Spring is here!

Today, after church we had a little picnic at a local park! The weather was perfection and we loved every second! Harper kept staring at the kids on the playground, i think she was jealous ;)

Hope you're enjoying the warmer weather!

Mercy Triumphs

Carolyn, our pastor's wife, has started a bible study for ladies who are in ministry/married to minister's. We meet on Wednesday's from 8:30 to 10:30pm. I'll be honest, the moment I heard about this I wanted to have nothing to do with it. I had an almost one month old and I was barely hanging on during the day, never mind trying to have a theological conversation at 10pm! But, Carolyn persisted and today I'm so grateful she did.  Wednesday nights are my solace of rest and renewal. Thursdays are like a fresh start to what's ahead.

The study we are doing is James:Mercy Triumphs by Beth Moore. It's amazing--learning about James and how God's used him to stretch me and mold me these past 5 weeks have been incredible! I am such a mess and yet Christ has redeemed me from that mess. The hope and mercy God's shown me each week, especially after messing up time and time again, humbles me! His love for me is unfailing even when I fail him so often. His mercy for me is new each morning, even after forsaking him the day before. 

I have needed this study. I have needed a reminder that God still cares. Broadening my understanding of Christ and our Heavenly Father has given me new hope, new perspective and a new love for Him.

Then, God went and showed off by allowing my best friend, Emily, who lives in Florida, to be participating in this study at the same time, with her church small group in FL. It's been such a blessing to chat with her about what God's doing and how incredible He is! Jesus is incredible and so worth every ounce of sleep that I'm losing by going to this study--my life is so much better because He is my Savior. You need Him in your life, if you don't have Him!

p.s. Harper's doing great---I'm sure that's all you really care about, haha! So, here's a picture of her, too!

Harper's Birth Story

Well, I last left you hanging on the edge of your seats wondering I even had a baby! That week was quite a long, but great one. Cody and I reveled in the last few days of 'just us' and then our parents came into town and we loved every second they were all there! Tuesday night, before everyone came into town, I made a 'last supper' for just the two of us...I wanted to make it special :)

Then our families came into town and we started to get excited...but before that, we had to have Mexican for lunch on the day of my induction. My parents, us and the Noble's had a great 'last lunch' before Harper came!

Well, she didn't come on her own, so we proceeded with the induction at midnight on Thursday, December 15th. Here's a picture of us leaving the house to head to the hospital...we were so excited, nervous and freaked out! 

THe induction wasn't quite what we were expecting. Our doctor has said that if we come in at midnight, I could start with a natural gel to try and get the process going more naturally and still sleep that night....well, she was wrong! I'm not sure if most people sleep, but I surely didn't. Not to mention, I had horrible back labor so, about 30 minutes after they administered the gel, so my back was in intense pain up until I got an epidural the next day! But, I was stubborn (read: freaked out) of the epidural so the back labor was manageable until around noon. I think I had finally convinced myself that the pros were greater than the cons! 

During the labor process, before I got the epidural...the rocking chair was about the only thing that relieved some of the back labor...and my apple juice box :) ! I wish I had a picture of this, but one of the incredible 'perks' of our hospital is the massage therapist they have on staff. She came in around 9am and gave me an incredible back massage. It helped so much, I wanted to kiss the lady! haha

Around noon, I finally got an epidural and Cody was ready to go! 

After the epidural I was happy and pain-free....but sadly, bed-ridden until the next day. But, it was just what I needed to get a little bit of rest and try to get the ball rolling. A few hours later, I hadn't progressed much (I was at about 3 cm still) and so the doctor started me on Pitocin and broke my water. We were then back to the waiting game and already experiencing sleep-deprivation and HUNGER! The doctor came back at 7pm and checked me...I had only progressed 1 cm. She said she would be back at 9pm and would need me to have progressed at least 5 to 6 cm or we would have to start discussing a C-section. 

