our mvp is one...and then some

Elijah is one year, two months, three weeks, and five days…probably should’ve wrote this yesterday. I was finally able to get some pictures taken by my great friend Michelle Travis last week. I thought I would post them along with some fun facts about him being one. But let me just say. I LOVE this kid. Sure I love it when he goes to Nonnie & Papa’s or Mawmaw & PopPop’s for the weekend…but I LOVE it when he comes home. I love to hear him jabber because he has so much to say. Or watch him spin in circles because he has so much energy to get out. Watching him transform into a toddler is not easy…we all wish they can be babies longer or that time would slow down. Right now I am just so thankful that I get to witness this transformation. And that God is letting me raise this really cool kid.

Five favorite things to do:
1. play chase…or as we like to call it “I’m gonna get you”
2. watch Fresh Beat Band…works EVERY TIME
3. play in his room with the door shut…mommy’s not fond of this one
4. talk on the phone to daddy, nonnie, papa…anyone that would call
5. swing outside…or do anything outside

Three things I always know he’ll eat:
Elijah is a PICKY eater and sometimes he will not eat much of anything. Sometimes he will eat something on Monday and on Tuesday it goes RIGHT on the floor.
1. sweet peas…yuck I say
2. banana’s
3. ritz crackers

Two things that will make him laugh:
1. tickle him…anywhere…he is so ticklish
2. fall down…or get hurt and make an “ow” noise…

One thing he says the most:
Who can guess it? If you spend anytime with Elijah you will hear this over and over. He says other words but this one was his first and definitely his favorite.
1. Dad

Ma-ma-ma-ma

In honor of Mother’s Day this past weekend I want to blog about being me being a mother. It is fun and challenging. The fun is limitless. Elijah is at such a fun age. He is so sweet and loves giving kisses! He doesn’t give them away freely or every time you ask but he will get in these moods and he will just kiss over and over again. Or sometimes he will be walking by and just come and kiss me on the leg and keep on walking. Awesome moments. But oh is it challenging and I have only been doing it a little over a year. The challenge of disciplining a toddler makes getting up at 3 and 6 am seem easy. When should I be firm? When should I show grace? I have a feeling I will be praying this prayer the rest of my life.

I am thankful that I am not doing it alone though. I have a great family that is invested in our child. And parenting with Timmy is probably my favorite part of it. This is not to say that we always see eye to eye and that I am never a brat to him. Because sometimes we don’t and many times I am. It is kind of funny…when Elijah was first born the biggest adjustment for me was no longer just being me and Timmy. He is my love. My first love and I didn’t want anything to come in between that. But Elijah has not one time come in between us but brought us closer together. And Timmy and Elijah both make me want to draw closer to the TRUE LOVE, Christ.

I am also thankful for some wonderful mother friends. Not just because they are amazing photographers and take great pics of my kid. Or because it’s fun to watch the kids play together. But because at a time in your life when you need it they stop by your house with a pretty bracelet to say “happy mother’s day…what a wonderful opportunity we have to train up Godly children.” Or another that will say, “I had to come to a point where I wanted God more than this baby.” I don’t know how I acquired such friends but I am thankful. They make me a better mother.

Babydos is the size of a sweet pea now and has a beating heart…and we look forward to hearing it at our first doctor’s appointment a week from today. I am thankful that God is using my body to grow this baby but it does take something out of me. The better part of this week I have felt somewhat nauseated and sick and EXHAUSTED. But it is definitely worth it.

a new beginning...again

I am terrible at blogging. The last time I blogged Elijah was 6 months old and the time before that when I found out he was a HE. But I want to do better. I am not really good with words. I won’t have cute catchy titles. I may or may not be consistent. But I do have lots of thoughts…many of which I will type and then quickly backspace for fear of people realizing HOW CRAZY I REALLY AM.

So here I am. My first post for the new baby. I have LOTS of thoughts on this. I am going to start by answering some questions that SOME people may have. Or maybe no one REALLY cares about the details of my life (besides my parents who know them anyway) and that is alright too…blogging will be therapeutic.

Were we trying to have another baby?

