2-3 Months

This kid has some serious expressions. He's either smiling or throwing some eyebrow action your way. When he smiles, he smiles BIG. That may sound dumb, but seriously, he just lights up the room. I hope as he grows up he continues to love that big. 

We had several rough weeks as he was fighting off a bad infection and figuring out some other things with his doctors. But he is feeling much better again and it is so welcomed. 

All of the sudden, he turned 3 months old today! He had his first real giggles a few days ago and he promptly rolled over for the first time just this morning. He's appears to be getting chunkier by the day too. 

I'm so thankful for my guys and looking forward to our annual Friendsgiving feast later this week!

Great is Your faithfulness

Life inevitably has its moments and seasons of stressful times.  

We are currently in such a moment with Cyrus, who is having some health complications with his previous surgery. There are issues in his little body that we can't quite figure out, doctors who aren't sure either, maybe a new surgery, all equaling one heartbroken mama.  I have felt totally helpless lately, which is an especially overwhelming feeling to have when it's in regards to your baby.

After an impressive breakdown last Sunday (and subsequent recovery thanks to generous help from friends), i've been reflecting on how I feel about all this.  

It's difficult to feel like God isn't hearing or answering prayers the way you expect. 

It's difficult when you don't feel like God isn't close by. 

It's easy to feel angry or discouraged.

Although my feelings are not to be discounted, my heart doesn't always speak the truth.  

God doesn't promise a stress-free life.  Even when this situation resolves, i'm certain there are more difficult circumstances that we will face in our life.  So what does He promise?  

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. - Lamentations 3:22-23

 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. - Corinthians 12:9

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." - Matthew 11: 28-30

God is faithful even when I am not.  He is merciful even when I don't trust Him.  He is strong when I am weak. He is powerful when things are uncertain. He cares and is strong enough to carry my burdens. He has an unending love for me, and Cyrus.

I'm thankful for friends and family who preach the Gospel to me when I doubt and forget to remember what is the truth. I hope these verses are encouraging for anyone else who finds themselves in the same boat.

For this moment i'm going to not worry about tomorow and soak up the extra cuddles with my little boy instead.

Gnocchi and sausage soup

Y'all, this soup is so delicious, I had to share the recipe. Make it this week and enjoy it with this beautiful, cool weather and a glass of wine.

Here is the original recipe, but I adapted it a little. I didn't have roasted red peppers in my kitchen so I diced up and sauteed some tomatoes and it was still great.

Ingredients:

• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 lb chicken sausage
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 32 oz chicken broth
• 1 package gnocchi
• 1 bag fresh spinach
• 3/4 cup half n' half 
• Parmesan cheese
• Fresh basil
• Red pepper flakes

Directions:

1. In a skillet, saute sausage until browned, set aside. 
2. Meanwhile, in a dutch oven/heavy pot, saute onion and tomatoes in olive oil on medium heat until soft. Add garlic and tomato paste and saute another minute or two. Season with S&P.
3. Drain sausage and add to onion/tomato mixture. Then add chicken broth, season again with S&P, Turn heat down to med-low and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Stir in the gnocchi and bag of spinach and cook for about 10 minutes, until gnocchi and soft and float to the top. 
5. Add half n' half, basil, and red pepper flakes, stir to combine, Serve and top with grated Parmesan (if desired). 

I don't have a picture because David ate half the pot in one sitting. Enjoy!

What's going on

It's amazing to think about how much has happened in the last month+...it's gone by fast and slow all at the same time.

The first few weeks we had grandparents visit which was loads of help.

Unfortunately, something not so fun that happened was that Cyrus had to have surgery at 3 weeks old.  

We found out at the very end of my pregnancy that his kidneys & ureters were dilated (not normal). After many appointments and procedures, it showed that he has bilateral vesicoureteral reflux - this is where urine is backing up into his ureters and kidneys instead of all draining down towards the bladder.  Turns out, we are actually quite familiar with this abnormality because my mom and I BOTH were born with this also (oops, sorry for the bad genes, kid).  Because it was found so early and it was quite severe, we had to immediately schedule surgery to perform a cutaneous vesicostomy - this is where they bring his bladder up to his abdomen and make an incision from where his urine now drains from. The way everything is aligned with this basically forces the urine to drain from the kidneys, which will protect and heal them hopefully. It was quite a whirlwind, but we are thankful for so much. The doctors and staff at the Children's hospital here were incredibly wonderful and Cyrus is healing really well. We still have more check ups, ultrasounds, scans and another surgery ahead of us, but for now he's being a champ and seems to be recovering as great as we could have hoped for.  

We would love it if you can pray for continued healing for Cyrus.  Also, if anyone else is going through this with their child or you know someone who is, I would love to encourage them and share our experience.

Back to the good stuff: 

And then, just like that, he was 1 month old!

He is really a lot more alert now. He loves to be held and rocked, going on walks, playing on his activity mat and looking around at the world. But more importantly now he has started smiling at us. I know i'm biased, but it's pretty heart melting.

5 weeks old

6 weeks old

We had our first non-grandparent date night to see Ben Folds in concert with our friends - it was such a great time!

We have hung out with our baby besties a lot.

We also took our first road trip to Boone to see my parents and Cyrus got to meet a lot of his extended family.

Of course we enjoyed the gorgeous Fall weather and scenery too.

And then, just like that, he's already closing in on 2 months. We are looking forward to what the next month brings!

Cyrus David

On August 24th, we welcomed our son! Cyrus David Cathcart. 7lbs 15oz, 20.5" long.  We think he's just adorable and love him oh so much.  Having your first newborn is definitely an adjustment...getting used to not sleeping and this tiny little thing directing your life now.  We are thankful for our family and friends who have loved on us, helped us, encouraged us, and brought us meals. It truly takes a village, and we love our village :)

Our talented friend from church took these adorable newborn photos when he was 1 week old, here are some of my favorites.

Countdown Daze

The final days waiting around for the baby to come are loooong.

Current mood:

Currently reading: Left Neglected

I have loved this book so far. I also read Still Alice by the same author. She always writes about brain injuries in her stories and it's fascinating (to me).

Currently cooking: Rack of lamb

I realize this isn't the most appetizing photo, it's the only one I snagged. It's much tastier than it looks.

I see myself as a good cook, but I was always intimidated to try making lamb for some reason. But guys, it is SO EASY. Give this recipe a try, it's delicious every time. It's no harder than roasting any other kind of meat in your oven. Also, Costco sells rack of lamb already "frenched" so you don't have to do any butchering work. I am obviously not cooking this every night, but I find it's no more expensive than if we were to grill 2 nice steaks at home, and it's a good way to mix things up for dinner. (Side note: I have found that 1 Costco rack is enough for 2 hungry adults).

So i'll just be waiting here, eating watermelon and any carb in site, if you need me....

Bump snap shots

We played around and did a tiny "maternity shoot" ourselves in the baby's nursery.  I didn't think I would ever want to take the time for these kind of photos, feeling quite large and all, but I'm glad we did it for documentation sake and I think some of them actually turned out pretty cute (...mostly the ones with the dog photobomber)!