Happy 5th Anniversary!

Last Friday May 16, 2014 Hubby & I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary!  And in true Yates fashion we had the traditional Anniversary Pie & went out of town for the weekend!

^^Anniversary Pie^^

Check out the full scoop on Anniversary Pie here! This year I entrusted the responsibility of making the Anniversary Pie to Hubby so it was...different!  Still yummy but he just makes it different than I do!  I am a fan of the "sauce" & he is not so much!  Next year...extra sauce! LOL

Our fifth year of marriage was one of the hardest yet!  But I am so thankful for God's grace & mercy & so thankful that we are in fact celebrating our fifth year of marriage together!! My husband is a wonderful man, loving father, fun daddy, caring & helpful husband, and even through the trials I am still so blessed to be his wife!

Here are a few pics for now! Stay tuned this week for more on our trip to Metz, France & Sebastian turning 3 months old!!

^^on our way to Metz^^

^^Bubba is getting so big!^^

Cheers,

Samantha

Prayers for a Blessed Mothers Day weekend for all!

An important reminder for everyday!  Have a wonderful Mother's Day weekend! This weekend I pray that all of the Mothers are celebrated & that we, as mothers remember to celebrate the blessing the Lord has given us of being mothers & trusting us to raise up God fearing, Jesus loving babes.  I pray that we not get caught up in the HOW we are celebrated by our families but instead get caught up in the blessing of being a mother.

Cheers,

Samantha

Yay it's May!

Im so excited for this month as so many exciting things are happening! First, my very first Mother's Day with my baby boy!

 Then my hubby & I will celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary(which I looked up the traditional gift for that & it's wood...so I'll give him a branch?...keep it clean people!)!

 A few days after that Sebastian will be 3 MONTHS OLD (seriously wasn't he just born yesterday!?).



 Then the ever humbling Memorial Day which most likely will be spent eating & laughing & whooping some boys in some ladder ball! And finally the thing I am most excited for...my Jimdad is coming! My Sebastian will get to meet the man he is named after & I will have a sushi partner & hubby will have a beer drinking buddy! Not to mention this month our church is getting a new pastor as our current ones leave to go back to the good ole U S OF A! And we may or may not be spending a weekend in Prague!

 Cheers,
Samantha
xoxo

*I know this post is 9 days into the month but give me a break Im still trying to figure this whole having-a-schedule-with-an-infant thing out! ;)

Hello World!

So as most of you know we had a baby in February!  Life has been a roller coaster since then as you could imagine when you add another person to your family!  Well I have been meaning to post our birth story & a post about his name too!!  So as I say every time I have a lot of catching up to do!  However, with a newborn at home & the inability to leave the house during the day I am hoping that my new routine will involve some more blogging!

8:00am  Monday February 17, 2014 ~ I woke up and noticed that my pants were wet...ewe!  I got out of bed & went to the bathroom like I normally do.  When I came back to the bedroom I must have had a funny look on my face because my husband looked at me with concern!  Well, my due date was 4 days ago so we are living on edge right now anticipating this child's arrival so at every little bump in the night we froze waiting for the next sign of labor!  I told hubby that I thought my water broke & he jumped out of bed!  After I calmed him down a little bit we took a shower, grabbed the bags & called L&D on our way out the door!

9:30am ~ We arrived at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center's Labor & Delivery unit & were put in a room where the nurse took my vitals while hubby & I smiled & giggled in excitement!  She took a swab of the fluid I thought was amniotic to be tested for assurance.  We waited for what seemed like an eternity that was really only an hour & a half for them to tell us that what we assumed was my water breaking was in fact not that.  So in a bittersweet temperament we took our bags & went out to breakfast!

11:30am ~ Sitting at J.R. Rockers enjoying some fabulous pancakes & eggs & bacon (yum!) I started having contractions!  Eeek!  Okay well since we were just told that I am not in labor we have to wait to return to the hospital until my contractions are 3-5 minutes apart for 2 hours & at a pain level that I can not walk!  Got it!  With an unknown amount of time we decided to go rent some DVDs to pass the time!  I must say that Season 1 of Duck Dynasty is the best way to spend your time while your body begins to go into labor!  That is until you reach that level of pain that stops you in your tracks from the couch to the bathroom! Away we went back to the hospital!

