I have a son. Wow, that sentence blows my mind. God has blessed Christian and I with this amazing little man. And I am in awe of God's glory and majesty when I look at him. This new phase of our lives is a whirl wind. And I don't want to forget any of part of Eli growing up. Today Eli is 3 weeks old, and that doesn't seem right. So, starting this week I am going to record my son's changes, growth and beauty. I love this little person with my entire being, and I want everyone to know what an amazing baby he is and I want to document the man he will become.

First, this is how he got here:

Eli was due March 29th. So when that date came and went (which is the worst. It really did hurt my feelings when people would make comments about how long I had been pregnant, next time I will not let that get to me) My doctor, Dr. Andrews, the same Dr. that delivered Amelia and James, was going out of town for Easter and wanted to induce Eli Tuesday, 4/3. After prayer and consideration Christian and I did not have a peace about inducing Eli. So, we opted to take a chance that Eli would wait until Dr. Andrews got back,... he did not wait.

Contractions started Wednesday 4/4 night at 11:45 PM. Every 7-10 minutes this incredible pain took over my body. Our birthing class said not to go to the hospital until your contractions are 5 minutes apart for 1 hour. All night my contractions did not get closer than 7 minutes apart. When Christian woke up to go to work at 6, I told him that I had been up all night with contractions - that's right, no sleep for me. He called into work, and we started timing them together. But they were so sporadic. This was getting frustrating. The pain was horrible, and I felt so unsure that this was labor because my contractions weren't getting regular. To distract us, mom and dad took us to lunch. I couldn't eat, but it was good to get out of the house. After lunch Christian and I went with mom to get Amelia and James from school. Still, the contractions were all over the board... at this point 5 to 15 minutes apart, which was very discouraging. We dropped Amelia off at piano and went to the mall for me to walk and to get an Easter suit for James.

While walking the mall, God placed in our path our pastor, Dale Waltman. Dale does not spend his time walking the mall, so that we ran into him was God's design. When we told Dale that I was having contractions and hopefully this was it, he prayed with us and we felt God's presence and peace in that Dillards.

After we had picked up James' suit it was his turn to go to piano. We picked up Amelia and headed over to J's Bakery for the only thing that can make contractions bearable... Smiley Face Cookies and Petit fours. But then it got real. While licking the chocolate eye off of the cookie, contractions sped up. I am talking 2 minutes apart, and insane pain. I couldn't do anything but cry. We went and picked up James and then the family dropped Christian and I off at our house. By the time we got to our house my contractions were back to 5 to 15 minutes apart. We were still waiting for them to be 5 minutes apart for one hour. But I couldn't wait anymore. This pain was crazy and had been going on for more that 16 hours.

We packed up and headed to the hospital. When we got there, we left all our stuff in the car in case they turned us away. After we got settled in, they told us we were only 2 cm dialated. I wanted to cry. I had been 2 cm for the last 4 weeks. I thought Beth, our l&d nurse, would send us home. Instead she told us to walk to hospital for 1 hour and see if anything changed. I had little faith, I had been walking all day,... and still 2 cm!!

With my mom, dad, Amelia, James and my beloved Christian, I walked the halls. This was the longest hour of my life. The contractions felt unreal. I do not know what I would have done with out Christian. He was my rock. When the contractions came he held me up when I couldn't hold myself.

After the hour it was time to see what the verdict was... 4 cm = we were in!! Beth (my amazing nurse) ordered the epidural at 10 pm,... sweet relief! After 24 hours of this pain it was going to come to an end! The anesthesiologist came just before midnight, and with Christian and Beth praying and holding me in place, I got the epidural. It hurt. It felt like fire being inserted into my spine. But it was brief. When the burning dissipated the numbness came in about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, my contractions are still anywhere from 2 to 15 minutes apart!

With those lousy contractions behind me, and 5 cm dialated, I was able to sleep. Just after midnight, after being up since Tuesday, I could sleep. Then, at 5 AM I woke up to Eli kicking me... hmm... I thought I wasn't suppose to feel anything with the epidural? After calling in Beth and the anesthesiologist turns out I had only come unplugged. They plugged me back in and the numbness was back. At this point I was 7 cm dialiated, and the contractions still random. And in case you don't know, when you are actually delivering the baby you push when you are having a contraction. And if your contractions are anywhere from 2 to 15 minutes apart you can't push effectively. Why were my contractions so random? Oxytocin. My body was not producing enough oxytocin. So at 6 AM they popped some oxytocin into my system, lets get this party started.

With Dr. Andrews being out of town, the midwife of the practice was on call, Jenny Allen. And wow, she was amazing. It was such a blessing to hear that my dear friend Joyelle had texted her that morning, and Jenny Allen was looking forward to meeting me. Jenny was the best. She encouraged and coached me through the entire labor. And when Eli passed meconium in the womb, and came out with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck twice - Jenny took complete control of the situation in a way that did not scare me but made me feel informed. I would use Jenny Allen for all my babies (that's right I'd do it again) in a heartbeat. Her bedside manor was genuine and friendly. So after 1.5 hours of pushing, James Elijah Blue Voelkel was born at 10:15 AM Friday April 6th

So, this is my son, Eli, when we brought him home from the hospital.

