Blessings...

Delayed gratification. Iced coffee tastes a little bit sweeter when it's been waiting for you in the refrigerator for a day and a half. Thank you, Lord.

A quiet house is like salve to the soul. And it's a little bit salvier (I understand this is a made up word) after hours of crying - usually babies', sometimes yours. Thank you, Lord.

The fellowship of women feels a little more like coming home when it has been sorely missed. Thank you, Lord.

Meeting someone who is thriving in the same life stage as you is like being thrown a life preserver. Thank you, Lord.

Challenging words are more riveting in the midst of complacency. Thank you, Lord.

A desperate heart is easier to mold. Thank you, Lord.

Thank you Father for what you are doing in my life, in the lives of my children, and in this crazy city that we live in. Thank you for being always present, even when we think you're not. And thank you for loving us, even on our ugliest days. Thank you for the blessing of your Word and for the assurance of Your gift of salvation. Thank you for friends, for family, for husbands, and thank you for your constant provision in every aspect of my life. I love you with all my heart. Thank you for knowing this in spite of me.

Thank you for this stage of life and I pray you would use it to Your glory.

Shhhh....

I'm beginning this post in a very precarious position. I have a (barely) slumbering Emma on my lap, who's slowly stretching her way to being awake, and any minute I'm anticipating coughs and cries from Rowan's room that let me know he's done with nap time.....a simultaneously exciting and dreaded moment. It's really my own fault. I've had peace and quiet now for about an hour, but honestly, I spent the majority of it mindlessly organizing my boards on Pinterest...LAME! I don't even feel bad. A girl can take a break.

And there are the cries...cool.

Crying babies make it really hard to think. Just so we're on the same page here, I wrote like half this post and deleted it because it didn't make any sense.

You're welcome.

 For those of you who are here anticipating baby pictures, I will not disappoint.

I'm currently working on a video montage of our last two months as a family of four. 

HAHA! It's funny even when I type it. Seriously though, I'm working on it.

Just don't hold your breath.

This sweet little lady is two months today! It goes so fast! She's an angel. She pretty much has to be since Rowan is a demon tornado most of the time. It balances things out. 

In all seriousness, they've both been a blast the last couple months and they love each other soo much. "Emma" is one of the only words Rowan says clearly and his voice gets all soft like he's talking to a...well a baby I guess. He's so smart :)

Ok, gotta go get Destructor from his crib. Look out for the movie (chuckle). And I'm not sure who knows what about Emma...for example if you live within a 50 mile radius of my mom, or are friends with her on facebook, or have ever given her your telephone number, or maybe you just stood within shouting distance of her, you probably know most everything about Emma already, so I don't want to bore you all with old news. But if you have questions about her just leave a comment and ask! It's literally one of my favorite topics to talk about....literally.

The waiting game

We now officially have 3 days until Emma Rose DeLuca's due date.

It would be an understatement to say that I'm getting a little antsy.

It's a wee bit easier to keep my mind off of the looming day this time around, mainly because I have a teething one-year-old who recently decided to start asserting his own will via high-pitched screams....super fun. :)

But it really hasn't been bad. Rowan's been keeping me busy, we have family in town keeping us company, and I recently picked up sewing. That's right, another step toward unlocking my inner suzy. I'm currently in the middle of making seat cushions for our dining room chairs. We'll see. I'm totally enjoying it and I'm in love with the fabric that we picked out - yes, WE....apparently John has quite an eye for fabric. I've been trying to take pictures as we go so I can share the process - the good, the bad and the ugly (hopefully not too ugly...I'd actually like to use them). So that's coming soon....along with my baby girl. Eee!

I'm just ready. Ready to get the show on the road; ready to see what she looks like; ready to introduce Rowan to his little sister. I hope he likes her. I hope he doesn't try to tackle her, or eat her, or lay on her like one of his stuffed animals. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad. He really likes stuffed animals.

Anywho, here we are, playing the waiting game. I'm pretty determined to win.

A day of rest

Saturdays are very much our day of rest. Because most of our week is chock full of football, Bible studies, cleaning, staff meetings, hanging out with friends and work, John and I try to reserve at least Saturdays for just hanging out together and doing whatever the heck we want. It's my favorite day of the week :)

But to say it's our day of rest is maybe a little misleading. We definitely rest at points....primarily when Rowan's conked out. But for the most part, we end up doing what we love to do....go! No two weekends are the same so every Saturday looks different. But they all tend to have the same feel

Wake up
Feed Rowan
Hang out with Rowan (maybe take a walk?)
Put Rowan down for a nap
Call of Duty/blog reading - you can probably guess who is doing what
Feed Rowan lunch
Go somewhere fun (fun for us...i.e. anywhere outside our home)
Bring Rowan back home for a nap
Throw in some P90x and mommy/daddy hang out time :)
Feed Rowan a snack
Go back out and do something fun
Eat dinner
Watch a movie or one of our favorite tv shows
Hit the hay

And there you have it....a typical Saturday in the life of the DeLuca's. Notice there is no cleaning involved...this is my favorite part. It's not much to write home about, but again, my favorite day of the week.