6:00pm ~ Back in L&D in the same room we were in earlier in the day with the same nurse that sent us home earlier my vitals were checked again I was checked for dilation again, & then we were told that I was not dilated enough to be admitted so we could either go home or go walk around for an hour or so & then come back to be re-checked!  We went for a walk!  Starving, we had the brilliant, yet not so thought out plan, to go to the Dining Facility for dinner.  We walked down what would be a normal 5 minute walk that took us about 30 minutes(still starving BTW!  We haven't eaten since our pancakes!) not even aware of the fact that it is President's Day...let me explain.  We were in a military hospital...a federal building...on a federal holiday = NOTHING WAS OPEN not even the Shoppette were we could have got a bag of chips! Luckily there were vending machines!  But they were not cutting it! About an hour and a half later we found our way back to L&D where they hooked us up with takeout menus!  We ordered a bunch of Italian food & I was checked for dilation again with an increase in pain & a hopeful nurse!  She said I had not progressed much but she wanted to talk to the Dr before she sent us away...again!  Well about an hour later our food showed up & so did the Dr with the news that we would not yet be admitted!  So back home we went to spend some more time with the Robertson clan!

Christopher kept very good track of all of my contractions!

10:00pm ~ We are exhausted, starving & due to the poor road conditions & a sport suspension on our car, my contractions were much more intense & closer together by the time we got home!   I couldn't eat, I couldn't walk, I tried bending over while standing, getting on my hands & knees, I could barely talk,  I kept yelling for my husband to help me, I made monster noises that I could never repeat(unless of course I was in labor again!), I was leaning over the couch, I would slide onto the floor, my husband kept alternating hot & cold compresses on my back, I was breathing heavy & groaning loudly, I was sweating, the only way I could communicate would be in short bursts of a word or 2, but I was terrified to drive on that bumpy(painful) road again only to be sent home again! Soon hubby couldn't stand it anymore & he loaded us back up into the car & with a lot of "I am not letting you be in pain anymore, this is all I can do & I will not let them send us home again" reassurance I got in the car too!  (Have a mentioned lately how awesome my husband is!)

11:00pm ~ "Oh hey there L&D its us, the Yates'! Long time no see eh?"  That is what I probably would have said if I could have in fact said ANYTHING! Same room, same bed, same gown, same, same, same! They hadn't even changed the linens or anything yet! I get checked for dilation again & this time I have finally made progress!!  YAY!!  Great news right!?  WRONG!  According to regulations I need to be dilated to 4 or 5 before I can be admitted & I was at about a 3 1/2!  ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?  I was sooooooo mad!  It was probably because I was in sooooooo much pain!  Thankfully the only person who had to listen to any of my evil words of anger was my husband (I wasn't being mean to him I was just complaining about the stupid military regulations! UGH!!) so I wasn't mean to any strangers at least!  At least this time they were not sending us home!

12:30am Tuesday February 18, 2014 ~ FINALLY!  I was dilated to 4cm so they can admit me! 

2:30am ~ I am finally admitted & decide that after 15 hours of labor I am so exhausted that I am passing out the 45 second between contractions & birth was not in the near future I was not going to have any energy to push...GIVE ME ALL THE DRUGS!!!  

4:30am ~ another FINALLY!!  The anest...you know the guy that gives the drugs...comes in & goes over all of the risks which takes forever because I am having contractions & every time I start breathing heavy & breaking my husbands hand dude decides to stop talking!  Whatever man give me the magic juice that will let me get some sleep! 

5:30am ~ I've got my magic juice & the Dr has now decided to give me a cath & break my water!  Mama can get some sleep!  & loves those were the best hours of sleep I have ever had in my life!!

11:20am ~ IT'S TIME! The midwife has woken me up & I am being put into position & taught how to push!  So I start pushing...my mouth gets dry & I need something cold & wet in it in between every push! Then the baby's oxygen levels get low so they have to give me oxygen, then I get a fever so I have to stop getting my ice cold wetness so that they can keep taking my temp & the midwife kept telling me to wait 10 minutes so I remember laying there watching the clock above her head & asking for more every 10 minutes & she just kept telling me no!  I was getting pissed!!! Then baby's head was too big so they had to hook up the vacuum to assist my pushing! I don't have much recollection of the rest but my husband tells me there was a lot of bleeding & looks of concern on the Dr & midwifes faces so much so that they almost forgot to tell us if we had a boy or a girl!  I didn't remember the med staff because I was too busy being infatuated!

12:30pm Tuesday February 18, 2014 ~ 25 hours later...we had a boy!  A perfect, healthy, handsome, sweet, chatty little boy who pooped on everyone as soon as he came out & he hasn't stopped pooping on everyone since! 

A 7lb 13oz 20.1in long full head of hair chatty little boy!  

Huge thank you to the wonderful Heidi Lynn Photography for the amazing birthing pictures!

Cheers,

Samantha

Nursery!

So I know I have been uber absent from this here little blog of mine, but I'm growing a human get off me!! LOL  I did however, finally take some time to photograph our  nursery just in time for our nuggets arrival, well within the next couple of weeks anyway!  So without any further a due here you have our nursery...

