Saturday, December 23, 2023

Christmas Home Tour 2023 - At the "New" House!

 Merry Christmas from the new home! 

Well, one that had tons of wonderful memories for us already when we moved in this September.

It was my grandparent's home - we're so grateful to keep such a special place in the family, and it was fun to have a "new" space to decorate for Christmas this year. With a bit more living room and dining room space, we don't feel as squished when all the Christmas décor is up.

I have a "before" home tour I hope to someday post. And also an "after" home tour of our first fixer upper house, but we'll see when I get around to that... life is busy growing and raising little humans! 

So, without further ado, the annual blog post... 

A Christmas Home Tour!

In the dining room I went with mostly neutral décor and tried to stick with a lot of my fancier, sparkly stuff, because I think of it as my "fancy" room.  
It's probably the room in the whole house that's most my style. hehe!



The buffet table doubles as the coffee area - now that I'm a bit of a coffee drinker! 
It helps save some counter space in the kitchen which is nice. 

The nativity up high so it's safe and sound from the tiny hands.
It will probably live here for a lot of Christmases to come...


Beeswax candles in my thrifted, brass horn candle holders make me smile and also feel cool and trendy! Ha! I'm not usually but sometimes it just conveniently works out that way.



Not much to show in our 1980s kitchen, but there is this little shelf that shows my style a bit.


For time's sake I just stuck some Christmas stuff on top of/in front of what was already on there. 
There's even a different smaller plate left behind the Christmas plate! Kinda genius. 

Calla Lily in her Christmas bandana looking sweet and peaceful...


I hung the kid stockings separately from the mom and dad stockings this year because it conveniently worked out that this shelf had three hooks. 
Next Christmas we'll have to figure out something different, for a total of 6 stockings to fill! 


I added faux white pine to the stockings and, new this year, picks with red berries. I then stuffed the stocking toes with newspaper so they hung a little nicer, and I love how it turned out! I'm not sure why I just now thought of the newspaper thing, but it helps them look more apart of the décor until they get filled for real tomorrow night. Yippee! 

A tiny little Santa baby (well, quickly turning to big boy) working on sneaking a sip of coffee while mom is distracted with photography.


The mom and dad stockings ended up here and surprisingly Mr. toddler has been very good at leaving them alone or setting them back up if they get knocked off. 


A few new things on the end table that are very my style.
 The nativity with Bible that is also a music box was gifted to me this year. 
The beautiful needle point was a score at a Christmas sale.

A closer look at the vintage needle point. Charming and neutral! 
It was love at first sight, and I was excited to spend the $10 on it!



Our real tree right from the woods - very top heavy with breakable ornaments.

The advent hanging in the window that we have not done so well reading through this year. 

Red vintage went into this cabinet... and again, I didn't even take time to move stuff out.
I moved a few things around and just set the red stuff in front.
I know it looks better when it's more simple, but for time's sake.... 


It still gives the space a touch of Christmas!


And that's a wrap! Merry Christmas - I hope you enjoy celebrating the birth of our savior. 
The best gift. 



Blessings,
Olivia









Thursday, December 8, 2022

2022 Christmas Home Tour!

 Merry Christmas!



Our "theme" for Christmas at our home this year is SIMPLE. 

With a crawling baby, a three year old that loves to rehome objects, and a five year old that has a hard time being gentle, I thought it was best to leave a whole tote of breakable items in the basement as well as not put up our second tree. 


I still feel like I'm forgetting to "do" something! It's just the feeling of not fully decorating. 


So, Merry {simple} Christmas!

Come on inside... 


This poor porch pot has been blown over several times from one very windy day.
 I just didn't have the time or energy to properly fix it, so it got plopped back in and is doing its own thing. Still nice to have greenery for some color. 



The little "Joy" sign is new this year.
50 cents at the thrift store... hung in a kid safe high place.


I added the faux greenery and twinkle lights around baby Jesus to highlight him a bit more.



In this corner of the living room I hung my cross stitch I made in high school.
I never fully finished decorating under the tv and just have some lights (that were supposed to go outside) and our stockings (shoved up under the tv so the baby doesn't pull them down on his head).


    
    Our cute little Christmas pup - definitely on the naughty list. Again. 


