Merry Christmas, Everyone!!!

What an amazing year 2010 has been for The Shields...new job, new baby...you know, nothing big. Ha Ha!! As we look back at this year, it has been full of adventure and a lot of new beginnings. Thomas was finally hired on as a full time mechanical engineer at Denso Manufacturing. It was a long, hard journey in finding a job in this type of economy, but FINALLY, it happened. Praise the Lord! It was a time of learning patience and trusting in God's plan for our lives. We are so thankful that I can now be a stay-at-home mom...what a dream come true for us.

Shepherd is now 8 months old and such a blessing to us. He is so precious. We love watching him "discover" all the little things. Who would have thought that clothing zippers could be so fun to play with and that pureed green beans were oh so good!!

I have found a passion for educating women about pregnancy and childbirth. I am working on my certification to teach Bradley natural childbirth classes and hope to start teaching sometime next year. So needless to say, along with studying for my certification, church, and taking care of Shepherd, I keep my plate full.

We hope everyone is well and we wish you a Merry Christmas...

Isaiah 9:6

"For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Shepherd...He's killing me with his cuteness!!!!

After 4 months of maternity leave, it was back to work (thankfully, only part-time). Children truly are a blessing from the Lord. Shepherd has brought so much joy to our lives. It's amazing the amount of love you can have for someone you haven't even known that long. Shepherd is growing and growing too fast!!! He looks like a completely different baby since he was born. Most of his hair has thinned out, except for the back of coarse. Business in the front, party in the back..yep...Mullet style!!! His smiles and laughs have us in stitches and him and Thomas are working on developing a book of father/son dangerous tricks. Really....they're giving me a heart attack already! Thanks to wisdom from seasoned moms, he's sleeping through the night and is a napping champion. It seems like I get more sleep now than I did before I was pregnant. We are loving where we are right now, and get even more excited about the things to come...giving him food, crawling, walking, playing with things like train,trucks, lincoln logs, and legos!!

I have found that I am very passionate about educating women on pregnancy, labor/delivery, and motherhood ( from what I've learned these 4 1/2 months). I hear so many negative things these days. For example, when you're pregnant, lots of people say, "enjoy this time while you can, because once you have a baby life is hard." Or when you have a newborn, "enjoy this time before they're crawling all over the place and getting into everything." I mean REALLY! Can I get one positive thing about having kids. I know I'm totally new at this, but so far, it's been amazing. Of coarse, it's challenging in the beginning because you're learning your baby and there is some sleep deprivation going on. But, even through all of that, there has been no greater joy!! What an awesome privilege God has entrusted to me and Thomas to raise and train a child (and hopefully children). The Bible says, "

Behold, children are a blessing from the Lord,

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

So are the children of one's youth." Psalm 127:3-4

So what does that mean? Children are a BLESSING not a BURDEN. They are precious gifts. God likens them to arrows. It is our job to sharpen and shape them. Sharpening, whether it be a knife, rock, or whatever, is not easy. You sweat, it's hard work, and sometimes sparks fly!! Yikes!! But the end result is a beautiful, sharp weapon. I have a dear friend who I look up to very much tell me, "if I'm not enjoying my kids, I know I am the one doing something wrong."

I just want to encourage mom's, whether seasoned or new, to be encouraged. Seek advice and wisdom from women you look up to and pick their brains. We need to help and encourage one another.

I few of my favorite "mommy things."

Cloth diapers are awesome...and a great way to save lots of money. But I know what you're thinking..."gross"..it's not gross at all. You just rinse them with a cloth diaper sprayer and put them in your cloth diaper bin. I was extremely intimidated at first but I just eased into it a day at a time and now it's easy as pie. Not to mention..they are way cute!!

Another great tip on saving money..just use baby wash clothes for wipes.

For all of you mom's out there that have summer babies, these sleeveless teas are great. Because, let's face it, summers in Tennessee are horrible..the H is O baby!!

And instead of having to put Desitin or other messy, gooie stuff on your baby, just use a diaper ointment stick. No more getting diaper ointment all over you, your baby and everything else when you're changing them.

If you're interested in making your own baby food, "Super Baby Food" is a great way to learn how to make and store it and when to start what foods. There is a little redundancy in this book, but otherwise is good. "Baby Wise" is great for teaching them to sleep and nap. "The Vaccine Book" informs you what is in each vaccine and the reasoning for those vaccines. Gives an alternate schedule if you want to delay vaccinations or give only one shot at a time. You don't have to take every single thing to heart from these books. I have just found them very helpful as a new mom.

