer.
In the end though, a decision was made. Austin called me on Monday and said he was going to accept the job. Looking at the position and the school district, he felt comfortable in saying that it feels like the right fit and a place where he can continue to grow professionally. And that's really all that matters. Everything else surrounding the move will fall into place in due time. I'm confident in saying that God will help us.
And so that's where we are today. We're moving back to the Cedar Valley. The place where we went to college, where we met, where we got married and where we started out together. We're both very comfortable in the area and that's helpful to us as we start to plan our move back. We'll be able to get involved in a new community with the school district and we're also looking forward to going back to a community that we were a part of - a community at Zion Lutheran Church. Austin directed the choir and the bell choir there for two years before we moved and we're both looking forward to being back to such a great church family.
We're excited. We're excited about the move, about the new possibilities and new adventures that will come our way. There's a lot to be nervous about it as well, but definitely a lot of excitement. But there's also a lot of sadness. Leaving this area is going to be hard. Maybe even harder than we're anticipating. There are going to be some hard good-byes. Some of which have already started.
Austin and I will both agree that we will treasure our time that we've been out here. We've grown as individuals, as a couple and professionally. I know that we were meant to be here for the last three years. We've learned a lot and done a lot. We've met some amazing people. It's been a great experience.
But now it's time we make that next step. We're starting a family. We're ready to start settling down in a place. We're ready for new adventures. And there are sure to be some adventures in our future.