I went with a bit of a vintage pink theme on the tree this year.
One, because I found shiny pink beaded garland at Recycled Christmas this year.
And two, because we put the tree in this corner of the living room that already had a pink floral painting and dried pink roses on the wall. 


So, I tried to make sure some of my vintage pink ornaments were hung in places they would stand out. 


But up high of course ;) 



The hutch that usually gets fully redone in vintage santas only got this {simple} touch of Christmas. 


In the dining area I put faux white pine up in the chandelier again this year, but I also added some glass snowflake and icicle ornaments in with the crystal. 



Cause you can never have too much sparkle at Christmas time, right? 


In the kitchen I really only decorated the open shelving. 
New this year are the glass mugs with a cute little winter scene. 
I've been enjoying using them and feeling christmassy every time I have coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. 


Also, new this year is this "JOY" sign I made at a MOPS (moms of preschoolers) meeting last week. 
I stuck pretty neutral with some little pops of maroon and greenery to match the majority of my Christmas decor. 


And... so exciting for me, I FINALLY have a bathroom windowsill to decorate! 
After 7 years without one, it was time. 


It has come to my attention this year that I really have a thing for these old-timey winter scenes. 
My mugs up above have a similar Currier and Ives type of vibe too. 

And I even got myself and baby some matching Burt's Bees jammies with little winter scenes and sleighs all over them. The little pictures give me such a nostalgic feeling! 

I also have some more plates and tins too that aren't pictured. 
I better keep things in check so I don't end up with piles by the time I'm 40, cause really how many cookie plates and platters can one person use... 



Well, that's all for this year!
Still plenty Christmassy around here. I just keep having to tell myself "it's okay" that things are more simple. The kids are not going to remember that not every snowflake was hung and not every santa mug was put out. IT'S OKAY to simplify when life needs it. No matter how much you love decorating. 

I'm very much looking forward to all the family time and delicious meals ahead. 
Candlelight Christmas eve service, making cookies with my kids, picking out thoughtful presents, having warm, glowey lights to look at every evening. I love it all. 

Very thankful for a loving and merciful God that would send us a much needed savior. 
It definitely deserves to be celebrated 24/7, but going all out a certain time of year to celebrate Jesus' birth is so fun. 
Trying my best to be intentional in it all. 
The most wonderful time of the year!


Praying you have a blessed Christmas!

~Olivia









Saturday, October 29, 2022

Supernatural Childbirth - Abel's Home Birth Story



We welcomed our third baby - an adorable little boy, Abel Matthew, at the end of March!

This is not my typical blog content, but it was such a wonderful birth experience - a beautiful testimony of our loving God and the way he wants birth to look - that I know it needs to be shared! 

I also wanted to write out Abel's birth story so I don't forget any of it.
 It was definitely the supernatural child birth I had been praying and believing for! I still smile every time I think back and remember how he was born. Supernatural truly is the only word to describe it. 

Back before I had any babies, one of my best friends told me I needed to read the book "Supernatural Childbirth" by Jackie Mize. It completely changed the way I thought about birth and pregnancy.
 Jackie has such a powerful testimony she shares.
 If you are a follower of Jesus and plan to have children or continue to have children, I highly recommend this quick read. The idea is basically that you can have an easy, fear free pregnancy, labor, and delivery through what Jesus has done for us. 


( about two days before giving birth) 


So, without further ado...

Abel's Birth Story


On March 31st I was 39+6 days (yes, baby was due on April Fools, and I was really hoping he wouldn't come then because I didn't want to deal with all the jokes!) I started cleaning up from dinner and having the usual braxton hicks contractions that typically came at that point in the day. 
However, I noticed that they "wrapped" around my lower back a bit more. 



It basically felt just like braxton hicks but on my front and back side so I didn't think much of it.
 But at 7:13 PM I made note of the time on the stove while I was loading the dishwasher. I thought I'd better just keep an eye on the time and mentioned to my husband that they felt slightly different. 

By 7:36 I was still consistently having them, so I thought, "I'll go sit down and see if they go away. If they do, then it's just braxton hicks. If not, maybe we should call the midwives."
 I went and sat on my son's bed and watched him and my daughter play. I mentioned to them they better start picking up the house just in case this was it!
 I told them we were going to need a clean house to lovingly welcome the new baby to. 
They proceeded to make a mess, while I sat and realized the contractions had in fact stopped. 

