Introducing...

Adilynn Faith.

This sweet girl made her grand (and fashionably late) entrance on September 26 at 9:11pm.

She weighed in at a whopping 7lb. 4.8oz and was 19 inches long.

These pictures were taken when we met for the first time.

I think her and I were thinking the same thing,

"Hey, I've been waiting for you."

I'm so glad my sweet husband snapped these pictures.

I'll remember that moment for the rest of my life. 

 Our first time as a family of 3.

So many happy tears.

The delivery was nothing like I expected.

I found out at 20 weeks pregnant that I wouldn't be able to get an epidural,

so it was all natural.

Tyler was amazing.

He was my rock through the entire process.

 It was pretty intense,

and there were some scary times.

But there were some wonderful times, too.

I would do it all again, to meet my sweet girl.

That's all I'll say about the labor/delivery for now.

We have been on a babymoon since Adi arrived.

I can't believe she is almost 2 months old!

Time seriously needs to slow down.

Now for a picture overload!

(If you follow me on Instagram, you've probably already seen most of these)

Still can't stop staring at her :)

lips :)

So tiny!

New romantic text messages.

5 days old

Adi wasn't thrilled with the nice head lick she had just received.

Sunday morning cuddles with Daddy.

1 month old :)

Adi pooped her pants.

Girl time!

Being a mommy is the best thing I have ever experienced.

And to all if my blog friends who have been struggling/diagnosed with infertility

(like me)

please don't lose hope.

God is bigger.

You're going to be a mommy, too.

spaghetti

Remember how exciting everything is in the beginning of a relationship?
You're nervous. Your palms sweat. You're constantly terrified that you have a booger in your nose.
And that person. They seem so perfect. Flawless. You could just stare at them all day.
Poop? No. They don't do that. Only imperfect people poop.
Fart? Of course not! Even if they did....it would smell like cotton candy and roses.
Get on your nerves? Never! They will never, ever, ever..EVER get on your nerves.

After a while, the guy gets super comfortable. Comfortable enough to not be uncomfortable. The plug is dislodged...and the winds blow. After that first bridge is passed, he never goes back. The winds blow forever and ever. And as you sit there with your nose hairs burning, you think to yourself, "wow....how can something smell like that?....he's so gross...but somehow I still love him."
Next comes the nerves. He does something that makes you stop and think..."oh my gosh. I want to punch him in the face....but....somehow....I still love him."
Then comes the day when you innocently walk into the bathroom and are smacked in the face with the dinner from last night that traveled through 20+ feet of your sexy man's intestines. Air freshener? He's too comfortable for that. And while you're dry heaving over the toilet that holds the left over contents that held onto the side of the bowl....you think to yourself..."wow. I still love him."
We realize they aren't perfect...but we love them anyway.

A few months pass and you finally decide to be "comfortable."
So you fart. You poop. And you get on his nerves.
But to your surprise, he isn't even phased by it. He doesn't "still love you..." no, he looks at you with eyes that say, "I LOVE YOU MORE THAN I EVER HAVE IN MY WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE! YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL AND AWESOME!"

(this is from our engagement shoot in 2010...he's all like "mmmmm you're so perfect")

All of that brings us to last night.
2 years of marriage.
Many poops, farts, and nerves later.
And my husband still thinks I'm perfect.

I started having contractions last night.
Nothing consistent, but definitely different from Braxton Hicks.
I have an overwhelming feeling of "Oh my gosh I don't know how to use my boobies!"
So I go to the nursery, grab my basket of breast feeding gear, and plop myself in the floor.
I pull out the user manual for the manual breast pump....and before I knew it, I had the breast pump on my right boob....still reading the step by step instructions.
I heard Tyler looking for me, but I was so deep in thought that I didn't respond.
The next step I read was to squeeze the handle with significant force.
I argued back and forth with myself
"No...no I can't squeeze it. That's weird. I don't even have a baby yet. What if something comes out? I'll freak out if something comes out. But I need to know how it's going to feel....yeah. I have to do it. I have to. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Ok. Go."
And there I went. I squeezed the handle with significant force.
...I watched in horror as the suction from the pump stretched my nipple into the funnel.
And little did I know, my husband had found me...and was also watching in horror.

By the facial expression I observed on his face...I know that he finally had an "I still love you" moment.

I'm pretty sure it went something like, "I just saw my wife experimenting with a breast pump.....I saw her nipple turn into a piece of spaghetti.....but I still love her."