Yes. You make think we are crazy. But we want as many kids as God will give us….however He decides to give them to us. Timmy was ready for me to get pregnant again about a month after Elijah was born. I don’t even remember the month of Elijah was born. Over time (many months later) we thought you know what if it happens “accidentally on purpose” then that’s fine…but I didn’t want to say “YES, we are trying.” It happened with Elijah so easily. Well, it turned out we had to be a little more intentional this time…I will spare you all the details (even this might be too much). But here we are against all odds…and if you’ve ever studied procreation or the human body then you know it’s against ALL odds…with a baby that God is knitting together in my womb.

How far along am I?

My rough guestimate is about 5 weeks which will make this babies due date Dec 30, 2011. However, I am not scheduled for a dr’s visit for three more weeks so until then it is very much a guess.

How do I feel?

Over the last few days I have experienced a gamut of emotion. I took the first pregnancy test on Sunday (I know it was SOON but I was anxious). Well it was negative and I was DISAPPOINTED. So on Tuesday Timmy insisted I take another one. I was pretty NERVOUS and hesitant but I did and it came out positive. I was pretty SHOCKED…not shocked like I wasn’t expecting it but shocked like ‘can this really be true?!” I was HAPPY also. I wanted to wait and tell our family in like a special way…maybe Mother’s Day or something. Timmy, on the other hand, can never wait that long. He was the same way with Elijah…very excited and ready to tell right away. So we immediately made the calls. My favorite response from my sister… “Gosh. How many kids are you gonna have?” or “is it a boy or a girl?” “I am not sure, Austynne, the stick you pee on doesn’t tell you that.” But still most of Tuesday evening it was surreal. Wednesday morning I saw Elijah sleeping in his crib…he still looks so little. And I started thinking about how he is not going to understand why this new person is getting so much attention from his parents…and it made me SAD. Not the regret kind of sad but the looking over at my baby who just grew up into a big brother kind of sad. It is so hard to explain. Luckily for me it seems parents of multiple children have understood my heart. It is just this…when life changes it can be so happy and exciting but there is still some grief for the life leaving behind. Starting a new chapter is still closing an old one. And for every new chapter in my life (hs grad, marriage, birth of Elijah, moving, etc.) I have somewhat mourned the life that was. But a few hours later I was going thru old pictures and I came across the very first picture I took of Elijah. I took it when they first brought him to my room (on the way to the NICU). When I saw the picture my heart smiled with EXCITEMENT.












I can’t believe we get to do this again.

We are so blessed and undeserving.

Elijah's half birthday

In honor of Elijah’s half birthday tomorrow I thought this would be a good time to blog. Never mind that it has been like 10 months since I have. These past 6 months have flown by and we have loved every minute…well most minutes! Elijah is a great little man and a wonderful addition to our family. Some of his favorite things are bath time, bouncing in his jumperoo, his best friend Pooh Bear, playing keep away with the burp rag, talking with Daddy, and singing with mommy. He is very ticklish pretty much everywhere and loves to laugh out loud. He also loves playing with Nonnie, PaPa, Mawmaw, Pop Pop, Uncle Spike, Aunt Casey, Aunt Awesome, Uncle Jake, and Cousin Courtney. He also loves his nursery friends from CBC and misses them greatly as well as his friends at our new church. He loves lights and music. One of our favorite things is when he first sees us in the morning and smiles from ear to ear.
Being a mother is all the things I was told it would be and truly don’t think you can ever really know beforehand. I consider a great responsibility and privilege to be Elijah’s mother. My greatest prayer for Elijah is that he would know the saving love of Jesus and have a true and authentic relationship with him. I pray that he will love people and have a sweet spirit. Thanks to everyone that loves on our sweet baby!

Halfway there

It has been a pretty long time since I have blogged. School is now back in session...we are on week 5 of 14. This is my last semester, my first semester not working, and my first semester pregnant. There is only so much I can blame on pregnancy, since mine has been so easy, but schoolwork is the LAST THING I want to do. I have enjoyed it so far though, school that is. My clinical are at Plaza Medical Center in Fort Worth; my instructor is tough and intimidating and I want to cry most days but I like her…is that weird?