  So let's start with the crib!  Let me first give a huge shout out to my dad and step-mom for going through all the trouble they did to get it to us! Ya'll rock & I love love love it! :) 

The quilt...in January of 2011 my Grams passed away and like you do when people pass the things in their homes get sorted and family members take their mementos and the rest usually get put in a pile to be donated or sold at a yard sale.  Well before the things were dispersed from my beloved Grams house I was able to make it back to Illinois to her house and reminisce one last time.  There were a few things in the garage that were on there way to be donated and under a few of these things I found The Quilt!  It's probably going to sound crazy (unless you know me of course!) but it was like a light shined down on it & I HAD TO HAVE IT!  Now I have no idea where The Quilt came from, who made it or even have a memory of EVER seeing it in my Grams house prior to this minute.  And for the life of me I could not understand why this beautiful, soft, perfect quilt was about to be given away.  So it came home with me where it was put in a closet & then packed up, sent to Germany where it was shoved under a bed until it was time to clean out the guest room in order for it to be declared a nursery.  This was about the same time that I absolutely could not find any crib bedding that I liked or wasn't a million dollars!  So anyway I was clearing stuff out and along came the light again shining on this quilt!  And you know what...it was perfect!  The colors I was looking for I loved the design and I think of my Grams EVERY TIME I look at it!  Plus there are these stupid red curtains hanging in this room that our landlord will not let us replace so whatever we chose had to at least blend with them!  Another perfect element to my Grams quilt! 

These baby friends are some that were bought and/or gifted to our baby we lost in 2012. And the I heart Berlin pillow baby daddy & I purchased on our trip to Berlin over the summer! The mouse baby daddy won at a game when we went to Oktoberfest in Munich!  The bunny I bought for my niece shortly after she was born when they came to visit us & she forgot it here well that was almost 2 years ago now so sorry Aubrey but your cousin is going to play with it now! ;) 

(Notice the red curtains!) The painting above the crib is 2 love birds sitting on a branch with a little baby bird sitting next to them that I painted back in August & signed it <3 mom!  In the empty frame will be a special project for after our nugget greets the world & we name him/her!  There is also an old wooden owl clock that doesn't work that was in the pile-o-stuff from my Grams house that will be hung above the painting soon!  The blanket thrown over the ottoman was mine when I was a little girl & I have vivid memories of wrapping up my baby dolls with it! The pillow in the chair was an art class project my brother did when I believe he was in middle school? IDK but he gave it to me!  He sewed it & painted a fish on it!!  Moving on!

This nightstand has been in my life in one way or another for as long as I can remember! It used to be a dark brown & then about 15 years ago or so it was painted white! I think it may have been a microwave stand at one point but I could be way off on that one...mom?  

This beautiful creation was a gift from a wonderful friend!  The map is Amsterdam which is one of the most special & dearest places to our family!  The verse she wrote is Joshua 1:9

"Be strong and courageous! Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

This book...my great-grandmother Bockstahler gave it to my mom & her brother as a Christmas gift sometime in the seventies I believe!  My mom shared it with me when I was a little girl and I then tortuously made the 'rents read me THE SAME STORY over and over every night!  It was always The Shoemaker and The Elves if anyone was wondering!  I just loved the idea of these little elves coming in and finishing up his work to help him out!  Now that I think about it my love of that story seems like some major foreshadowing of my pre-pregnant years (I'm not even gonna lie & only say my teenage years!)

Above the bed are these Raggedy Anne & Andy wall hangs I found on Etsy during the two weeks of being set on that being the nursery theme.  Then I could not find ANYTHING that I liked and again was not a million dollars to go along with that theme.  That theme came from not being able to find bedding but before I found The Quilt which were all after the original travel theme.  Enter the postcards!  The postcards in the frames are from the shower my dear friends in Germany had for me when I was about twenty-ish weeks and the theme was travel!  My lovely friends gave us these postcards from there travels and left some very sweet messages on the backs of them for our sweet baby!

The dresser was mine from when I was a little girl!

In the shadow box is this card from the shower!  It is in Deutsche and according to Google translate it translates to:

Birth for all love and a colorful time with the little creeper!  

LOVE IT!!

The turquoise bins on the changing table shelves were used at our wedding to hold beverages!  I bought the baskets and the Exchange!  

Our bin full of fluff!!

I can not wait for our little one to come out and greet the world and start living in this room that has been put together with lots of love, indecisiveness, memories and heirlooms!  I hope you enjoyed your nursery tour today!!  

