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We had a serious run in with winter in the south this week. Our city shut down, schools and work cancelled, as roads iced over. But we weren't complaining here in our pajamas, watching movies by the fire. 

Little man has now had 3 ice days in his short life and, as you can see, he took it like a champ. 

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Harper's newest obsession is talking on the phone to dad, even (or maybe especially) when he's in the same room. 

Cy (looking more like his sister this week) got a bath and didn't appreciate it...

Baby Cheating

Confession time: I cheat at having babies.

Don't get me wrong, I birthed both of those suckers, but I've managed to cheat just a little both times. 

You see, they come early. And they come fast. 

Harper entered the world rather suddenly at 36.5 weeks after my water broke. You can get the full story here. 

My sweet Cyrus came (almost 2 weeks ago!) at 38.5 weeks and arrived a mere 45 minutes after we did at the hospital. Let me start from the beginning though. After a couple of false alarms, I thought I was definitely in labor on Thursday night. Imagine my surprise (followed quickly by annoyance) when I woke up Friday morning and didn't have a baby. I was having some contractions but nothing too special until 11am. This is when the contractions started coming about 2-3 minutes apart. Finally around 12:30, between breathing and swaying, I told Jake we should probably get ready to go to the hospital. He sprang into action, getting friends, who were miraculously close to our house, to watch Harper and getting me in the truck (which happened to be almost out of gas, but miraculously never ran out...). We made it to the hospital in record time thanks to the truck's flashers, horn, and Jake's desire not to deliver his son on the interstate. As I was wheeled onto the L&D unit, the midwife asked me if I thought the baby was coming soon or if I needed time... I remember mumbling something about not knowing because Harper was crazy and I had pitocin and my water broke first and... I guess she finally decided just to see for herself. After finding out I was a whopping 5cm dilated, I walked into the delivery room around 1pm and tried to settle in. The contractions were serious by now, like no-one-talk-to-me-unless-you're-asking-to-massage-my-lower-back serious. My water broke about 1:30 and I things got real. I was ready (though oddly enough I was only 7cm dilated at the time?) and the midwife on hand, thankfully. Jake, once again my rock, sat close to my head encouraging me as Cy came into our world at 1:44pm. He weighed 7lbs and was 19.5 inches long. And, because I know you're all wondering, Jake didn't pass out! A miracle sandwich with a cute little miracle filling. 

That's just how I roll, I guess. I skip most of the get-this-baby-out weeks of pregnancy and the seriously-get-this-baby-out hours of labor. And I still get this:

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Cy is a content little guy, hallelujah! Good sleeper, good eater, and great at receiving 12,000 hugs a day from his sister.

Harper is in love. She's having a bit of a hard time with me not being her primary caregiver for a couple of weeks, but overall adjusting beautifully. 

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            www.carolynnseibert.com

It was a BIG week for us. Cy came into our world on January 10th and nothing will ever be the same. In all the best ways. And balloons were the perfect gift for the new big sister.

Thanks Carolynn for snapping these gems! Check out her website and Facebook page for more beauty! 

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I can't think of a year in the last six that hasn't included some major change. Engagements, weddings, babies, jobs, school, moving, just to name a few. This year will undoubtedly follow suit and while I like to think I'll look back at the end and remember everything... I just won't. So I've decided to document at least one part of our year every week.

I hope you'll follow along as I post a snapshot of our child(ren) every week and maybe we can all remember together at the end of it.

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Harper finally (after 18 months, y'all) got some teeth and she is proudly showing them off while celebrating New Years with her favorite person in the world.

A Look Back.

2013 was a stellar year for our family. A full year living in Baton Rouge, a full year with our not-so-tiny-anymore babe, and big changes for our church and family! If I hadn't lived it, really I wouldn't believe all the amazing things that God did in and through us.  So here's a brief rundown  month by month of the highlights, with a little more detail in the fall months because they're mysteriously, uhhh... ahem, missing from this little space.

January: Our last month hosting church in our home. We went out with a bang, somehow managing to accommodate and feed 120 people in our living room.

February: We began trying to find temporary (that were also long term?) locations for our church to meet on Sunday morning. We first met in the Radisson hotel this month, which turned out to be our most consistent place throughout most of the year.

March: Harper finally started to pull up on furniture/anything semi-stable, sometimes scaring us but mostly just making us proud. We also participated in a 5k to end human trafficking.

April: Jake's 30th birthday and Harper's 1st. It was a month of celebration (and lots of blogging...)

May: The beginning of a fun summer. Harper took her first real dip in the pool and got her first passport!

June: We found out that our family would be expanding (along with Abigail's belly) and shared the news with you! We also went on our first family vacation to Orange Beach, AL.

July: First overseas mission trip for our church! It was a treasured time in the Dominican Republic despite the virus that swept over our team. Also, our organization's conference for US church leaders, held in Utah, took Mom away from Child for the first time. It was not as sad as one would think ;) Harper took her first steps and tipped the scales at 20lbs finally.

August: the return of college students and football season. What could be better? We also discovered what the word "toddler" meant as Harper was a full on walker/climber and very curious... Our kid's ministry at church flourished, growing from our faithful 3 at the beginning of the year to averaging 15-20. This also meant that we had so many families coming that we needed to have 2 family lifegroups. So much fun to see God move like that!

September: We travelled to Waco for World Mandate with our discipleship school and others from our church. It was refreshing to be with so many whose hearts yearn for Jesus and to see the lost saved. It was like a big family reunion!

October: Antioch Community Church met at the Dunham School for the first time. Another temporary location, but with more room to grow than at our beloved Radisson hotel. Abigail celebrated a birthday and we hosted a team from Antioch's Discipleship School in Waco. While the team was here, we went to the fair and ate a lot of delicious fried food (can't wait for next year...). And a little elephant who wouldn't keep her ears on made an appearance at a fall festival in town.

November: Lots of time with family this month, as we travelled to Waco again for a baby shower and wedding, had Abigail's family in BR for a weekend and then made our way to Houston for Thanksgiving. As we looked back over the year, we saw just how much we had to be thankful for! Our church continued to grow and meet at Dunham.

December: We finally decided on a name for our dear son. God spoke to us so clearly out of Isaiah 45 that he would be like King Cyrus, used by God and a warrior, and so we deduced that to be his name.  Cyrus Andrew (or more likely to be called Cy) should be gracing us with his presence any day now, though he seems pretty content in there. We hosted Christmas in Baton Rouge and Jake enjoyed using his new smoker to make a turkey and ribs for dinner. Our church signed a six month lease with Dunham, an answer to the prayer for a longer term place to meet than hotels or theaters! The auditorium seats 650, plenty of space in the lobby and room for Antioch Kids to expand when needed. We are a blessed people!

Thanks for coming with us on our adventures this year! We are expectant for all that God has in store for our family, church, and city in 2014.