Just as I was thinking there was nothing real going on I felt a little gush that made me jump a bit and let out an, "OHH!". My husband came to the bedroom door and I told him I either just peed myself or my water leaked a little bit. This was around 8:00 pm. 

I waddled to the bathroom where I spent a good while trying to decide if it was just pee leaking or in fact amniotic fluid. (I have heard stories of the pee thing happening to women as a false alarm, and this baby sat soooo low that it wouldn't have surprised me if I did just pee myself a bit! hehe) 

My husband just stood studying me in the bathroom doorway. There were no major signs of anything. 
I did feel baby do one big flip type move (which I now know he was sealing the water bag off, because my water didn't leak or gush anymore after that - and it was in fact my water that made the small gush.) 

At this point I was feeling a bit confused as to what exactly was happening. With the strange, almost nonexistent feeling with contractions plus the little gush I was getting nervous I didn't quite know exactly what was going on. So, I made a little joke with my husband. I looked down at my belly and said, "now don't you be difficult baby! You just shoot right down that waterslide!" He laughed a bit and then went back to the kitchen.

He went back to the computer to look things up and remind himself of what point he needed to call the midwives. 
While I was alone in the bathroom I started praying for comfort, guidance, clarity and wisdom in the situation. I also started declaring - quietly but still out loud. I said, "I'm not sure if this is it, but if it is, then Satan and all of your demons you have to leave this house and property now in the name of Jesus. You are not welcome here. This baby will be coming fast and easy and pain free - in the mighty name of Jesus!" 

[You see, I have always recognized the spiritual warfare that surrounds childbirth. Satan has a deep hatred for new life, as well as women. We are so clearly under attack in this area - especially in the US. The amount of fear that surrounds the idea of birth and motherhood is crazy and increasing with each generation. We also have the highest infant mortality rate AND maternal mortality rate of any developed nation. This just shouldn't be. The rate of birth by cesarean section and our miscarriage rate are through the roof and unfortunately still on the incline. Who's to blame for all this? The enemy is -
There is so much birth trauma, birth pain, fear, and decisions made based on fear happening all around, and it is ABSOLUTELY coming from the one who is out to steal, kill, and destroy. He's a coward that fights dirty, so he's not scared to target the most defenseless and innocent of humans - babies.
We know from the word of God, that having babies is in fact God's will. And living without fear is also his will. 
I say this without a doubt, because I have experienced, twice now, what birth looks like completely dependent on God and his strength and completely free from all fear. It is absolutely incredible! 
The fearful way the majority of babies are brought into this world is NOT God's design. 
With every supernatural childbirth testimony, you will hear over and over again the mom saying, 
"THIS is the way God wanted birth to be!"]

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind." 2 Timothy 1:7


So, I recognized that the enemy was naturally going to want to attack as labor started, and I told him off. Then I got up off the toilet and went and got my phone (about 8:15 pm) to text my mom and say hey, maybe you better come take the kids and dog for a sleepover "just in case". 
She then called and said she was on her way and that she thought it would be a good idea to call the midwives, right away to keep them in the loop. 

While my husband, Matt, called the midwives and let them know about the gush of water and the "wrap around braxton hicks", I got the kids' bag ready and during this time I started to have REAL contractions. However, they were only 10 to 12 seconds long! I would literally just pause what I was doing and count to 10 in my head. I was even talking through them for quite a while. 
They were not painful at all - my body was just doing a lot of work...and I started to get excited!

My midwives both left their houses once hearing from my husband. Midwife Savi said she was in the car and driving 6 minutes after the call. She lives 1 hour from us.
 Midwife Dana is about an hour away as well but on a different route. They both headed our way immediately! They knew, based off of my last birth, that things weren't going to take too long.