Isn't he a doll?

Big milestone this week - not this week, but at his first Dr. appointment 5 days after he was born, he lifted his head for the Dr. (We are using Dr Mary Lou O'Grady and I love her already) Mary Lou was very impressed. His umbilical cord has fallen off as well! Also, he gained all his weight back by his first appointment too! We are proud parents.

First outing - Eli's first outing was to Target with mommy and daddy. After Target we met Gma at Applebees for lunch. And he was perfect the entire trip.

Favorite part of this week - When daddy comes home. Eli loves to go for walks in our neighborhood when Christian gets home. We just bought a jogging stroller, so hopefully I will heal fast and we can start going for family jogs.

What I'm looking forward to next week - Next week we are dreading his circumcision. Our lactation specialist suggested putting off circumcision until after breastfeeding has been established... well breastfeeding is going good,... but now Eli has to get snipped. :-( And I am absolutely dreading it... Eli is getting it done the "old fashion" way... the doctor said to bring something that we wouldn't mind getting blood on... that is horrifying.

My least favorite part of the week - Eli was not a fan of bath time, it was the first time that he screamed... bloody murder scream. But at the next bath time we pulled out our space heater and put it up on the counter near Eli, and the next bath Eli was great. He was just cold.

How I am sleeping through the night - We are using the Baby Wise method, and Eli is doing great. I am so proud of my little man,.. last night we put him down for the night at 10:30 (we had stayed late at my parents house, usually we put him down at 8 and wake him up around 10 to eat) and Eli woke up at 3, back down at 3:30 and up again around 6:30

How I'm eating - My son is an eater. He eats for 30-45 minutes at a time, every 2.5 hours. I am starting to wonder if he is just needing something to suck on.... is it time for a pacifier?

Visitors - We have had so many family and friends come to see our little man. Right now my mother-in-law is here with us, and she is a huge help. She is really taking good care of us, I don't know what we are going to do when she goes home,.. the biggest and best thing that she does for me is when Eli wakes up at 6 or 7 I get to pass him off to Susan, and sleep till 9! Woo hoo!!

Special thank you to all the sweet women of my church. I feel so much love and support from our church family. These ladies have taken me under their wing and have encouraged me in motherhood. Knowing that these women are here for me to call when I need them, means so much to me. They have provided meals for us and listening ears. I love them.

And thank you to all my friends for their patience with me. If I haven't been good at calling and keeping in touch these last few weeks, I'm sorry. I love you all so much, and I promise to make more of an effort. because your friendships are all so important to me.

My confession:
Hormones are real. These first weeks (which I am still in) I like to cry. I cry because I'm happy, I cry because I miss Christian when he had to go back to work, I cry because my son is perfect, I cry because I'm anxious, I cry because I'm tired. But this week has been Jergens (tear-free)

This blog is from:

The Domestic Mama & The Village Cook

cookie dough truffles

Oh baby.
Oh yes.
You can have your dough and eat it too. No raw eggs here.
WOOOOOO~HOOOOO! (spell-check hates it when I put my words in there)
So, these are no-bake, addictive and may even help you win friends and influence people, rumor has it.
It makes a lot, so be sure and share. My girlfriend said if you go to the fire station with cookies they will let your kid check out the fire truck. I might go do that with these. Fire trucks are cool.

I told you it makes a lot. There was still dough after this batch.

You don’t have to dip them, either. Honestly dipping is a pain in the booty. I am not a huge fan of dipping things. This was much easier. Yay for being lazy!

But, I did dip some, too…. had to do something with all that chocolate. I know you understand.
To make these you will need: (recipe adapted from one I saw online… I need to get the link asap)
[print_this]
Cookie dough truffles
1/2 cup softened salted butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 (14oz) can of sweetened condensed milk
2 1/4 c flout * this is a word spell-check always gets me back with{grr} flour is a great substitute for flout-whatever flout is. Hmmm!
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
So easy:
combine (in a bowl,) the butter, sugar,vanilla,and sweetened condensed milk. Add the flour and chocolate chips.
Now, you may be able to form this into balls at this point. I however, could not- I think it’s the summertime in Florida problem. That’s why we have refrigerators. Chill your dough if you need to. Maybe a half hour. Roll into walnut sized balls. Place balls in the freezer for 2hrs.
Melt 12 oz chocolate chips with 1 tbs shortening or butter. To melt, place in a microwave at 25 second intervals, stirring between each. Be careful- overheated chocolate can seize up. Just get it till it’s starting to melt and stir away, the chocolate will continue to melt and smooth out. My little tip. I have ruined a lot of chocolate in my days.
Now, you can dip the balls using a spoon- or fill pastry bags with the melted chocolate and drizzle. You don’t have pastry bags? Okay, in this instance a plastic bag should work. But, next time you see some of those disposable pastry bags…get them. They are so worth it.

So, drizzle or dip and store these babies in the fridge. Unless you live in an igloo. But- I don’t think igloos have internet, do they? I have never seen an igloo in real life. Do they still exist? Hmmm… I need to google that.