Labor of Love

It's been over two weeks since I last blogged. Over two weeks ago, my life was absolutely ruined. In the best way possible.

September 10, 2010 at 8:34am, Jason and I welcomed a little Abraham Faumana Jason Manalli into the world. He weighed 8lbs, 2oz, was 19.5 inches long and was absolutely perfect. It was love at first sight...

But before I move forward, let's go back just a little...

Here's the picture I took the day before. The last picture of me pregnant. :)

At 3:30 that morning, I woke up to a curious pain in my lower abdomine. Being only 39 weeks, I totally thought nothing of it, because I was so sure I wouldn't have this baby for at LEAST another week. So, I went back to sleep... That is, until the next one came... 4 minutes later. What a nuisance. I tried going back to sleep. Only to be woken up AGAIN.

Ok, seriously?!

So, I switched on the closet door light and tried timing what I had supposed were contractions. But I was so tired I kept falling asleep and then losing time. THEN, the pain increased.

Now I'm freaking out a bit.

I looked at AAAALLLLL the pregnancy books that lined our shelf.

I never read a frickin' one.

Ok, well, I read ONE, but didn't even get all the way through it! I grabbed the one I knew best and looked through the contents.... "beginning of pregnanccccyy..... nutritionnnn..... labor storiessss.... LABOR!" Licked my fingers and quickly tried to turn the pages to what I thought would hold the key to my delima: "Am I really in labor or is this false? Oooorrrr do I have to just go to the bathroom??" But before I could get there, another contraction came... *breathing* "whoo-whoo-hee. whoo-whoo-hee".

Jason stirred and then woke up.

"You ok?"
"Yeah, I think so..."

My back was facing him, I was hunched over, book in one hand....

"What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to figure out if I'm in labor..."
"Why don't you just call the midwife?"
"Oh, yeah... good idea"

So the short is that I was obviously in labor. Duh.

I labored at home for a bit and then decided after about an hour or two to go in. When we arrived, I was still unsure if this was what I was supposed to be feeling. I was going to feel so stupid for waking these ladies up if they were false contractions. They had me get into the tub and from there, the contractions got more intense.

Alright, I'm convinced. 

Jason went into my bag and grabbed a CD that I had put together. Instantly the presence of God came as the music started and I heard, "In the glory... of Your presence... I find rest... for my soul..." Jason came next to me and we basked in that moment and cried... Welcoming Holy Spirit was the best thing we could have done. He was there.

Mom, Dad and Tiana came after the midwives told us that I was already 100% efaced and 5cm dilated. Mom assisted along with Jason in coaching, Tiana took pictures and Dad waited in the family room.

All in all, my labor was about 5 hours with about a half hour of pushing. When they lifted Abe's little body and placed him on my chest, I could not believe that he was already here. Overwhelmed by the moment, I instantly started crying...

Mom holding my hand while I was laboring

Jason on the other side holding my hand

 Abraham grabbed Daddy's hand

Weighing him: 8lbs, 2oz! 

The tub at the birthing center

Shortly after both mommy and baby were cleaned up, my family went to get some food and the midwives left Jason and I with Abe. As we held our baby, the tears began to flow again and we began to pray:
"Father, we give back this gift that you've given us... Thank You for entrusting us with a piece of Your heart... Thank You that he has a destiny... Abraham is a arrow in our quiver, a mighty man of God that will contend at the enemies gate... He will know the name of the Lord all the days of His life...He is called to be a lover of the Most High..." The music had not stopped, so it all seemed like one continuous act of worship... from labor to delivery to resting...

Abraham: Father of Nations, Faumana: (Samoan) To build in the Spirit; Authority, Jason: Healer

No matter the story for each mother, one thing I know... She is resilient. Absolutely courageous and powerful in her own right. So many women and families have welcomed a new little one into their home and hearts this season. Each experience is unique. But all of them are woven together to tell of a wonderful God who has a perfect design with the common thread of a love that knows no bounds and has the power to conquer each heart.

Ok, and now... moving forward to present... 2 and 1/2 weeks later, as I type this, Abe lays peacefully asleep on my chest. Wow... dude. Freakin' gnarly. I'm a mom. Jay's a dad. And of course, every parent feels this way, but I'll just say it for the sake of saying... I think we might have made the cutest kid on the planet. ;) 

Abraham: I look at you and still can't believe sometimes that you're actually here! Mom and Dad are totally in love with you. You are the raddest little baby and we are excited to do life with you. We love you always... xoxo 





Therapeutic Thursday

stretches. listening to Brooke Waggoner.