When Adi gets here, he'll get used to the breastfeeding thing...and I'll probably go back to being perfect...but right now, right now his mind is pretty scarred.

furry weirdo

Oh my crap.
The little person that has been living in my uterus is officially FULL TERM.
The question now is whether she'll decide to come out medium-well or well-done.
My doctor seems to think it's only a matter of single digit days now....and I sure hope she's right!
For the past 3 days, I've stayed up until the wee hours of morning...CLEANING.
Can we say, nesting???
And my poor feet are ginormous. Seriously. 1 week after they started swelling, my weight went up 5 pounds! Crazy. They don't hurt....it just freaks me out to look down and see nothing but calf and toes.

Something else that is crazy?
This guy.

He has been pretty obsessed with my belly for the past few months.

His head or paws are constantly in contact with it....which is super cute...but last night he got weird.

He jumped up in the recliner with me last night, and laid like this for 2 hours.

He has never laid on my belly that long. EVER. Because Adi likes to kick him...so it's usually like 5 minutes, tops.

After hour number 2, I started thinking how "in tune" dogs can be...and I decided I should take a precautionary "I may go into labor and I don't want to be skanky" shower.

Baylee followed me to the bathroom.

I got in the shower.

Baylee laid beside the shower.

I got out of the shower and started getting ready for bed.

Baylee laid on my feet.

I got in bed.

Baylee slept in my buttcrack.

He is a very lovey dog...but not THAT lovey.

As I went to sleep last night I was positive that I was either 1.) going to die or 2.) going into labor.

Neither of those things happened.....but he is still being weird. I'm pretty sure he is staring into my soul as we speak.



30 days

As I was randomly browsing through Facebook this morning, a post from my photographer caught my attention. She had posted a picture of a pregnant lady...so naturally I clicked on it, and to my surprise, the pregnant lady was me.



I immediately felt so many emotions. Disbelief, mostly. And then I read what she wrote about the picture.

"'Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God.'- Job 37:14  
I know this is a time that Autumn and Tyler are standing still and considering another amazing chapter in their story. When I got to this image, I stopped. I remembered so much about how Autumn and Tyler got to be Autumn and Tyler(and now Adi, too) and God reminded me of how big His plans are."

And the tears flowed. And they continue to flow.
Three years ago, around this time, I got a phone call from a doctor who said that my test results were back. She told me I needed to sit down. I sat in silence as she said,
 All of your tests show that you have no eggs. If you were considering having children in the future, I suggest you start looking into other options. You will never be able to have a baby of your own.
I don't know if I said anything. I think I just hung the phone up. I tried to comprehend what I had just heard, and I broke down. My whole heart shattered into a million pieces. My world stopped. I had never felt such devastation...even when I received the news of having cancer.....that was nothing compared to the thought of never experiencing the feeling of having a little life growing inside of me.
The next 2 years were a rollercoaster of emotions. There was never a day when I didn't think about that phone call. I rejoiced with couples who were announcing their pregnancies and the births of their babies....but I also mourned inside.
My sweet husband would find me in bed during the day, crying...and he always said the same thing.
Babe, if God wants us to have a baby, we're going to have a baby.
I wanted to believe his words more than anything...but I couldn't. I had no eggs. How could I ever be pregnant if I didn't have eggs? It felt impossible. It was impossible.
But 8 months ago, I woke up at 4 in the morning....to pee. And while I was half asleep, I dug through my bathroom cabinet and pulled out a dust covered pregnancy test, took it, and no more than 5 seconds later, God showed me just how possible my impossible was.....I was pregnant.

And today marks exactly one month until my due date!

No matter how hopeless and impossible your situation may seem, just keep reminding yourself...
God loves showing us just how possible our impossible is.

from Tyler to Daddy

Besides watching miss Adi grow and move inside my belly,
what has been  my favorite thing about pregnancy?
My husband.
The man who has never been around an infant.
The man who I find (often) standing in front of Adi's closet with tears in his eyes.
The man who is madly in love with the tiny girl in my uterus,
but is terrified that he is going to break her neck off.
He's been my favorite.
Especially here recently.
At our last baby appointment, my doctor made a statement that has caused my husband to have sleepless, upset stomach, and nervous diarrhea-filled nights, ever since.
You need to start watching for signs of labor because she could make her appearance ANYTIME.
I was extremely excited to hear that.
Tyler looked like he was about to pass out.

He has his bag packed, he packed his "manly" diaper bag, the car is constantly filled with gas, he calls me/texts me 1000 times a day, and like I said....he hasn't slept a wink.

It's the cutest/sweetest/funniest thing I've ever watched.

The night before last, I got into the shower at 11pm.
He ran into the bathroom.
Autumn, why are you taking a shower so late??? Are you ok??
I'm fine, I just used dry shampoo this morning...and I don't want to have nasty hair when I go to the hospital.
YOU HAVE TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL?!!? ARE YOU IN LABOR!?
No babe. I'm just being prepared.

