2020...What a Year!

Where to begin...

So I went back and re-read my last post. It's been a while haha. But at least it was this calendar year. :-)

My last post was right before my 20 week anatomy scan to check on baby and find out the gender.

I am going to do bullet points to do an update on what's been going on since then. 

-We went for our scan on January 20th and found out we were having a healthy baby BOY. 

-We did a gender reveal with our parents and grandparents. Micheal was the only one who knew the gender. He bought blue shred from the Dollar Tree and stuffed it into one black balloon and then blew up enough for each guest to have one. All were empty except the one chosen balloon. We each got a balloon and a pin and took turns popping them. On the second balloon blue shred came out and it was revealed that we were going to have a son. Sarah Jo did all the popping. She was excited to get a brother

-Then came the exciting task of picking a name. We settled on Joshua Micheal. After much deliberation and discussion. I think we finally settled on a name in March or April. 

-In March the Coronavirus Pandemic hit home and we were encouraged to social distance. Fortunately I was not effected too much regarding my prenatal appointments. My appointments had just became bi-weekly and since I was healthy and not high risk my Dr. let me skip one appointment in April. After that I went to each appointment in person. But Micheal was not allowed to come with me. I had one sonogram left and went to it alone. Micheal could have come but we couldn't have brought Sarah with us and at that time we were not even seeing grandparents so we had nobody to watch her during the appointment. Crazy times.

-In April Governor Abbot put Texas on a Stay at Home Order. At that time we stopped seeing even grandparents. It only lasted a week because Sarah Jo missed her KK too much. And so did I. I am so grateful that Micheal worked alone in his office so he was able to continue to go to work and not worry about being exposed to the virus. Being pregnant I was considered high risk, so we took the covid pandemic seriously. I also didn't want to even think about my sweet Sarah catching this virus. Mom and Dad continued to work but they took many safety precautions. Cyndy took a furlough from work and decided to stay home. She and Jimmy are considered high risk due to age and medical conditions. April was also Easter and Sarah's birthday so they were very different this year. People mailed her cards and some drove by and dropped off gifts. We told her we would have a party as soon as it was safe. We are still waiting to do that.

-On May 23rd we welcomed our precious boy. He was born at 11:10am. He was 19 1/2 inches long and weighted 8lb 1 oz. He is amazing. He has been a very chill baby and the perfect addition to our family. We all love him so much. Sarah is a wonderful sister and great at calming him down when he is fussy.

-Now, we are two months in (Joshua is 10.5 weeks as I write this). And he smiles and is getting so close to a laugh. He brings us so much joy. Having a baby during a pandemic is pretty crazy and we have een super careful. Only a handful of people have got to hold Joshua and we have not been to crowded places including church. It makes me so sad that I cannot show him off to family and friends and let them all meet and love on him. I just have to think of his health and safety. Micheal goes to work, does small youth services once a week and goes to church Sunday mornings. Other than that we only see grandparents (Poppy, KK, Nanny, Pappy, Grandma and Papa). Dr. Dalton said that outdoor playdates with few people would be ok and she also said we could start keeping Wyatt again. He has not been to the house since March. We started back last week. Unfortunately Sarah and I were exposed to the virus last weekend so  now we all have to quarantine for 14 days so we had to cancel Wyatt for the next two weeks. Its such a crazy time right now. 

-Our entertainment is grabbing food from a drive thru and going to a park to play and have a picnic. We have been to 5 or 6 parks in Lubbock and 2 in Levelland. While I miss going out and living normal life it has been such a special time for our family. It has helped me focus on what is most important. My relationship with Christ, my relationship with my hubby and raising and loving on my babies. God has given me a special grace during this season and I love him so much for it. I was so nervous about adding a child to our family and if you would have told me I would have to do it without having regular playdates and hang outs with friends I would have told you that I couldn't do it. But God knew exactly when Joshua would be born and what would be going on in the world. He is not surprised and I find peace in knowing that. I am truly learning to TRUST IN HIM AND HIM ALONE. I have had to turn off podcasts and turn off the tv and focus on the day and moment I am in. Otherwise my mind will run rampant and lead to fear. I am so thankful for my heavenly Father. Today he led me to Psalm 118 (I had been hearing "This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it" in my mind all day so I looked it up and it was in Psalm 118. When I read it it felt like God was talking straight to me. 

Its almost midnight and I better get to bed. :-)