Team Awesome

September 8th is mine and Jason's 3rd year wedding anniversary.

Approxi 5 years of being together

Yowzas... What an adventure it has been!

I spent some time thinking about how I would explain the bliss of marriage

and the incredible journey that has been experienced so far.

There's just too much.

So instead, I lightly compiled some journal entries and pictures.

Keep in mind that there are so many more pictures as well.

Again, there's too much.

I cannot even stress how much.

But here's a peek:

Journal entry from when we first started talking. So funny to think about this time...

.OUR BEACH.

Moonlight Beach

Encinitas, CA

SO HILARIOUS! So Manalli style. Thanks, Jay. You wanted to suck my face.

That's so....

roman-sick.

ew.

Lakers game for Jay's birthday! We had a BLAST!

endearing

The beginning of forever

the big, glorious day

.MORNING COFFEE.

first year being married

First year anniverary dinner

Redding, CA

Jason came home today with a couple of treasures!

He wrapped them in tissue paper

and

put them in a Christmas bag.

It was cute ;)

At least it wasn't wrapped in a newspaper or a grocery bag this year.

Haha!

I actually don't care.

Anyways! our mugs! aren't they adorable?! Love them!

He picked them out himself.

What a guy!

us now

Three years of marriage

Five years together

Starting a family

Looking towards forever

Spotlight finds!

for baby...

Um, excuse me?! This is freakin' amazing!

I found this on etsy.com.

It was made from an old vintage suit.

Shwhata shwat?! That made it even better...

yeah.

it'd be ridiculous to spend the money on something that he'll fit for like... 2.5 seconds

but sometimes?

you have to splurge.

still thinking about this one.

for adults...

Credit: a friend of mine was wearing this in purple in one of her pictures on facebook.

I HAD to know where she got it. It's by a local artist and clothe designer.

You can find this at:

scissorkick.biz

Alaskans... you need to know about this.

and buy one.

me included.

.ENJOY.

He Will Know...

Since Jay and I were engaged we have purposed ourselves to find out what is most important to us so that we can build our own family culture. Well. Ok, let me back up a bit. At first, it started off as conversations at our fave coffee place. (Plug: "Pannikin Coffee and Tea" in Encinitas, CA! woot!) We'd sit across the table from one another and talk for what seemed like HOURS about what our life would be like together... building a home, building a family [insert a bunch of lame sauce "sighs"  here as we dreamily looked into each others eyes]. Then it became little notes that we'd scratch on random pieces of paper that we'd stick in books that we so happened to have with us that we had planned to read later on down at the beach.

one note looked like this:

"Manalli's:.... 'Stay low (humble), stay drunk (intoxicated in the presence of God), stay in love (tender relationship with the Father and with each other)'....."

It became apparent over time that as we talked it out, verbalizing our heart, writing it down on paper, we became responsible/accountable for what we brought to the table. And in its own way, it also became liberating because we each had a common goal. A way to remind each other.

Another is what we call "face time"

It's where when we get into a disagreement, either one of us is allowed to call for "face time" if one of us feels like the disagreement is de-railing and we're no longer even trying to understand one another, and it's more like we just want to punch each other in the forehead or something... The understanding is that if one of us calls for it, we HAVE to give it. This is what it looks like:

We have to get intimately close to the other... Ok, so not all the time is it with the smile like in this picture... but it's hard to stay mad or disillusioned when you're that close. Why do we do it? Because it's important for us to start and end with truth and hold love at the highest standard, even in times we aren't seeing eye to eye.

This is what I want my son to know....

He will grow up knowing what real love looks like so that when something that is of lesser value comes along, he'll know to run from it. He'll know what it feels like to be loved because he first felt it here. At home. He will have seen it modeled and demonstrated.

I want him to know that kissing is part of daily chores. Hugging and snuggling is part of every day life for our family. That mom and dad are allowed PDA and he will be forced to watch if he wants to stay in the same room because we won't stop even if it does make him want to "throw up", ba haha!

There's a whole list of things that we have written down... But this one is the foundation: LOVE. Obviously we know we'll come up short at times. That's where Abba fills in and overtakes.

To Abe: I believe that you already know what the love of God is. You're being formed in it as we speak. I'm sure there will be so many things that you will teach us about our Papa as well. We love you, son. You were wanted from the very beginning. xoxo

All Things Baby...

Week 38.

I can't believe it.

"I will not be pregnant forever... I will not be pregnant forever... I will not be pregnant forever..."

