third mothers day

This year was my THIRD mothers day! WHAT?! Many people said my first mothers day wasn't until Cayden was actually out of utero but I definitely disagree! The second you start sacrificing for your child, you become a mom! Pregnancy and adoption definitely both include sacrifices for someone you (already) love unconditionally...meaning you are already a mama! So, yes this was my THIRD mothers day!! 

...very first Mothers Day @ 8 weeks pregnant and very, very sick.

...second Mothers Day. Cayden @ 5 months old!

...third mothers day. Cayden @ 17 months & 28 weeks pregnant with Bennett :) 

Okay, I'm off of my soap box ;)

This weekend was very fun! We were able to go to San Antonio to spend Mothers Day with my mom and (for the first time in MANY years), my Grandma, who is living with my parents in San Antonio! We got to spend some quality time together which is always a joy. Today it was fun being with three generations of moms in one room; one who has been a mom for 3 years, one a mom for 30, and another for 55 years! I love that years of unconditional love and encouragement have been passed down to moms generation to generation. 

 Last night we got to hang out with some of our best friends, Julie & Jacob. Grandpa & Grandma got to babysit Cayden while we had some "adult" time with them. We had a blast just walking up and down La Cantera (seriously, so gorgeous), and ended up eating some late night pizza! After hunting down ice cream several different places in San Antonio without any luck, we called it a night. It's always refreshing spending time with lifelong friends (Julie & I have literally been friends since the womb). Thanks to Tyler & Jacob for putting up with our craziness awesomeness...we always have tons of fun! ;)

Last night we were woken up in the middle of the night to a fever burning, puffy eyed, sobbing baby boy :( Unfortunately, Cayden got some sort of bug and was fighting a 102 degree fever! As soon as the urgent care opened in the morning, Tyler and I took him and they said he was fine...could be teeth, could be a cold, could be the starting stages of a virus. After a nap and some tylenol, we still were able to go to lunch and then make the drive back to Austin. As soon as we got home, Cayden's fever spiked and he acted much more sick than he did this morning. We are now in the process of bathing, tylenoling (not a word?, I think I just made it one...), and trying to soothe our poor little sickling!  Thankfully my husband rocks and has been trying to take most of the load today, but cuddling and caring for my baby is my dream job that I love doing: being a mom! At one point today, you could tell he didn't feel well at all, and he reached out to me, did the sign for "please", and reached out to me again. MELT.MY.HEART! I am so thankful for Cayden and Bennett and I am so blessed that God chose me to be their mom!

...he gives open-mouth kisses.

...giving me a Mothers Day tap ;)

...when he started to really not feel good :( But I sure do love my "little" family!

already?!

Tyler and I were just talking and this pregnancy is FLYING by. It could be because I have a VERY active 18 month old who keeps me going going going, or it could be because our lives are much busier now than they were when I was pregnant with Cayden, or it could be because I have such severe pregnancy brain I don't even know what day of the week it is without looking at my phone! Whichever the reason (probably all three), Bennett's arrival is sneaking up on us way faster than Cayden's did. 

That being said...today I am officially 28 weeks, and starting my third trimester...and if this pregnancy is anything like the last, this trimester is going to go by verrrrry slowly. I remember with Cayden thinking the last part was going to fly by...WRONG! By the time I was 36 weeks I thought I was so ready to have little C, but then the weeks dragged on and on and on and the last 4 weeks seemed like a whole separate trimester! Seeing that I have my 18 month old distraction, I am hoping this one goes a little faster than Cayden's last trimester, but I am also loving the one on one time with Cay Luke. These last 12 weeks I plan on doing lots of fun things with him like traveling to Chicago, going to Sea World (hopefully we'll be able to fit this in a couple of times), and hanging out at the pool (a lot)! So far, I could not have asked for more beautiful weather for being pregnant during a Texas summer. It hasn't been above 90 and even the 90 degree days weren't bad at all. The fact that we're halfway to June and we've only had one or two 90 degree days is a huge blessing! 

This past week I just started getting hot and uncomfortable...just have to make it through June & July (hahahaha). This is a funny video Tyler and I found and it is totally going to be me this summer...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUbUrpIBlcM. So funny!!! But seriously...trying to get comfortable is starting to become a task!! 

While I am growing in discomfort, I am still loving this pregnancy and the bonding I am doing with Bennett :) He moves a LOT more than Cayden ever did (sleep training may be more of a challenge with this one ;)), and after giving me a GREAT sick-free second trimester, this morning kicked off with a vomit session...hoping this isn't a regular thing this trimester! But even amongst the throwing up, I just love this boy more and more!! 

