harrison–one month

What whirlwind this past month has been. From going into labor early to becoming a family of four to many sleepless nights–we wouldn’t change this past month for the world. Becoming a family of four has been such a blessing.

During August’s first year of life, I blogged each month about his development and milestones. These are precious memories that I often go back to and reread. My hope is to do the same with Harrison.

Firsts/Milestones: Harrison has had MANY “first” outings this month. It’s amazing how much more quickly you resume “normal” activities with baby #2 (August keeps us going). Some firsts include: church, dad’s office, trick-or-treating, and numerous other trips to the store/playground/library/etc.

Personality: While pregnant, I kept thinking that Harrison would be just like August. When I thought about this new baby, I thought of August. Well–Harrison is NOT August, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Harrison seems way more “chill” than August did as a baby. My prediction is that he will be a more relaxed, calm, little boy. Maybe a little more introverted? As of now, he spends a lot of his days sleeping. When he’s awake, he’s alert and pretty a pretty content little guy.

Likes/Dislikes: Harrison LOVES to be held. His biggest “like” right now is being as close to mom as possible! A major dislike? Sleeping well at night. Sleep comes at a premium for us. He wakes up every 2-3 hours and struggles to fall back to sleep. When he’s up, he’s up for about an hour or more. Needless to say–we’re ready for some prolonged periods of sleep, especially before I go back to work.

Brotherly Love: Lots of people have asked how August is adjusting. To say August LOVES Harrison is an understatement. August kisses, snuggles, kisses, talks, coos, plays, kisses, and kisses Harrison. He is just smitten with his little brother. I’ll often catch August saying things like, “it’s okay Harrison…I am your big brother” or “hey little brother, it’s your big brother.” I cannot wait to see their love for one another grow. August is very eager for Harrison to get bigger so he can play with his toys.

Baby #2: I have found myself way more relaxed with Harrison. We’re working on establishing a eat/wake/sleep schedule, but I am not nearly as stressed about it, I know it’ll happen. If he doesn’t sleep in his crib for a nap–oh well. If he comes into bed with us at 4:30am–we’ll try again tomorrow night. I know all of this is for a short season and we’ll get it figured out!

All in all, we are adjusting well to our new normal. We have been so greatly blessed with many visitors, lots of help from family, abundant meals being delivered at dinnertime and lots and lots of love. We are so thankful!

Harrison Siders–you are deeply loved. Loved by your mom and dad. Loved by your brother. Loved by your Creator. We pray that you and August grow into life long buddies. We pray that you will forever know that you were created for a great purpose and that the love of your Jesus will never run dry.

We love you so much little buddy–now please just start sleeping more at night.

harrison siders bohle

Last week we added our second Bohle boy to our family. Harrison Siders Bohle was born on September 30h at 2:15 in the morning. When I started having contractions around 4:30 in the afternoon while shopping at Meijer, I dismissed the idea that he could be on his way. After all, my due date was October 8th. And I planned on teaching till the 9th. And having the baby on the 12th.

I was in denial that these odd pains coming and going could be contractions. I got home, unpacked the groceries and started dinner. It dawned on me that I should start timing the odd pain to prove that it was not contractions. Sure enough, they were about 40 seconds long  about 7 minutes apart. The pain was getting worse. Chris started packing bags and I started to feel the anxiety of going into labor unplanned.

We had friends who were in the hospital with their newborn baby. Since I wasn’t convinced that I was in labor we decided to go meet their new little boy and wish them well. Chris put our packed bags in the car in case we just ended up staying. While at the hospital, I continued to have contractions and was still in denial that this could be the real deal. I thought if I went home and laid down, they would go away. My plan was October 12th. NOT September 29th.

Upon leaving the hospital, I called the doctor on call who advised me to come to the ER. We frantically packed a bag for August, packed our bags, called friends to come take August for the night, washed dishes, put away toys and drove to the hospital. By this time I was needing to breath through contractions and was becoming more uncomfortable.

Once we got checked into the hospital (around 9:00pm), the nurse determined that I was truly in labor and that more than likely, this baby would be coming during the night. From there, everything was pretty smooth–once I got the epidural. 🙂 When it came time to push, I pushed for about 2 minutes and just like that, we welcomed Harrison into our family.

Many have asked where the name Harrison Siders came from:

Harrison–we wanted to stick with family names. Chris’ grandpa’s name is Harry–which is what lead us to coming up with Harrison. Right now, we plan on sticking to calling him Harrison.

Siders— Siders is my mom’s maiden name. August has Chris’ mom’s maiden name. Siders is especially meaningful since my mom passed away 5.5 years ago. It’s a pretty special way to honor her and her family.

We are still adjusting to life as a family of four. August is smitten with Harrison and has transitioned pretty well to the new role of “big brother”. We feel so blessed to have been given another precious boy to raise to know and love Jesus.

As with August, our prayer remains the same for Harrison–that he will grow to know how long, wide, and deep God’s love is for Him. That Harrison will experience  the love of Jesus in a real and raw way that will lead him to loving God’s people deeply.

We love you Harrison and are thankful for the gift you are to our family.

Our first photo as a family of four! Look at all of those boys! 🙂

Going home!