Leo Dennis Birke : 1 month

-You are super gassy! Just like your big brother Lincoln :-)

-You love bath time

-You hate being in the carseat

-You love to be held

-You want to eat...all day, every day

-You are 21 inches long and weigh 7 lbs 13 ounces

-You like to party all night long...still up at least every 2 hours.

-You went from preemie clothes to newborn this month and are still wearing newborn diapers.

-You have beautiful brown hair!

-Your eyes are blue

-You love watching your big brother Lincoln

-You have a scowl on your face 99.9% of the time!

We love you so much Leo Dennis Birke!

and if not, He is still good

We started trying to grow our family about three years ago. Seeing as how it took us about a month to get pregnant with Lincoln, we didn't think we would have much trouble. It wasn't until we had been trying for over two years and had lost two precious babies that we knew something was wrong. In January my OBGYN recommended I see a Reproductive Endocrinologist in Louisville, Dr. Archer. She quickly diagnosed me with hypothyroid and polycystic ovarian syndrome. I was put on several oral medications--one for my thyroid, one fertility med to help me ovulate, and one to lower certain hormones in my body. I also had to give myself shots in the abdomen, which was horrible. Five months into my fertility treatments, we became pregnant again and almost a week after finding out, we lost our baby. My doctor recommended that I have a HSG test, where they inject dye into your tubes to make sure that they're not clogged, and sometimes while pushing the dye through, your tubes can become unclogged. I did the HSG, and was told this was the last month I could be on the fertility meds because my body had become tolerant to them and I was on the maximum dose that could be ordered. We had pretty much just given up.

We had planned a vacation to Florida and the day before we left, I was due to take a pregnancy test. We were both shocked, overjoyed, and terrified when it showed a positive result. And here we are 18 weeks pregnant with a baby boy who is healthy and beautiful. Since we went through this journey of infertility and loss, we have come in contact with so many other couples who are either going through the same thing or have in the past. That being said, the only reason I feel the need to share this is because we want to give God the glory and that through our journey we might encourage someone else.

Although this is by far the hardest thing I've ever been through, and will continue to go through probably for the rest of my life, I KNOW the only way I have gotten through it, and will continue to is because of God. He has carried me and given me strength when I felt like I couldn't even breathe, let alone get out of bed. I know that He sees me and feels my hurt. I know that His ways are higher than my ways, even when I don't understand. I know that even when He chooses to not answer my prayer, He is good and He knows what is best.

I cannot thank God enough for blessing us with Lincoln and the baby growing in my belly. I thank Him for sending me to a wonderful doctor, who went above and beyond to help us conceive. I thank Him for the amazing friends He placed in my life to encourage us and lift us up when we were at our lowest. I thank Him that He made a way for Chris and I to be with ALL of our babies someday. I thank Him, I thank Him, I thank Him.

Meet our precious Leo Birke ...

 

Here we go again!!

Helllllloo Blogworld! I don't even know where to begin so excuse me if this is scattered!

-We sold our house, bought land, and are living with my momma until we build!

-I started working in the Nursery/Postpartum Unit at Floyd in June. I love it! I go to deliveries, measure and weigh babies, give them their first baths, swaddle them up and snuggle them, and take care of their momma's after delivery. I am in my dream job! Thank you, God! When I first accepted the position, it was night shift ... which was soo hard. I was working at night, homeschooling during the day, and napping when I could. It was BAD. I prayed that a day position would open and it did! I switched to days a couple weeks ago and I feel like a new woman!

-In case you missed this in the previous paragraph, we decided to homeschool Lincoln this year. It was a huge decision, but we see now it was for the best! Lincoln is thriving! It's like something just clicked for him. He is loving it and is actually excited for school...and I am loving the special times we are having just the two of us. We are using My Father's World Curriculum which has made my life a LOT easier and we love how the focus of everything is on (you guessed it) --our Father! We have no idea how long we will homeschool, but we do know that it's what God has called us to do for now.

-After three long years of trying, we are so excited to say we are pregnant! I am about four months along. Baby Birke is due in April and we could not be more thrilled! We would so appreciate your prayers for us and for baby. It has been a long journey to get here, but that's a whole other blog post.

