With the exception of taking long walks around the neighborhood on Saturday to get labor moving I hadn’t been out of the house since then.  So Monday I was feeling a bit cooped up.  We decided that it was the perfect time for an outing and we still needed pumpkins for the kids to carve before Halloween.  I was quickly reminded about how scary it is to put your precious new baby in a moving car.  I resisted the urge to yell at all the crazy, wreckless drivers that were going over 30 mph.  You know, even though I really wanted to yell “Don’t you know I have a newborn in this car?!” out the window in crazy new mom […]

I am completely and totally in love with this sweet little face.  Our first night together I let his completely exhausted daddy sleep while I road the waves of adrenaline and hormones running through my system.  I snuggled and cuddled my new little man doing skin to skin to keep his temps up.  It was perfect.  I knew when the sun came up that I’d have a whole lot of people to share him with.  And don’t you know, my usual after noon riser, Ty, was first in line, walking through my bedroom door at 8 am calling dibs.  I was confused and thought for sure my clock must be wrong to see him up so early!  He was followed […]

Jonah Reid Stradtner was born at home in the water on a Saturday evening.  Just a few days shy of 42 weeks pregnant, he arrived in his own time and in his own way.  It was intense, he was born with his hand next to his face, and insanely fast, yet beautiful.  He weighed in at 7 lbs. 6 oz. and 21 inches long.  He has the cutest squishy face, he still loves his hand up next to his head, even on the outside, and he has has the best quivering lip I’ve ever seen.

My husband is amazing.  He never once waivered in his confidence in my ability to do this at home, unmedicated, for the first time.  He believed […]

My dear friend Sara of Alexander and The Kid Photography was kind enough to take a few maternity photos for us.  I really regretted not getting photos taken when I was pregnant with Jude.  I have one.  And as hard as it is for me to get in front of the camera and on the other side of the lens, especially with a growing and changing body, I’m so glad we did this.  Thank you, Sara, for the beautiful memories.

ps – Ty isn’t mysteriously missing from these photos.  This was an early morning session and I’m sure you can imagine early mornings and 15 year old boys don’t mix […]

I decided to sort through and search for some photos of my kids at their births today.  Man, each feels like yesterday but it simply couldn’t have been.

I have limited photos of Ty thanks to hurricane katrina, but this has always been my favorite.  Forgive the weird frame and text, this is the only digital version I have on my computer.  His birth was amazing and SO much fun.

And Taryn, oh Ms. Taryn.  She told us a lot about herself on the day she was born.  Slow to warm and spunky….23.5 hours of labor.  I remember Ty being so excited.  He had waited 8 years for a sibling and it was […]