Yesterday, our big outing was the Home & Garden Expo in the Superdome. 

While we could pretend to be all cool and HGTVish let's be real and just say up front that we paid $9 each to stand on the floor of the Superdome. Well worth it.

However, I did score a pretty nifty cookbook from the Junior League of New Orleans 

They have some really neat southern/new orleans' cuisine inspired cookbooks. This is the next one on my list to get. And I got a sweet new vegetable peeler.

I was a little perturbed at how excited I was about the veggie peeler...but seriously it's AWESOME!! Easiest peeling experience of my life, plus the blade is made out of that crazy tungsten metal. And it's Swiss so....

My favorite part of the day, though. really centered around the food....as usual.

John had a delicious pulled pork sandwich (don't tell Tony!)

and I stuffed myself with this mouth-watering bowl of red beans and rice. It wasn't Monday, the typical red beans and rice day in New Orleans, but pregnant ladies get to eat what they want, when they want. I'm pretty sure this is an actual law. Like a physics law or something. It probably originated with Newton.

Rowan tried the red beans, liked it at first, then threw the spoon back at me when he decided it was time for Cheerios instead. We're really rockin n rollin on the manners thing. What am I going to do with two?!

John's first blog post

Ashley has encouraged me to write a blog post, probably before she even started the blog, so alas I will comply. 

Reasons why I am complying:

1. In an effort to be a good husband, I should put forth the effort to help make my wife smile.
2. Ashley is 2 weeks away from our second child’s due date. 
3. I have never written a blog post, so when in Rome... I don’t know if that applies here.
4. She has been extremely helpful with P90X stuff and I probably owe her a few posts at this point.
5. I love Ashley!

On with the post... so what to talk about. I feel like as a guy I should talk about the latest sports news, or maybe some work out routine; however, I believe the majority of people who will actually read this post have little interest in these subjects. If I have offended anyone, I apologize. Let’s talk about Rowan. I feel like he is the most interesting part of my life right now, and Ashley posts a lot about him. So let’s put a man’s perspective to this thing we call parenting. 

I work a lot and am often left missing my wife and son. I spend a good amount of time at work some days thinking about how I would like to be home playing with Rowan or taking him on a walk. I feel like these ‘daydreaming’ sessions are always a little unrealistic. 

DayDream: Rowan is always right on the same page with what I want to do. We roll the ball back and forth multiple times; he sits patiently while I read him a book; we go for a walk and Rowan points and yells at different things; he laughs and I never seem to have to change a diaper. 

Reality: I get home from work most days rather tired and try to play with Rowan; but many days I fail and Rowan for some reason never wants to play the game I want to play. Last night Rowan woke up around 11:30 pm - a few hours after bedtime. I made the attempt to go in his room, calm him down and put him back to bed. As Rowan has become extremely attached to his mother (which, to be honest, I can’t blame him), he relies on her comfort to calm down. I went in to put Rowan to sleep and the crying/screaming only got worse. I don’t think I calmed him down one bit, but instead I worked him up a little more (close to a frenzy). Long story short, I failed big time. I went back to the bedroom defeated and sent in the heavy artillery. I could hear the calming effect as Ashley walked in his bedroom. Three seconds later, silence. Rowan is falling to sleep in Ashley’s arms and everything is at peace again. She lays him back down he makes a little fuss and then we are all sound asleep for the night (well Ashley is super pregnant, so she may not be sleeping soundly, but from my perspective it was quite sound sleep). 

Now to my favorite part: Tonight! Sooo tonight we had a monthly group meeting for Cru/Impact. The house was full of people and we were enjoying some fellowship, Jesus, and fun. Ashley put Rowan to sleep about half way through the shindig. However, about an hour later Rowan was crying and screaming (we might not have been very quiet). So  I figured why not try another attempt at calming my son. Ashley was busy talking about prayer and its importance, so I had no back-up. I walked in thinking this may be a feeble attempt and feeling a little defeated already, but hey what’s a guy to do but try.

I slipped in the room and reached for my son who was already standing in his crib. I calmly placed him on my shoulder and the crying continued. But this time instead of increasing it seemed to be tapering off. After a brief minute, Rowan was not crying but instead laying his head on my shoulder, first on the right, then the left, then the right, then the left (it made me think of myself trying to fall asleep). And then the moment came when everything in his body seemed to relax and he was asleep ("SUCCESS!!!" is what screamed in my head, but silence on the outside). I layed my son back in his bed after reveling in the moment for a good 10 minutes and with a smooth rub on his back he barely made a peep. I tiptoed out of the room to join back in the festivities. 