In the most recent news…yesterday we found out we are having a BOY!! Elijah Paul Fatheree is 14oz and 9 inches long at 20 weeks gestation (halfway). Most people are aware that I was rooting for a girl…I hope Elijah will not hold this against me. Fatheree’s men to not give out their X chromosome very easily and most babies are born male so the odds were against me. I think my fear of never having a girl drove me to want one…but now I am glad just to know. I am glad I can call him by name and not IT. Even though last night I would say “it” out of habit and Timmy would correct me. Timmy is excited. He is says he will be more comfortable with a boy.
We have our nephews, Ty and Gavin, who will be 2-1/2 and almost 1 when Elijah is born….so it will be fun and wild times I am sure. I get more excited every day. I haven’t felt just a ton of movement but I know he is moving because we saw it on the ultrasound. The doc says to give it a few more weeks and it’ll never stop. I did feel what I believe to be a kick one day last week. I bent over and squashed him I guess and I felt like this poke from the inside as if he was saying, “Hey! There is someone in here!” He has already given all his girl clothes that were bought for him to his girlfriend Macey Ann Chapman. So now it is all sports and boy clothes!! I have heard numerous times how much little boys love their mommy’s so I am pretty happy!!

A Bittersweet Day

the little peanuts profile pic

Today was my last day of work at Omega Ob/Gyn. It is a very bittersweet time because I enjoy my job and work with really wonderful people. But when I found out I got knocked up during the end of Nursing School I decided for the last semester I would focus on school and being pregnant. I will miss Omega (especially the sweet people) but I am excited to have this opportunity. Following graduation there is an extremely long and hard test I have to take (NCLEX) and I will be working towards preparing for that as well. As a going away gift I got a SONOGRAM today and got some really precious pictures.

The pregnancy is still going very well! I am 13 weeks today and every time I see the little peanut it is moving around like crazy. We are getting more and more excited each day about the baby. Especially when I see other little babies….I can’t explain it. I just want to reach out and GRAB them!

On a side note I would like to say how grateful and fortunate I am to have such an amazing husband. He is working so hard to make all this possible for me and inspires me to be better each and every day. He is the best person I know, my baby daddy, and waking up to him every day is one of my favorite things in life.

waving at mommy and daddy

First Sonogram

Just about 2 weeks ago we found out that one of my best friends, Candice (Click) Chapman, was pregnant. Candice and her husband have been trying for some time and were told it was basically impossible…well God loved the opportunity to remind us who He is. We are unsure how far along she is (she is still awaiting her first appt) but we are thinking 7-9 weeks. I am so excited for Candice & Bryan and some for myself too. I spend hours daydreaming about us being preggo together and having our babies together and then them growing up together.

This past Friday BABY FATHEREE and I had our first appointment and sonogram (at 9 weeks) and my anxiety up to this point was very high. Keep in mind I JUST completed my OB semester in Nursing School and do you think we spent 8 weeks talking about NORMAL deliveries/births?? NO! I don’t think by any means that I know everything but have a feeling I know too much for my own sanity sometimes. My sono was first at 8:15…and I was nauseated until I leaned back in that chair…and not because of morning sickness but nerves. My mom and Timmy were both with me and we watched the screen intently. When it popped up and she said, “There’s your baby” it became very real to me. And the coolest thing was the baby was moving all around…of course I can’t feel it yet but if it is any indication I am not getting much rest in the future. Then the moment I had been waiting for…the heart beat…loud, strong, and 170 beats/min. Peace immediately restored my body and my uneasy stomach was put to ease. Timmy says we can now put to silence all the talk of twins going around…there is only one!! My mom was very excited and I already know she will love the little baby so much. Timmy was happy too but not as expressive as a girl would be and that is ok. He says I actually do a good job of making it “real” for him because each week I show him the picture (from my book) of what the baby looks like and the size and I tell him what is developing now. I am blessed to work for the wonderful office that will assist me with my delivery (Omega OB/GYN) and I was thankful to share in the excitement with the sweet sweet ladies of the office.

Following the visit we met up with our dear friends, the Chapman’s, and headed off for a mini-vacation to San Antonio. The 7 of us (Timmy, Steph, Baby-in-utero Fatheree, Cali, Bryan, Candice, and Baby-in-utero Chapman) had a great time…even the husbands of 2 pregnant women!