I headed back to the master bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face so I would be all set for bed once baby came. I also wanted to make sure I went to the bathroom, cause I didn't want to deal with that during birth. While I was brushing my teeth my mom got to the house. She came and gave me a hug in the bathroom - probably boosting my oxytocin levels! I had a strong (but short) contraction that made me feel a bit nauseous and almost break a sweat. I thought for a moment that maybe I should jump in the shower? But then never did. Looking back, I now know that this contraction was transition. Again, NO PAIN - thank you Jesus! Just my body doing a lot of work. I think that's why it's called labor. ;) 

My mom got the kids and was heading out. I said goodbye to her and my daughter. Then I sat back down on the toilet to try to go more and yelled to my son, "wait, come give me a hug goodbye!" 
He came around the corner with my mom and gave me a hug. I said, "Okay, you pray that the baby comes easy." and he said, "I will." Right after/during hugging him I let out a few lower "Huuuuh" sounds, and I remember seeing my mom furrow her brow a bit at me before gathering my son and heading down the hall and out the door with him, my daughter, and my dog. 
(I later learned that the toilet is called "the dilation station" during labor! I guess your body just knows to relax there. haha!) 

I went to the bathroom more and found myself not being able to sit. I stood up a bit and my body let out some deep roars (open mouth, open cervix y'all!). I reached down to see if I could feel baby's head at all but could not. At this point I could tell things were happening quickly, and I started to wonder where the heck my husband was. I then heard the toilet flush in the other bathroom behind me.
 I wondered no longer and knew he had heard the roaring and knew it was go time.
 He came around the corner, on the phone again, and I remember him saying, "Umm Savi, things are progressing pretty quickly now. She just had like a minute long contraction!" 
In my head I thought, "Nope, that was not a contraction, that was baby coming down the birth canal!!" but I did not use the energy to tell him that. Instead I stood all the way up and said, "you wanna check for baby's head?" Because I was starting to feel that oh so familiar "ring of fire". The kind of burn-y feeling of the baby crowning. It's an exciting feeling for me, because I know I'm about to meet baby real soon! Matt walked forward and set his phone on the bathroom vanity. He squatted down in front of me, looked, and said in true Wisconsin fashion, "OPE! I see a head!" 

I clearly remember hearing my midwife on speaker phone say, "You see a WHAT!?" She's a very calm lady, so just her ever-so-slightly raised tone of voice when she said "a what!?" made me laugh a bit." 

She kept saying over the phone, "okay Olivia.... and you're walking to the bed. *Pause* Are you to the bed yet? You're getting yourself to the bed". My husband informed her I was not moving. I just kept shaking my head no. The thought of walking the 10 feet over to my bed (that was never made up for birthing) with the baby's head half way out of me just didn't sound appealing. 
Plus I did not want to climb UP onto the bed, and on top of that I didn't want to ruin all of our nice bedding with blood and amniotic fluid! haha! 

Since I was already in the zone I just held onto my husband's shoulders as I was standing.
 (I remember reaching down and feeling a little head of hair at one point.)
 I was using his shoulders for support since my legs were shaking quite a bit. I leaned into him and I started SMILING, almost giggling for a moment, as I pushed. What a gift it all was!
I very vividly remember starting to push out baby's head more with a huge grin on my face and saying, "Yes Jesus!"
When I think of Abel's birth, that's the moment I think of. The veil was thin.
 Holy Spirit was so present, and I was just tickled that God was answering all of my prayers - down to even the secret one of it being just my husband and I there at the baby's birth so it could be a meaningful moment in our marriage. "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart"! There was absolutely no fear in my mind about it being just the two of us. Matt did such a great job staying calm and working with me and God to get baby out into the world smoothly! 
We jokingly have called him "the Midhusband". 

In my mind, birth is just such a natural, normal thing that there is no reason to call 911 and treat it like an emergency situation. Plus there was no time for that! 

I'm not exactly sure what was being said on speaker phone - I don't think much of anything, but my husband quietly asked if I wanted to get down on my hands and knees (since I wasn't budging about moving to the bed). And I shook my head yes. I was happy he must have remembered me ranting about how wonderful of a birthing position that was. It opens the hips right up!  

I got down on the bathroom floor and started trying to remember how to push. I gave a little practice push and thought yep, that's it! I pushed again and could feel his head come all the way out. Woohoo!

Now, I wasn't paying attention to what was being said between my husband and my midwife, but she had told him to check for the cord around the neck. Of course, a midwife would probably announce that that is what she's doing, but my husband just stuck his fingers right up there and it made me jump. I  yelled, "gaaaa! what are you doing!?" He explained, and I was relieved because for a moment I had thought he was trying to push the baby back in a bit! haha! 

