4 months old

Photos from my phone for now....

- 12 pounds

- first camping trip for a week

- smiling tons

-more content

-sleeps in the sling finally

-founds his fists... Always in his mouth

-drooler like crazy!!!

-almost rolling!!

- enjoys the toy mat

-loves jumping on our lap

                             Smiling at Zion... smiles are coming more easily now, but always hard to catch   in  photos, especially when your card is always full :)

12 weeks old, 10 pounds, smiling, enjoys kicking on the play mat, loves the outdoors, liking the sling better... no time for a longer update... :)

catching up

computer time is limited these days and my arms are happily full, but I thought I would catch up a tad

                                          Mattias on June 8th, his due date. 7 pounds 10 oz!

 Everyone asks how our other kids are adjusting, and they are amazing, no jealousy in this house! Thankfully, everyone is super helpful and LOVE their baby brother! They fight over who gets to hold him next!

 Aunty came down for an awesome visit! we had so much fun with her!! can't wait for the next visit!! We also had a visit from our friends the A family which was an awesome hang out and catch up time! 

                                                          I am blessed beyond measure!!!

Name

We have had lots of questions about Mattias' name. So I thought I would post about it here!

Mattias Luther... His name was not an easy choice!!! 

Mattias means gift from God, which he most certainly is!!!! What an amazing blessing he is to our family. He is a gift and a miracle! Frozen for 3 years and now here!!!! We are so thankful that God saw fit to bless us with Mattias and pray that he will grow to serve Him!

Mattias is pronounced ma tye is. 

Luther: is after Martin Luther the reformer and theologian. 

First time out of the house!

 After almost 4 weeks, we left the house for the first time! We went off to the beach for a lovely afternoon. Being May 28th, there was no one else there and we had the beach to ourselves. Mattias and I enjoyed spending the day under the umbrella, watching the other kiddos play and swim. It was really nice to get out and enjoy some fresh air. I can't even believe this little man is 6 weeks old. Where does the time go? He is almost 7 pounds!! Chubby cheeks!!!
He is alert so much more of the time now, and the other night he looked into my eyes and you could tell he was actually focusing on me, that is the first time he has done that. Jason noticed that he will track with his eyes and follow things for a short time! Big boy!!!

random photos

 Some random photos from the last week. Meeting Gramma, lots of snuggles!

                                                                    First real outfit

                                                favorite sleeping position during the day

                                                         Who can resist those eyes??

                                                               Checking out Navae

                                                                Random cuteness...

Yesterday I was marveling at the fact that our baby is a normal newborn weight now, 6 pounds 8 oz, and he looks like a newborn, with chubby cheeks and all! Praise God for that!!!!

4 weeks old

 Seriously, where does the time go??? These were taken when Mattias was 4 weeks old, over a week ago now. At 4 weeks old, Mattias weighed 6 pounds 3.5 oz. He has a totally alert time every morning for about an hour or an hour and a half. Big changes this week: head control... Mattias is gaining head control and can lift up off my chest and turn it to face the other way. This week Gramma D came for a visit, which was lovely. Mattias is still nursing excellent and getting the hang of sleeping at night :)
I'm still in awe every time I look at him, that he is a miracle! Frozen for 3 years... and here he is!!!! We are so blessed!

Questions

I thought I would answer some frequently asked questions here. 

1: what exactly is embryo adoption?

Sometimes families who go through IVF treatments have embryos left once their families are complete. They have 3 options for these embryos: destroy them, donate them for medical research, or donate them for embryo adoption to be transferred into the adoptive mother's uterus to grow into a beautiful baby. Thankfully, Our son is here today because of option number 3!!!!! Soooo very thankful.

2: Why did you do embryo adoption?

We personally believe that life begins at conception, meaning that embryos are babies... alive... 

We have 4 Ethiopian children and see embryo adoption as no different than any other adoption. We desired to have another baby in our family and to us it didn't matter if our child had our genetics. Embryo adoption seemed like a great fit! What a blessing to be able to experience pregnancy again and bond with our child as he grew! 

3: what clinic did you use?

Pacific Northwest fertility in Seattle. Can't say enough good about them! Amazing group of people there! Highly recommend them!

4: Isn't embryo adoption "playing God"?

After 2 transfers and 10 sweet snowflakes, I have never been more in awe or more sure that God is sovereign over all, including embryo adoption. Embryos are placed in the uterus with skill, that is true, but once there, no matter what grade the embryo is, no matter how long the embryo was previously frozen, or what the success rate the clinic has, only God decides whether that embryo continues to develop and implant. He decides if that baby's heart starts beating and when that baby is born. Only God decides. No one else. God is in control as he knits that baby together in the womb. 

Happy to answer any other questions you may have! 

6 pounds!!!!

36 weeks

      From this, a 5 day old embryo... to this... a gorgeous baby boy gestationally 36 weeks old! Over the past months it has become even more clear to me that life begins at conception. As soon as the cells begin to divide after egg and sperm have met, there is everything needed to become a sweet baby boy or girl. Having the opportunity to see our baby at just 5 days old gestationally, was amazing. Every baby is clearly a miracle!! I am so thankful that the family who chose to donate their embryos instead of destroying them... one of those embryos is my son. He is dearly loved and cherished!!

                                                            36 weeks, 5 pound 14 oz

                                                So alert every morning for about 30 mins!

                                      He still loves to sleep in the kangaroo care position :)

Been working on this post for days, so although i have much more to type I'm just going to post this for now!