I will be posting a lot over the next 12 weeks to help time pass a little more quickly! Hopefully you'll see some of the fun activities our growing family of 3 will be doing together before the 4th arrives!!

Bennett Elijah @ 28 weeks

haters

This is an old blog post from when I found out I was pregnant with Cayden, but I felt the need to re-post it. A lot of my friends are going through some "hater" moments and I wanted to re-share my thoughts :) 

______

“The Lord Almighty has sworn, ‘Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand.’” Isaiah 14:24

This past year in my study of Isaiah at BSF the major theme of the study was that God has already planned everything that will ever happen, and along with that, His plans are not only in HIS timing but are absolutely perfect! With the many major life events happening within the second half of my study, marriage, death in the “family”, Ty getting a job, Ty graduating, moving to another city, & finding out I was pregnant, you better believe I clung to this promise of my God harder than ever. He has yet to prove that He isn’t able to not take care of me throughout His plans, so why should I doubt Him now?

Many people have said, “Wow, ya’ll are having a baby really fast.” For those of you who do not know Tyler and I, we knew we wanted to have babies right away. One of the things I knew I needed to do in my life was to be a mom. No matter how I went about it, adoption or pregnancy, I knew being a mom was something I would be good at and wanted to do. We both knew we wanted to wait until Tyler had a job in order to financially be able to provide for the baby, but we knew as soon as that happened we would be open to having a precious little baby whenever God decided to bless us with one. Well as all of you know the story goes, we were blessed with pregnancy three months after we were married. Apparently, there is some “timeline” that people have created in their heads: Date for 2 years, be engaged for 1 year, be married for 1 year and then try to have a baby…blah blah blah. Here’s the thing, Tyler and I have NEVER done anything according to the “normal” person’s timeline. Tyler and I dated for 2 years and then were engaged for a year and a half (worst thing ever by the way), so naturally the baby thing was not on the “normal” timeline either. Frankly, no one should go according to the average timeline because like the verse in Isaiah says, “I HAVE PLANNED AND SO IT WILL BE.” We can not, will not, and should not change God’s plans for us. Why would you want to? They are perfect for EACH INDIVIDUAL! In Isaiah, God refers to all of us on earth as grasshoppers, yet He has the authority and the power to have each grasshopper’s life planned out, so let His plan reign your life, not the “normal” timeline of plans.

As soon as Tyler was blessed with an amazing job as a software engineer, we knew, at this point I had the option of being a stay at home mom if we had a baby. I always said I wanted to stay at home with babies if I could! So, for those of you who have to have a timeline, this is when, in our timeline, we knew we could start trying to have a baby. We had heard stories from lots of friends that conceiving a baby could take a LONG time…we just so happened to be blessed with a baby the first month we tried. Which apparently has concerned a lot of people….

Bringing me to the title of my blog, “Haters.” I have had way too many people come up to me or even, my sisters, and my parents, and my friends and say, “Christina got pregnant awfully fast.” (Some people say even worse things than this). The first thing I want to shout is, “Why is it any of your business?” The second thing I want to shout is, “This is a BABY. A life. A precious little life given to Tyler and me. No matter what timing, does it matter?” But I have never defended myself and this is why I am writing this blog. To all of you haters out there who say we are having a baby too fast according to your timeline, or those who question if we can afford it, or those who tell me that we will regret this decision down the road. To you I give you the challenge of realizing that your words hurt. As much as I have tried to blow these hurtful words off my shoulder (Ty is WAY better at it than I am), they are always in the back of my head. So people’s words do hit the heart in exactly the right spot. I am trying to let these words go to God and rest assured that His plan is best for me and Tyler. But some people can’t let go of hurtful words and they develop into way bigger problems in someone’s life. So please, if you’re reading this blog, please please please be careful what you say. It is a lesson I need to learn as well, and maybe this is my way of learning it, if me having a baby “early” is truly a concern then feel free to ask me in a nice and not hurtful way, but if it truly is none of your business then why become involved?

Another theme that I learned throughout Isaiah was that while God allows hard and hurtful things to happen to His people, He is always there to comfort them. While I wish I could take all of these comments thrown at me and let none of them tear me down, I can’t. I wish I was that strong, but I’m not. I had to write this blog because I was keeping all of these hurtful words built up inside and I need to let people know how I truly feel. I am beyond blessed to have Cayden Lukas Hobbs and I know Tyler feels the same way when I say that he was definitely planned and will be the best blessing we have ever had.