I'm on the homestretch. It's coming down to the time to meet our little miracle. Today, while enjoying some waffles (with peanut butter and syrup, yum!), I started talking to my son, who almost always responds now whenever mama talks to him by moving and rolling. SO much fun! Wonder what it feels like to have a baby move around inside you? Some may say it's unexplainable. But really, it's easy: It feels like a baby.

No, really. It feels like a human inside you moving. That is honestly the best way to describe it.

This week I've been on semi bed rest due to some intense swelling in my legs and a nasty sinus congestion. I am not used to staying in one place for very long. So this week especially, has been the longest week of my life. It has also given me the opportunity to get some small things done around the house in preparation for the baby, in which I probably would not have considered doing otherwise.

I started with laundry.

DANG.

This kid has lots of clothes. Aaaaannnnddd a lot of gear! Shoot, he's taking ova!!

Also, with all the hours of resting, I have been able to finish some of the books that I started at the beginning and middle of pregnancy. One that I enjoy a lot is "Ina May's Guide to Childbirth"... The book is FULL of stories of incredible women that have given birth naturally. They are real stories, some full of pain, some really touching, some funny, but all beautiful. I've had to have a little bit of a filter through out it, because it's a little new agey'ish, but overall it's been good for my heart to read these courageous stories.

Then there's the internet searching. Honestly didn't think I'd become one of those people... But I'm constantly looking up baby crafts, styles, clothes, gear... All things baby. Even as I laid in bed last night next to my sleeping husband, I was searching and looking at sites and pictures of baby, baby, baby stuff on my iPhone. I nodded off with my phone in my hand. I know this because, of course... I woke up two hours later (per usual) to pee.

Here are some of my finds:

No one is too young for some swagger

What?! Yeah!

Just thought you should know what a $17,000.00

diamond studded pacifier looks like.

This is not a joke.

babywit.com

Check it.

I should have registered here ;)

A pic of a most adorable little boy

How posh!

Last but not least, is a onesie that I made for the little guy yesterday.

Mustaches.

Oh, yes.

Also, for all you out there that are looking for crafts and projects, my amazing and beautiful friend, Jeni, pointed me to a fun blog: makeitandloveit.blogspot.com. Know of any fun sites yourself? Feel free to share!

To Abe: I have a feeling all this stuff will go away once you're here and all I'm going to be fascinated with is those tiny hands, feet and nose. And possibly how many diapers you can blow through. In the meantime, I hope you have enjoyed all the waffles and the countless songs I sing to you. I love you, Hammy. In the words of your father, "You ROCK!" xoxo

Popping the Blog Cherry

So, I've probably entertained the thought of starting a blog for quite some time. Being an avid journal writer since the age of eight, putting my thoughts down on paper or email form has been a bit of sanctuary for me. I've written things here and there on facebook... myspace, even (Wow... myspace. Almost forgot about myspace). But blogging? Always seemed like a huge dedication and almost a way of giving people permission to both love and scrutinize my own way of thinking... Overthink things much, Mariya? Yeah, I think so.

With no promises of being good at this, here I go... jumping into the world of blogging!

What to write...

Hmmm...

Well...

Let's make it nice. Let's make it easy. Let's be real, it's 11:40pm and I'm finally doing this. My bed time is 10:00pm. So we'll make this light-hearted. :)

Today, I ventured into the world of baby clothes shopping and *drum roll please* LOVED it! For some, that's just a boring piece of information (so much for keeping you coming back for more, eh?). But I have never been into this. Now only two weeks away from my due date and I've done things I never thought I'd be into: I've nested, cleaned one room with 12 cleaning products in one day to make sure it was SPOTLESS, enjoyed doing laudry and shopped for someone who isn't here yet and LIKED IT. Who am I becoming?! Oh yes... a mommy. :) Abraham's mommy, to be exact. Can't wait to mob around with this kid...

Adorable! Love the ears and love the stripes on the inside of the hoody!

Love these onesies!

For our little hipster...

What baby wouldn't be cool with a howling wolf?

Oh yes, please...

Ok, so I'm done geeking out. It's just too much fun shopping for the little guy. I'll call this blog good for now. Until next time, kids... I promise to throw in a couple entries to keep you coming back for more every once in awhile.

To Abe: Momma loves you, baby boy. I hope you like your new gear, although I'm sure this is all more for me than it is you. I'll just let you endulge in warm kisses and the like... I can't wait to give those to you! Neither can your Daddy! xoxo