Our First 7 weeks of Parenthood!!!

I cannot believe 7 weeks have already past. Man, how time flies by. What a whirlwind it has

been. I think I have experienced every emotion ever created the past 7 weeks: frustration,

overwhelming love, extreme exhaustion. Crying for no reason was a pretty common thing in the

beginning as well.

I was totally shocked about how "green" I felt once we brought him home from the hospital.

I mean come on, I'm a pediatric nurse and even worked as a nanny for 2 months with twin infant

girls. "Only having to be up at night with ONE should be easy, right."

I believe the first week I was just living off adrenaline. Once that wore off, I started to feel how

tired my body actually was. NO ONE can prepare you for how tired you are. "How do people do

this. How do people ever have more than one child!!"

I would consider myself a little bit of a "psycho-mom" the first couple of weeks. "Thomas I'm

scared to go to sleep, what if he stops breathing...what if he spits up and chokes...what if..what if.."

I would just cry at the thought of it.

"I will lift up my eyes to the hills—

From whence comes my help?

My help comes from the LORD,

Who made heaven and earth.

He will not allow your foot to be moved;

He who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, He who keeps Israel

Shall neither slumber nor sleep."

Psalm 121:1-4

Thank goodness He doesn't sleep so I can. While I sleep, the Lord is still

watching over the precious gift He's given us.

Every little thing he does just fills me with joy...every smile,coo,toot...I love it all. He is such a blessing!! Now I have emerged from the exhaustion fog, I'm feeling good and realizing I can do this...and excited about continuing to grow our family. Not ready to add another in the near future at this point. It's just nice to realize Having multiple kids is possible..Ha Ha!

"Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

So are the children of one’s youth."

Psalm 127:3-4

PS:If you are expecting, I would highly recommend reading the book "Baby Wise" toward the end of your pregnancy. I wish I would have done that. I'm reading it right now and it's amazing. It talks about breast feeding, getting your baby to sleep through the night and that the best thing you can give your baby is a healthy marriage.

My best friend Bethany had her baby,Beck, 4 weeks after Shepherd was born. This is the first time they met. They don't know it yet, but they have to be best friends no matter what.

We go them matching onsies that say "best buddies"

The nursery..it's the most peaceful room in the world!!

Our little Shepherd is here!!!

Hello Everyone,

Shepherd Thomas Shields surprised us by comeing 9 days before his due date on March 27 at 8:19am Saturday morning weighing 6lbs 9oz and 19 3/4 in long. He was due on my birthday, April 5th, so I guess he just didn't want to share his birthday!!

I've had a lot of people ask about my labor experience since most people knew I really wanted to go "natural" with no medication. So I thought I would share the craziest thing my body has every gone through!! (Boys....if you're uncomfortable with words like "dilate,effaced,...you may not want to read.)

I just want to start with by saying, I had a great pregnancy. Other than having morning sickness the first trimester, everything went pretty normal. I went through about 3 bottles of tums, 1 bottle of mylanta (nastiest tasting medication in the world), and like a million bottles of zantac battling the nasty heartburn I had. But that can be explained by the head full of hair my little one has!!! I worked the entire pregnancy and found myself loving to swim every chance I got.

So....The day I went into labor was actually a great day. I went swimming that morning, ate lunch at my favorite coffee shop, finished up at 10 week Bible study with a friend, and was finally able to get my pedicure. For some reason, I had it set in my mind that I HAD to get a pedicure and have pretty feet before I had a baby!!! That night (Friday night) I was joking with Thomas that he was lucky that I didn't have any weird food cravings and that I never made him get up in the middle of the night for a grocery run for ice cream and pickles. However, I told Thomas, "I'm really craving a chocolate milkshake from Baskin Robins, I have to have one now!" So we set out to fulfill the only food I just "had to have" during the entire pregnancy. As soon as we ordered, I noticed that I "just wasn't feeling right". I was having some of the practice contractions I had been having for weeks, but these were hurting just a little bit. We got home, I drank about 4 sips of that milkshake and had to put down because my contractions were not going away like they normally would after a few minutes. I went to lay down in bed to see if that would help and after about 30 minutes they still weren't going away. They weren't really hurting, it was just more frustrating than anything that I couldn't get them to stop like I normally could.