I think God blesses us with these little moments when we need them most. With Rowan depending on mom so much and a new baby on the way that will literally depend on Ashley for sustenance, at times it seems like the “dad role” is not as important. I know that providing for my family is a huge blessing from God, not just for the opportunity, but also just having a good job. I can’t thank and praise God enough for those things. He truly is the great provider. I will say though that when God gives me the chance to help put Rowan to sleep and calm him down, when God helps my work daydreams come true, those are the little moments when I feel most blessed to be a father and get a little picture of how our Father holds us in His hands and calms us.

“big gulps ehh.... welp see you later”

A thought and a prayer.

It's Rowan's nap time, but before I take my giant belly on over to the couch for a much-needed nap, I wanted to post something that I was thinking about yesterday.

Yesterday was a bad day. Plain and simple. One of those really cruddy days where you have a ton of stuff to do but no time to do it and all you want is a nap; or you have a billion things that need to be printed and your printer breaks in 5 different ways (including telling you it has a broken pipe....what the heck does that even mean?? Who put a pipe in my printer?); or no matter how hard you try to keep him entertained, a certain little man is not satisfied unless you are either sitting on the floor with him or holding him; unless you want to change his diaper then he kicks you and tries to crawl away. It's especially epic when all of these things are happening at once. You know...."those days." Regardless of what form they take on for you, you all know what kind of days I'm talking about.

Yesterday was my day. John came home and tried to rescue me by picking up after hurricane Rowan, and I ran out of the house crying all the way to Bible study. This I blame on our second child wreaking havoc on my emotions before she has even made her oxygenated debut.

We had gotten a babysitter until 8:30 last night so that I could go to Bible study and John could go to his flag football game. Needless to say, when Bible study ended at 7:30 I took it as a free gift from God to go spend some much-needed time with Him. So, off to PJ's coffee I went. And here is what came to me when I got there.

It is very difficult for me to get time with God at home. I don't just mean open-my-Bible-and-read-a-few-verses time. That I can manage. I mean sit down, focus my mind on enjoying Him, pour out my heart and really listen time. Even if I wait for Rowan's naps, I can't stop my mind from going to all the things that need to be done around the house. Something needs to be cleaned, or organized, or made ready for when Rowan wakes up, or for when his little sister gets here. Something needs to be cooked, or thawed. There's a list that needs to be made. Prayer letters need to be written, emails sent and students encouraged. Friends need to be caught up with, Bible studies need to be made, and events need to be planned. Even when I have time, I don't FEEL like I have time.

So how can I get the totally relaxed, 100% focused, coffee-shop-feel, time in Word without having to sneak an extra hour here and there when we happen to have a babysitter? Is it even possible? Am I destined to a life of falling asleep on top of my Bible, while I'm mentally making to-do lists and listening for the baby? I'm praying for help with this. Maybe it's just the season that I'm in.

There's definitely a life lesson in here somewhere. Now all I have to do is figure it out and learn it.

Goodnight doubloons and Mardis Gras things

Mardis Gras has come and gone and we're moving on to bigger and better things...like adding curtains and babies to our house. But Mardis Gras was a big deal for at least one member of our household. This year was obviously Rowan's first carnival season, and we wanted him to experience it in style. While we didn't have time to put together one of these babies for him

(although it is my dream to have a double ladder seat for our two babies next year), we did however find a special seat for him.

Well, technically my parents found it for John for Christmas. It was originally intended as a hiking accessory for our trip to the Smoky Mountains this summer, but we figured Mardis Gras was an equally worthy occasion to bust it out. Rowan LOVED it! However, the people standing behind us at the Muses parade were not as big of fans. So we lost it for the Thoth parade and decided to go au natural

and just tote him around on our hips. John did his best to teach him the proper bead acquiring techniques.

And he was successful at it for the most part. Rowan caught his first ever bead all by himself! 

Well, actually it hit him in the face and then fell into his hand, but I'm counting it! Please don't mind my slightly scary and disheveled look going on in this picture. I'm blaming it on being 8 mo. preggers. 

He really loved the beads

But definitely preferred the stuffed animals. Which we got a TON of. Well, compared to last year when we were babyless. Apparently John and I don't scream "throw me a stuffed toy" as much as our one year old. I'm ok with that.

All in all, I think it was a successful carnival season; which means we got some good beads, ate some good king cake, and hung out with some good friends. 

Next year on the Mardis Gras to do list......parade ladder, DIY tshirt, vest, and bowtie for Rowan, DIY tutu....not for Rowan. Favorite thing about Mardis Gras this year....post carnival sales at Sam's. 

Hello $3 platters

And hello my beautiful $5 wreath

Too bad they are all going straight into storage for the rest of this year. But NEXT year...oh the places they will go! :)