Crazy Blessed

Jacob Patterson Offringa

January 16, 2010 7 lbs 2 oz 2010

Yay, he's finally here! What a blessing children are! Darrin, Jacob and I are home and trying to get settled into normal life. Jake's has been a pretty easy baby so far. He hardly cries or fusses. He just eats, poops and sleeps. Although, he does have his nigths and days mixed up a bit. But overall, he's been really good! I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that he's our second baby (so we're much more at ease with him) and another big portion is I think his personality is much more like Darrin's -- relaxed and laid back. Let's just hope it stays this way!!! :)

As most of you know - I had a planned c-section in order to deliver Jacob. I have to say - that it was amazing! It was so calm and relaxed. In the operating room, Darrin, myself, the nurses and the doctors were all just chatting and laughing about random topics. Kind of weird considering they were cutting me open and taking out our child - but really cool as well. A very neat part of the surgery is when they delivered Jake, the nurses dropped the drape that covered my stomach so I could actually watch Jake being pulled out. It was an amazing experience and I recommend anyone that has the opportunity to do that -- to take full advantage! My recovery has been pretty good, much better than my recovery from my last c-section. I thought that I recovered pretty well with Rylee's birth - but this is even better! The only glitch I have run into is my incision isn't healing as perfectly as we would want and I have to be extra careful at how much I do. But besides that - I'm feeling pretty good! I still won't be able to resume normal activities (drive or lift Rylee) for several weeks - but the better patient I am now, the quicker I'll be able to jump back into being a full time mommy! It's been tough not being able to pick her up or play with her like I used to and it's certainly taking a toll on me. I miss rolling around with her, playing on the floor or picking her up as we dance to some music. I know I'll be able to do all that again soon - but for now, it's killing me.

Rylee is doing REALLY well with all these new changes. We were nervous before Jake's birth - wondering how she'd do with a new baby brother. Would she be jealous? Angry? Excited? Territorial? There were so many questions that couldn't possibly be answered until Jacob was actually here. But we're happy to report that she's done amazingly well. Definitely surpassed our expectations. She loves to sit on Daddy's lap and hold Jake on hers. She constantly tries to kiss him, tickle his toes, give him a blanket or even her teddy bear. It's really cute. She hates it when he cries and starts to get really upset when he does - saying "it ok" to him (I think she's trying to convince herself of that). It's pretty adorable. Of course, she's still a toddler and doesn't understand being "gentle" or anything like that -- but overall, she's doing really great! Just thank the Lord that babies are resilient and won't break! God sure knew what He was doing!!

Here's a couple videos of Rylee and Jacob meeting for the first time -- it's precious!

So... that's about our life right now. Darrin's off until February 7th, goes back to work for 2 weeks and then is off for 2 more weeks. So it's nice that he has so much time here at home with us. He helps out SO much and I really don't know what I would do without him. Although, he's really missing being able to go to work. Family time is great, but....let's just say he wasn't meant to be a stay at home dad! He's already getting pretty antsy to get back on the streets and chase bad guys again!! :)

We hope this post finds you all well! Thanks for all your love and support!