Hi blog readers! In celebration of the nine-year anniversary of Nashville Wife, I want to take a few minutes to share something with you that is very important to me. That is my faith in Jesus. My testimony in a nutshell is that I began following the Lord in my later elementary years. When I was in 4th grade, my family started going to church, and it was there that I began to understand what it means to live my life for Jesus. I am eternally grateful to the church’s children’s ministry director, youth pastors, and volunteers who loved Jesus and loved kids. They were dedicated to following God ..read more

When I was growing up, going out to eat was a huge treat because it was something my family rarely ever did. I’m sure I could count on one hand the number of times we went out for dinner before I was ten years old, and that is not an exaggeration. We hardly even went out to eat on vacation. There was, however, a period of a few years when my dad did a lot of traveling, and when he was gone for several days at a time, my brother and I could sometimes expect a meal at Subway. This was very exciting for us. To this day, I still enjoy Subway because it seemed so magical when I was a kid. Every onc ..read more

Thank you for submitting questions on my recent post. It’s always fun to write out thoughtful responses. Here is my first round of the Q &A: How many kids do you want? That’s a good question, but we don’t yet know the answer. We are planning to wait and see. Right now, we are very happy with three, so we might just stick with that, but we also might decide to have another in the future. Has going through pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and raising kids plus your pregnancy losses changed that number? My pregnancies have been difficult, so that will definitely be something we consider when we ..read more

Hello blog readers! Sorry we have been MIA recently. Life with a baby is always busy, but we are really enjoying the dynamic of having three children. It has been a lot of fun to see them interact. Like her brothers, Little Lady struggled with jaundice as a newborn. Instead of being readmitted to the hospital for treatment, we were able to find a medical supply company that had a blue light blanket available for rent. Little Lady’s doctor prescribed it before her levels went high enough to require hospitalization, so we were able to keep her at home. Her doctor closely monitored her bilirubin ..read more

We are settling into life with three children and enjoying this stage. Our daughter (what do you think of the nickname Little Lady?) was our smallest baby. She was born at 39 weeks and weighed 7 lbs 5 oz. Our first son, Little Buddy, arrived very close to his due date and weighed 8 lbs 12 oz. Our second son, Littlest Buddy, was 8 lbs 13 oz but was about a week and a half early. If he had been born on his due date, he could have easily been over 9 lbs. With that information in mind, I was nervous that our daughter would be even bigger. My midwife told me that subsequent children are often bigge ..read more

When we went down to Gulf Shores, Alabama, last fall, we visited a festival. It was your typical festival, complete with music, food, and craft booths. But one booth was selling something that didn’t seem like the type of thing you would typically see at a festival (or anywhere, for that matter). Framed taxidermy bats. I mean, who would buy one of those? The tent also had other framed decorations, like snake skins, beetles, moths, and animal skulls. I got out of there as quickly as I could. Have any of you seen that kind of thing for sale? Or do you happen to know anyone who decorates their h ..read more

If you enjoyed the first segment of our daughter’s birth story, here is part two… At the four-hour mark, my contractions were becoming extremely painful. I tried standing while holding onto something to see if that would provide any relief, but it only made the pain more overwhelming. I also attempted the age-old mooing like a cow trick, but that did nothing. During contractions, I couldn’t handle anyone touching me (other than squeezing Mr. Handsome’s hand very tightly). The nurse told me that women describe naturally occurring labor as extremely intense cramps, while they describe induction ..read more

From Mr. Handsome: For those who are looking for ideas to entertain kids that are both fun and educational, making a sun compass is perfect. Apparently the Vikings used them for navigation, so you can add in a history lesson as well. Basically you put a 2-3 foot stake in the ground on a sunny day and put a rock on the ground where the tip of the shadow from the stake lands. Mark this spot four different times at 15 minute intervals. If you then connect those dots, that gives you the east and west direction. Draw a line perpendicular to those dots moving away from the stake, and that points no ..read more

As we shared a few days ago, our third child is here, and we are thrilled. My last couple months of pregnancy really took a toll on my body, but within a few hours of delivering the baby, I was feeling much better physically than I had in a long time. She was born at 39 weeks and weighed just over 7 lbs. My boys (the second arrived a few days before 39 weeks and the first came just before his due date) were both close to 9 lbs, so this delivery was much easier. I was mentally prepared for a larger baby, as my provider had told me that while girls can be smaller, that is not true for all women ..read more

We wanted to hop on here to announce the arrival of our baby girl! We look forward to sharing more details in the coming days, but for now we are focusing on enjoying the newborn snuggles and adjusting to life as a family of five. I am thankful to be getting more sleep than I was in my third trimester of pregnancy, when discomfort was causing me to wake up almost every hour. Even with nighttime feedings, I feel more refreshed because I am able to sleep longer stretches. The post Baby Girl is Here appeared first on Nashville Wife ..read more