My husband, being the wonderful labor coach that he was, suggested that I take a hot shower. Brilliant!!! That always made them stop before. So I took my hot shower, brushed my teeth, and laid back in bed. All of a sudden, I'm having to breath through the contractions and they were starting to take my breath away. I got up to walk for a second and next think I knew, I was laying on the floor during the contractions screaming, "Thomas help me, I can't do this, make it stop!!!" Every contraction at that point put me on the floor screaming!!! I remember thinking, "What happen to just easing into labor!!."

After about an hour of intense back to back contractions, I told Thomas to call our Doula, Tamisha, to start making her way to our house. Thomas apparently wasn't convinced I was in labor for some reason, "I don't want to call her unless we're sure you're in labor, it's 12:30am, I don't want to wake her." Are you kidding me!! Let's see, yelling for almost 2 hours now during contractions...how could he not think I'm in labor?? "Thomas, this baby is coming," I told him. I think he needed to hear those words for some reason. He called Tamisha and she told me to get in the tub until she got there.

I had heard by women who had had natural births that being in hot water was the best thing and you don't want to get out....so true!!! Everything still hurt but I was able to relax a little better. My doula finally got to our house around 1pm. What a relief. So pretty much for the next 4 hours Thomas and Tamisha made me walk and get in a lot of different positions to keep things moving. They let me get back in the tub and it was at that point that I felt that whole"pressure" thing. This may be T.M.I., but I felt a bowling ball was trying to make its way out of my bottom!!! The contractions weren't the worst of it but the pressure. I had that feeling for a couple of hours, then I told them " I feel like this baby is going to come out every time I have a contraction." Tamisha finally mentioned that we may need to start heading to the hospital. " I'm not going," I stated. At that point, Thomas who was just as exhausted as I was said, " You don't NEED to go to the hospital or you just don't WANT to go." I told him, " I don't want to go, I'll just have him here at home." As quickly as I said that, Thomas was up and loading up the car. I begged them to not make me go.

The ride to the hospital was just as bad as I dreamed it would be. I felt every pot hole on Chapman Hwy. It seemed like an eternity before we got to the hospital. They wheeled me up and put me in the triage room. The nurse checked me and said I was 9cm dilated and his head was right there. I had an out loud praise party when I heard the number 9!!! "Thank you Jesus, Praise the Lord!!!" Next thing I knew, they rolled me into the "ready room" (the room they keep reserved for women who come in and the baby is ready to come out). It was shift change at this point and my 2 favorite doctors where there. The doctor offered to break my water and said I could start pushing once he broke it..."Break it please, I'm ready to push!" He broke my water, and I sat up and started pushing. Fifteen or so minutes later, there he came. Just to add, once he broke my water, I felt no pain, not even when I was pushing. I did feel that "ring of fire" sensation right when his head came out but other than that...no pain.

9 hours of labor...and here he was...so perfect...with a head full of hair. I fell in love instantly with Shepherd and fell in love with my husband all over again. Look at our precious gift from God!!

I was extremely scared about natural child birth, but I had a friend tell me to relate it to what Christ endured while he was on the Cross. Jesus suffered and felt pain to give life. So I knew I was going to have to endure pain to give life. The Bible says that when Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem he "set His face like flint" b/c He knew He was going to suffer. "It was for the joy set before Him." So I knew I was going to have to set my face like flint and endure the pain, but there was going to be so much joy at the end....and there was,Shepherd Thomas.

looking rough..I know...I did labor all through the night!!!

Trip to Memphis (Griswold's Style)

A few weekends ago we had the privilege to go to Memphis for our friend Sally's wedding. Unfortunately for us the trip there was a be a bit more difficult than we had first anticipated.