Sidenote:  there are A LOT of things in this nursery that were mine from my childhood and the only reason my husbands childhood is not represented as much is because, well growing up an Army brat you don't keep much since there is a weight limit to life for the military, however he put a lot of love into this nursery as well!  Also, I have a horrible condition of being overly sentimental with just about everything (to the point where I have a pencil case in the basement full of un-sharpened pencils that I got from teachers in elementary school!) so things like my books & my blanket have always come everywhere with me! 

Cheers!

Samantha

Oh Tuesday you always surprise me!

So my morning started off like this:

I put the creamer in the coffee pot instead of my cup & the morning was blanketed by this dense creepy fog.  Although I woke up to my husbands phone call it was not a great start to the day!  It was 7:30 & I wanted to go back to bed & start over! 

 But then God turned it all around! All of my kiddos cancelled for today so I suddenly had a free day all to myself!  Then my plans to have lunch with my girlfriend I haven't seen in a couple months that were cancelled the day before were uncancelled!  So Courtney & I & her beautiful Lily girl had lunch at Chili's on base where our entree came before our appetizer & before Lily's meal!  It all tasted good so we didn't really mind!  

After that I took advantage of what turned into a beautiful sunny forty degree day & walked around the block to my friends house to bring her some things for her littles to hopefully help them feel better.  When I got home I put my jammies back on & camped out on the couch ready to take a nap when I got a call from one of my stateside besties who I haven't talked to in about a month!!  About an hour or so later her little had to get ready for her play date/music class so I decided to try my hand at napping again!  

Well then my computer just happened to be right next to me & was blowing up with notifications so I just had to get on facebook too see what it was all about!  It was all about our life group gathering being cancelled tonight due to sickness & events going on!   So I now have a free night too! 

 As I am trying for the third time to take a nap I get a Skype call from my hubby!  So I got to look at his gorgeous face for about an hour while we made some baby decisions!  You know the important ones like what colors & furniture should we use in the nursery!! And I was told we could not name our son(if it is a boy because we are waiting for birthday to learn the gender of our nugget!) Sky Walker Yates!  I thought it was pretty BA but hubby was not going for it!  I mean in my opinion that would just give our kid an immediate place at the cool table...No?  Anyone with me?  Anyone?

At this point it is about 6pm & I am thinking about what to make for dinner since napping is obvi not in my cards for the day!  When low & behold...my house phone rings!  Again!  Now this is the most action this phone has had in months so I'm almost expecting it to explode!  This time it was my MA!  Who unfortunately I haven't really talked to in maybe a month!  We caught up for 2 hours & when we got off the phone my cell phone rang...I mean seriously when did I get so popular!  I've waited my whole life for this!  LOL It was my hubby calling to say goodnight before he went to sleep! Awe, isn't that sweet! 

Now here I am at 9pm still haven't had dinner & just amazed & feeling so blessed!  This day that I thought was going to be horrible turned into a fantastic Tuesday filled with love & fellowship!  I am also thinking that maybe I should rethink the whole not being a phone talker thing! It was so nice to talk to people!  I was so worried about being bored & lonely today & I asked God to help me keep busy this morning & although it wasn't quite what I had in mind it was a very unboring, unlonely day!  Thank you, Jesus for answering my prayer this morning & keeping me busy in just the way I needed it!  Now to go find some dinner!  Hope you all had a wonderful Tuesday!

Be Blessed,

Samantha 

Veteran's Day

Veteran's Day

Today I want to thank any & all Veteran's of the United States Military.  Being a military spouse I see the daily sacrifices that these men & women make & I am truly grateful.  I have known several people who gave their lives for our freedom. Yes our government is maybe a little messed up but it is because of our freedoms that it is so.  And I am not saying to fix it we need to remove our freedoms.  I am simply saying that we should see more of the good.  Because we are free we can protest & our government can argue with themselves & we can all have opinions.  It is because these men & women sacrifice their lives daily that no other country or extremist group is invading our land of the free & taking over.  They are defending it both home & abroad every single day.  

I do not think today is a happy day so I'm not going to say happy veterans day.  I believe that today more than anything is a day to reflect, appreciate & be thankful for your ability to choose.  Your ability to say whatever you want whenever you want to whomever you want to.  Your ability to protest ideas you do not agree with.  Your ability to listen to & watch whatever you want.  Your ability to be whatever you want to be.  The point is that you can choose.  And because of this ability I am truly grateful.  

To all of the veterans, those currently serving, those who have served & those who gave their lives for our abilities I say Thank You from the bottom of my heart.  

Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You!!!!

In honor of today I have discovered this wonderful ministry that helps veterans & those who have been forgotten & just need a little help to get back on their feet!  They are definitely on our donate to list for this year!

Check out this little video of one of Degage's veteran makeovers!!

Happy Monday, Lovies!!

Samantha

P.S. the flag image was found on google images source unknown  :)