I slept like a log that night.
Tyler didn't sleep at all....and he puked.

Even though I giggle at a lot of the things he's been doing,
I have never been more in love with my husband.
Watching him turn into a Daddy....
it absolutely melts my heart.
I can't wait to see him hold Adi in his arms for the first time.
My heart just might burst.

my husband IS my soul mate

A lot of you have probably seen a blog post floating around social media recently.
It's called my husband is not my soul mate.
In a nutshell, it talked about how theology pointed towards the idea that God didn't make that one perfect person for us.  It talked about the evangelical storm that took place about a decade ago that taught teenage girls (and boys) that God made their husband/wife specifically for them and that they should wait for them. A lot of love notes were written for those future husbands and wives.....and in the post's opinion, it was just a way to try to keep teens from going crazy in the dating world. It said that God gave us free will to choose who we want to marry and the one was technically not real.

That blog post showed up on my Facebook news feed more than once... and I read it more than once.
I tried my hardest to agree with it (because a lot of people were re-posting it), but I couldn't.
So here is my view of the one.

I believe 110% that God made the perfect person for each one of us.
Is my opinion backed up with a bunch of deep theology? No.
It is backed up with this: God made Eve SPECIFICALLY for Adam.
God knew Adam from the inside out. He knew everything there was to know about him...and He made Eve for Adam. Adam had free will, but God didn't make 2 women for him to chose from. He made one. Eve.

Of course not everyone marries the one...because God did give us free will. Sometimes we are impatient. Does that mean that those marriages are destined to be horrible? Of course not! As long as God is the center of the marriage, it will be successful. 

I personally think that, today, we are guilty of putting too much emphasis on theology, and not enough emphasis on the face value of the verse. Sometimes theology is used in order to make Bible verses mean what we want them to mean. People try to go too deep...instead of simply reading the verses. I was brought up in a church that never just accepted verses for what they said. There had to be some hidden meaning.
Over the past 3 years, I've realized that God didn't write the Bible for scholars and theologians. He didn't write it for us to crack the code. He wrote it for normal, average, every day people.  It's not some sort of puzzle.

I was one of those little girls who wrote letters to my future husband. I prayed for him. I told God what I hoped for in my husband- and let me tell you, I was extremely specific. I didn't search for my husband....but I found him. And he was everything I had prayed for. God knows me from the inside out, just like He knew Adam. He loves me just as much as He loved Adam. Why would he not make an "Eve" for me?

My husband is my soul mate.

diaries of a mad pregnant woman: entry #2

As Adi (and my belly) has grown the past several weeks,
there has been an influx in belly comments.
I used to receive sweet comments:
AWWWWW how cute is your little baby bump!
You're finally starting to show!
You have the cutest little belly!
etc, etc...
These new comments, however, have awakened the mad pregnant woman within.
I have started making a list. I have labeled this list: 

TOP 3  BELLY COMMENTS YOU SHOULDN'T SAY TO A PREGNANT WOMAN IN THE THIRD TRIMESTER...if you want to live.

#3. Oh, WOW.....
So when are you due?
September!
Oh, WOW....

Oh, WOW? What exactly do you mean by that? Never mind, I could tell my the emphasis you put on the WOW.  You just told me that it looks like I'm going to give birth in the next 2 minutes. Oh, you didn't mean it that way? Yes you did. I want to karate chop your esophagus.

#2. Doubled.
Oh my gosh, I think it's doubled in size since I last saw you.
............oh, really?

You saw me YESTERDAY.  Is that supposed to make me want to hug you? Would it make you happy if I told you YOUR belly doubled in size since yesterday? Well your face has also doubled in ugliness since I last saw you.....how about that? Yeah, that's right.

#1. ARE YOU SURE???
How many weeks do you have left?
Oh about 8!
Goodness. Are you sure there aren't twins in there?
Oh I'm sure.

I'm also sure that I would like to punch your mouth off.

And that concludes the top 3 things you probably shouldn't say to a pregnant woman in her third trimester.
If you have made one of these comments and the pregnant woman has responded with a soft "chuckle"....you have been very close to death.

See, we are very happy that our bellies are growing because that means our precious babies are growing. But the belly growth is obvious. There is no need to reinforce the impending stretch marks, the current difficulty we are experiencing when trying to shave our legs, or our new walk waddle.
We are very aware of the tiny humans growing in our bodies....just tell us how beautiful we are....that's safe. Comments like Oh your belly has grown! or Oh my goodness, look at your belly! or something along those lines are safe, too. Like I said, we're proud of our bellies. Just don't be stupid.

In case you missed it on Instagram, here's my 30 week bump!

Happy Monday!