So when looking for airplane tickets we notice that it was much more expensive to fly to Memphis than it was to Nashville. We have family in Nashville so of course we would just fly into Nashville and then drive to Memphis. It was the perfect plan...or so we thought.
We arrive to Nashville late because of a delayed flight, but we were undeterred. Crystal's mom picked us up at the airport and on we go. They were nice enough to let us borrow Brittney's (Crystal's sister) old Honda Accord for the trip to Memphis. So we hit the road on time!
What I am about to admit next will make me look foolish, but I am man enough and humble enough to admit these things in hopes that I can somehow inspire those around me. In planning our route to Memphis I confidently suggest taking I-840 to BYPASS the Nashville traffic. This plan is of course based on my understanding of the definition of BYPASS and assuming that it in fact BYPASSED Nashville, but kept you on track with eventually coming back to I-40. Had I checked the TDOT website and would have found that the final phase of construction for Interstate 840 isn't scheduled to start until 2009. So now I know that when planning a travel route, you should always make sure the interstate you would like to take is finished!
So we make it back to I-40 and we are very late because someone forgot to check to see if the "interstates were connected". It took an hour and a half to get past Nashville, which is normally a 30 min. trip. Not much we can do but drive on and with Crystal at the wheel I felt confident we would make up some ground, so I decided to take a nap. Not my fault, thats just what I do when I am in a car and not driving.
Next thing I know Crystal wakes me up saying that the car was smoking. In a fogging daze I think to myself where am I and what's going on. Once I wake up enough to see the smoke for myself we decide to go ahead and pull over. I pop the hood and I am quickly surrounded by a thick cloud of white smoke. I do my best to look around and see transmission fluid all over the engine and transmission. That can't be good.
So we decide to try and make it to the nearest gas station. Just to let you know, we are still 100 miles from Memphis!! Once we get to the gas station, we popped the hood and 2 guys in a service truck were parked next to us and asked us if we needed help...."uh, ya think I thought." So they graciously checked it out, and after attaching things that for some reason were not attached said that it was good to go. We were so thankful that they had fixed our car that Crystal gave them $40.
So on the road we go, we hadn't gone 5 miles before it stopped working!!! "This stinks, not only are broke down again on the interstate, but we're out $40 bucks." We make it to a rest stop, and all we cared about was getting a rental car. We were at the point we were willing to just leave the car on the side of the road...forever!!
Shortly after we pulled into the rest stop we were approached by Jane and Junior. Who at the moment were pulled over so there little poodle mix dog could use the bathroom. Jane and Junior were in there early 60's, newly retired, and driving there new RV. By the way, Jane also had on a fuzzy pink hat.
They kindly offer to drive us to Jackson TN, which at this point is 30 miles away and 80 miles from Memphis. We made some calls, realized that there was on one rental care place in Jackson,TN and that they closed in 30 minutes. Unfortunately, the Hertz front desk lady made it very clear when we called they she "was not waiting a minute past 6:00pm." So we throw all our stuff in J and J's RV, and tell Junior to step on it, we had 30 minutes to get 30 miles.
Crystal and Jane are sitting in the back with there dog, Junior and I are programing the Hertz address into there GPS and trying to navigate.
I'm on the phone pleading with the Hertz lady to wait just 5 minutes past 6, Crystal is in the back having a nervous breakdown, while listening to Jane's story of how she retired 2 weeks after the stock market plummeted and so on and so on. Because if we don't get the car in Jackson, we're stranded in Jackson until the next morning.
We're 5 minutes away, it's 5 till 6. So Crystal decided to give it a go at the Hertz lady. After fake crying and convincing the lady to stay 3 minutes past 6, we tell junior to step on it. I'm pretty sure we were on 2 wheels with each turn we made. I think Junior was an ex race care driver.
Finally,it's 6 past 6 and we have the Hertz place in view. However we also the the Hertz lady pulling out. Junior guns it and almost T-bones the Hertz lady and blocks her in the driveway!!
We jump out of the car, beg her to give a rental car. After she chews us out, she gives us the most expensive car on the lot. Jane and Junior and Crystal all hug in a joyous celebration.
So we make it to Memphis 4 hours late. We check into the hotel just to change clothes for the rehearsal dinner. Crystal realizes that she has left all her shoes in the broke down car in Jackson.
We make it to the rehearsal dinner just as speaking starts.
Anyways, the wedding was great and we had a wonderful time seeing and catching up with old friends.
Last but not least, we over slept a whole hour and barely made to our flight out of Nashville.
We couldn't have done it w/out Jane and Junior. They were our saving grace.
Sally and Corey Cleek.
Thomas, me, Sally, her new husband Corey, Laurie and her husband DW. We were all roommates 3 years ago, single, and waiting on God's timing to bring our husbands. God is so faithful!!!
Jane and Junior's RV....aka the Speed Monster.
What!!!!! Not quiet sure what this means!!!
I made sure to take their pic outside of the Hertz place. Thomas was in getting chewed out by the Hertz lady as we were outside rejoicing about successfully completing our mission.
Sally looked gorgeous!!!