“As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.” Isaiah 66:13

_________

It is amazing to look back at this post and see where God has brought me the past two years. I am so blessed to be a mom to a huge joy in my life, Cayden Lukas, and now to be expecting another little blessing, Bennett Elijah. I am so appreciative of the people who have stood by Tyler and I as we continue to build our family and who always have encouraged us along the way! Thank you!!

make my day

Updates on my two boys:

Two funny videos from yesterday & today! This boy always makes me laugh :) 

Cayden had a long day and fell asleep while eating...

...excuse my cracking up. 

I am also halfway through my 21st week! This pregnancy is flying by and I am definitely okay with that :) 

kick kick kick

Yesterday we went to our 20 week ultrasound and got to see our precious Bennett. He was very healthy! He had a healthy brain, healthy heart, and all other organs looked good! We are so thankful for another healthy, growing, baby boy. Speaking of growing...following in his daddy's and brother's footsteps...he is already a big boy. "Normal" weight for 20 week in utero is around 10 oz and he is already a little over a pound! Thank you Jardin del Rey and Jason's Deli for feeding this growing boy! ;) 

Just like Cayden, Bennett was not cooperative in his ultrasound. He was constantly moving and wouldn't hold still for the sonographer to get as good of pictures as she wanted to! Both boys definitely take after their dad when it comes to smiling and posing for the camera (in utero)...totally opposite from their mama! Thankfully Cayden grew to know and love the camera, as I have it out taking his picture or videos all the time. That's what happens when you live far from all of your family! Crossing my fingers for Bennett to love it when he comes out too! ;)

I love ultrasounds because while you don't get the best quality of seeing what your baby really looks like, you do get to see that precious little child that you are constantly talking to, and who is constantly kicking you! It is definitely a bonding moment for both me & Tyler...as he gets to see what I am always feeling and describing. Like all my other ultrasounds I've gotten, yesterday's ultrasound made me fall in love with Bennett even more. As he continues to grow and to kick and move more, I am more aware he is in there, making my love grow more and more. 

We are praising Jesus for a beautiful (biased) & healthy baby boy! Thank you for continuing to pray for our family. We are blessed to have family & friends like ya'll!!

Bennett Elijah Hobbs :) 

His precious little toes!!

the winner is...

Almost 4 weeks ago, we found out BinBag is a bouncing baby boy!!

 I was really unbiased towards either gender (I know, I know, all moms say this). There would be pluses to both. If BinBag were a girl, she'd be the first in BOTH families and would probably be incredibly spoiled (but it's not like all the boys aren't anyways ;)), and she'd have 4 cousins & a big brother that would keep her incredibly safe; if BinBag were a boy he would be only 20 short months apart from his brother...how fun would that be? Not to mention the bins and bins and bins of hand me downs from his three older cousins & Cayden. When the ultrasound tech said, "It's a boy!" we immediately fell in love with our newest bundle of boy!

Then comes the hardest part...the name! Of course, all we had picked out was a girl's name! I will keep this name to myself in case a girl ever comes around ;). We had a boys name we were iffy about, but really didn't end up loving it. For many weeks, we have been randomly saying names that we like, and every single time the other one of us vetos it. We literally went through two or three websites worth of names. Some names we were obviously joking and others we'd hesitate and then say, "no, that's not it." We both are pretty picky when it comes to names so I figured it was going to take us forever to pick one. I was convinced this child would be nameless for a good month after he was born ;). 

Well, it finally happened! We finally found a name for BinBag, a PERFECT name for our second precious baby. Coming (sometime around) August 4, 2013:

Bennett Elijah Hobbs

I am so happy to finally have a name. I know it sounds super cliche, but I feel so much more bonded to him now that I can refer to him as "Bennet" or "Ben"! I talk to him all of the time, and, in my opinion, having a name makes it so much more personal for me!

So, my precious Bennett, I love you so much! Your daddy, Cayden (just get ready for that boy), and I are so thrilled to have you join our family. This week your small flutters turned into feeling precious little feet kicking and your sweet tiny body moving back and forth, back and forth. And while I am starting to lose some sleep due to bathroom breaks and heartburn, I am cherishing and loving every moment! 

{19 weeks...getting rounder by the day (way sooner than with Cayden)

We have our big anatomy scan next week so I will make sure to post pictures of Bennett after that!}

what a beautiful story

When Tyler and I got married, my very talented sister made us an unforgettable video. Digging through old videos today I found it in her list of videos! Thank you again, Jenni, for such a beautiful memory!



Hobbs slideshow from Jenni Zielke on Vimeo.