 

-Chris is still at CIC. Our church has rented out the old karate building in Charlestown and we will be having church services every Saturday in the Pleasant Ridge Community starting November 1! Very excited about this :-)

-Rufus is 10 1/2 years old! Little Rufus isn't doing so great. He formed cataracts in both of his eyes, which turned to glaucoma. Now one of his eyes is bulging and blood red. He has went blind in both eyes. His vet recommends that we remove his eyes, but we just can't bring ourselves to do that. I foresee some sad times ahead for our family with poor little Roo.

That's the very condensed version. I will be keeping you updated on Birke life :-)

Come on, tooth fairy!!

still alive

Yes, we are still alive! Lots has happened since I last updated the blog...so here is my best attempt at trying to recap the last four months. Eek! Brace yourself for picture overload!

Chris is still working at CIC. I'm really excited about our church and what God is doing there. I know I've said this before but we have been blessed with some amazing friends through church that we consider family now. My mom has started doing a women's breakfast each month that is open to women from other churches as well. If you're looking for a way to connect with other Christian women in the community, we would love to have you!

I'm still working at Floyd. I can't believe I've been there almost 8 months! Lincoln is growing and changing so much. He is the funniest, most tender hearted, hyper, smart, TALL four year old ever! He needs his own blog post :-)

We took our first vacation to Disney World as a family in October! Fun isn't even the word to describe it. It was ahhhmazzzing! Lincoln was at the perfect age. The weather was perfect. Didn't rain once! Lincoln was super excited to meet characters. He kept saying, "I met the REAL Goofy! I met the REAL Mickey Mouse!"

We ate at a restaurant called Chefs de France and it was delicious! The best part though was when our waiter brought Remy from Ratatouille out to meet Lincoln! 

This picture of Lincoln pretty much sums up the excitement he had all week! :-)

Since we went to Disney the week before Halloween, we decided to take Lincoln to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and Parade. It was so worth it! There were tons of character there. The parade was awesome! The characters were all dancing and throwing candy. Another bonus to going to the Halloween Party was they extended the park hours and had candy stations set up all over the place. Lincoln LOVED it! He was the cutest pirate ever :-)

The Headless Horseman!

We saw this while we were in Disney and it made us all smile. 

We were sad when the vacation was over....we can't wait to go back! In other news, Lincoln had his Christmas program at school. It was adorable! I can't say enough good things about Lincoln's preschool, Lafayette Academy. It was so precious to see Lincoln and his classmates singing about the real reason for Christmas ... JESUS! Of course, they did sing a few songs about reindeer and jingle bells that were pretty stinkin cute too.

We had a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. We are so blessed! I cannot wait to see what God has in store for everyone this year.

wordless wednesday

 

we love fall

We LOVE Fall. The cool weather, pumpkin spice lattes, bonfires, yummy fall food, cozy clothes, pumpkin carving, Halloween, scary movies ... we love it all!

 

My mom had been collecting a wood pile for a long time, and when it finally cooled off we decided to light it up! Lincoln was super excited to be able to roast his own marshmallows and hot dog.

 

 

This is our favorite picture of the night! Mom was so ready to roast her hot dog, but the fire was still too crazy. She was relentless! I think she might have singed some hairs that night :-)

We were hungry!

 





 

We've been eating lots of fall food! We've had pumpkin cake, pumpkin shaped sugar cookies, stew, apple cider pork tenderloin, pumpkin pie, chili, and it's not even October! Lincoln helped Nini make a pumpkin pie the other day, and it was delicious!



 

Hope you all are enjoying this season as much as we are!

when did this happen?

Our baby isn't a baby anymore. Our precious Lincoln had his first day of school this week. First day of school...ever! I woke him up by singing the song my mom sang to me on the first day of school every year: "School day, school day, good ol' golden rule day ... " Do you all know that song or is this just a weird family thing?

Lincoln ate breakfast and then we went outside for some pictures. Chris buckled him into his seat and I felt the lump in my throat ... but I held it back! I was twenty minutes early to pick him up, so I just waited in the car. I couldn't go in twenty minutes early and come across as the lunatic  I truly am!

Lincoln gave me the longest sweetest hug when I finally did go in. I took him to lunch and he told me all about his day. He really likes his teacher and said he made new friends. He had a great first day of school :-)