I heard him tell the midwife the cord was not around the neck, so I gave another push and out came all of baby! My husband was not fully ready for that or for how slippery baby was! Honestly, I thought I had a couple more pushes yet. I forgot once the head is out the rest is easy peasy pushing.

My husband started rubbing up baby's back to get a cry. I remember glancing up at the digital clock by the bathroom mirror and seeing 9:07 PM. I heard baby start to cry and my husband say, "Aww, hey buddy!" To which I sassily said, "IS. IT. A. BOY?????" Because we never found out the gender and it felt like a flippin' eternity waiting for him to announce it. He was mostly focused on getting baby to cry I know, but STILL. He kinda left me hanging for a moment. When he said "buddy" I knew though. 
My husband excitedly told me that yes it was a boy, and I was like, "well, can I see him now?"
 I was trying my best to stay patient while things were getting situated but wanting so badly to see my new baby! 

My husband handed him though my legs and I sat up holding him, while my husband laid towels down on the bathroom floor. Still grinning from ear to ear and in absolute awe of what God had just done. My exact prayer had been answered! It was, "Lord would you please do it again? Would you please bless me with another beautiful supernatural childbirth that's fear free, pain free, fast, and easy, in the name of Jesus? Amen." 
I prayed that often in the third trimester, and I was just giddy that he answered ALL of that!
 I felt so loved in that moment. I just laid on the tiny bathroom floor for probably 20 minutes or so holding my new little love and praising God. 

My husband was cleaning up a bit. I remember him grabbing a washcloth and wiping up my legs with warm water. He was still on speaker phone with the midwife. Our call had never been dropped despite her driving through a major dead zone for a while. 
Matt got the bed ready, helped me up while I was holding Abel, and we slowly walked to the bed and snuggled in. Baby Abel was content to be nursing away, and Matt delivered the placenta as Savi talked him through what to do. 

We just hung out in our cozy bed and took some pictures - our house felt so peaceful! It was beautiful. We facetimed my mom who was in bed with big brother and sister. She squealed when she saw there was a baby already! He was born before she even had made it back to her house with the kids. 
Midwife Savi showed up soon after and was amazed. She told us she had missed a few fast births before, but never by this much time. Midwife Dana showed up shortly after that and they check on baby while we went over the whole birth story again. Everyone was in awe! 
One hour of active labor, with about one hour of mild braxton hicks type contractions before that. 
100% fear free, pain free, and definitely ohhh so easy. 
What a good and powerful God!
 That kind of labor and delivery is ONLY possible in and through Him.
 
About 20 to 30 minutes after birth

We as women were created with strong and capable bodies, perfectly designed to grow and birth tiny humans. But, I truly believe the design of birth is to be fully dependent on God our father.
 Being strong in the Lord and the power of HIS might (Ephesians 6:10). 
Being completely surrendered and not trying to do it in our own strength! 

When I first read Jackie's book on supernatural childbirth, back before I had even conceived a baby, I remember thinking, "Is this lady crazy, or is there actually something to this!?" My idea of childbirth was so warped by the world, I was sure it had to be awful. But what really got me believing, was the testimonies at the end of the book! Realizing that there were other God fearing women out there that had experienced what she was writing about... that had me believing it must be true! 

"They overcame him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony" (Revelation 12:11)

And now with social media, I was able to read testimony after testimony of pain free, supernatural childbirth. It truly is so beautiful to read and see more and more sisters in Christ realize the lie we've been told and discover the truth of the word of God that's applicable in this area of life.
 Standing in faith and resisting the schemes of the devil! 
Being a follower of Christ in this world is a lot harder for us in many ways,
 but childbirth doesn't have to be one of them! 





I'm so thankful for the addition of my sweet little Abel Matthew boy. He is absolutely the chill baby we prayed for. We prayed he would be a peacemaker and a peacekeeper in our home and family, and he already seems to be that. Such an incredible gift from the Lord! 
I look at him and thank God over and over for his goodness and the love and beauty and grace he showed in how Able entered the world. All glory goes to Him! 

What a mighty God I serve! 




 This stunning painting was done by my sister!
 A beautiful gift to baby Abel from his loving Aunt Maddie.


Thanks for reading! I hope you found this testimony to be an encouraging proof of God's love, power, and goodness!

Blessings,
Olivia