Elliott: One Month

We can hardly believe it, but Elliott is one month old already! In similar fashion to my pregnancy updates, I want to update once a month on Elliott to keep track of how he grows and changes. I think the categories will probably change each month to suite his needs, but we'll start with the basics: Eating, Sleeping and Likes & Dislikes

When You Hear God Wrong And Get Mastitis

Almost a year ago our lead pastor and lead associate pastor went to Southland Church in Steinbach Manitoba for a weekend long retreat. They both came back and said that they will look back on that weekend as a turning point for them. To understand how impactful that statement was on me would mean I would need to explain how much I respect both of these men and their individual walks with God. Frankly we don't have time for that, so just take my word for it- that's a pretty big statement. Right away I wanted to go. I told Chris immediately- if there was a way for me to attend a weekend like they did, I wanted to be there.

A few months later our church sent the rest of the pastors and a couple other staff members to the same retreat. I knew I had a chance to go if I paid my own way, but we had just found out I was pregnant, and I was sick all the time, as well as feeling nervous about our budget once baby arrived. Spending $400 on a plane ticket to Steinbach didn't feel wise. So, as much as it broke my heart I stayed home. Thankfully there was already talk of us hosting the same retreat (with the pastor from Southland!) at our own church in the future. I was so excited! ....Until I heard the date was set for March 28 & 29th.

My due date was March 27th.

Elliott's Birth Story

I'll start by saying that I fully expected to go past my due date. I very intentionally told myself over and over that pregnancy was 42 weeks long, and anything before that was a bonus. I know way too many mamas that got really antsy when they didn't deliver by their due date and I didn't want to feel that way. I think I legitimately convinced myself, because when I started having contractions 8 days before my due date I certainly was surprised!!  

Wednesday turned out to be a very busy day for me. I joined a mom's group that meets on Wednesdays and they were kind enough to let me in before baby was born! So Wednesday morning I went to MOPS for the first time. The group is held at the church I attend and work(ed) at so there were many familiar faces, and I met a few new ladies as well. It was a lovely time! After staying late to visit a little I didn't have a lot of time to get home, make and eat lunch and get out the door- I had a massage booked for 2 pm. Somehow I did have enough time to wipe out the oven that I had turned on self clean the day before. Aaahh... sparkly oven.