At this point, I would have performed the C-section myself just to get this over with! So, the next 2 hours I just talked to God and came to terms with me having a c-section. It's not that I was completely against the idea, i just knew it would be a little more difficult of a recovery process. BUt, I had such a peace that the Lord was in control and He would be with me the entire way! My prayer was, "Lord, please either have me progress to a 7 or nothing at all". I didn't want to have to make another 'waiting game' decision. But, around 8:30pm the nurse came in and said the baby's heart rate was dipping every time I had a contraction, so she needed to get the doctor to check me. Dr. Bradford came in and it was the moment of truth.....'you're nearly fully dilated!", she exclaimed! I was shocked, I said "like, 10 cm fully dilated?'...she laughed and said, 'yup and ill be back in about 30 minutes and we'll start having you push!" I was in utter shock, Ephesians 3:20 "...to the God who will do exceedingly abundantly more than we ask or imagine'....God was faithful, once again. Well, long story short, I pushed for about 45 minutes and our little lady was here. Harper Gray Davenport was born on December 16, 2011 at 11:06pm weighing

6 lbs. and 13 oz, 21 inches long. Our hearts were overwhelmed with God's goodness, grace and love for us. We were now three. 

So happy

Right after delivery

Daughter, meet your daddy 

Our little peanut!

Baby Update!

Today I am officially 2 days past my due date (December 11th)! I cannot believe how quickly this entire 9+ months has flown by....I still remember the day Cody and I found out we were pregnant and now we are days away from meeting our little lady!

Speaking of meeting her, we had a doctor's appointment yesterday. I went into the appointment a little excited, nervous, anxious....ready to hear some news (be it good or bad!). I was waiting to get called back by the nurse when I looked down and realized I was shaking! I didn't know if it was because I hadn't had lunch yet or if I was excited/nervous! Anyways, I did the routine weight check (YIKES!!) and then had my blood pressure taken. My bp has been excellent throughout the entire pregnancy, so I'm grateful it was only yesterday that we had an issue. Anyways, the doctor came in and told me it was a bit higher than normal and since I've had a little swelling, they wanted me to go downstairs to the Labor/Delivery floor to get some blood work and have a non-stress test done on the baby.

Cody and I headed down to Labor and Delivery and I'm not entirely certain I breathed the entire walk! I got to the check-in desk and Cody whispered to me "BREATHE"......I took a big deep breath and told the lady, 'sorry, i'm really nervous'!

They took us to a triage room where I was hooked up to 2 monitors and a blood pressure cuff. One of the monitors showed the baby's heart rate and the other showed if I was having any contractions. A few minutes later a lab tech came in and took lots of blood (not a fan!). After 3 hours and like 15 episodes of That 70's Show later, the doctor finally came in and said blood work came back normal and good, baby is still doing great and my blood pressure finally went down. Then, we chatted about our options.....we discussed induction and c-sections and everything in between (if you know me, you know how many questions I asked!).

Cody, myself and the doctor agreed upon inducing THursday evening at midnight (technically Friday) and starting with some natural options, then if those don't work getting Pitocin to get the ball rolling. We packed up and then headed home.....actually we stopped at the nurses station and asked if we could see an actual room because I couldn't remember what the sleeping situation was for the husband. Poor Cody has a half of a futon thingy to sleep on, but I'm hoping to pack some extra comfy stuff to make it a little more bearable for him!

All in all, I was looking back at yesterday and I'm so grateful it happened. Not that it was really a 'crash course', but it kinda took the sting off of me walking into the L&D floor when I was in labor and having no idea what to expect. Plus, it's kinda nice having some 'light at the end of the tunnel' knowing that if she doesn't come before Friday, we are inducing then. I'm thinking my baby girl might have a little bit of my 'planner personality' ;)

Lots of people have asked us 'do you need anything?' or 'how can we help?' --as of right now, we are set, but my deepest desire is for prayer. I KNOW that the Lord is in control and I've had His peace my entire pregnancy. But, yesterday, when the rubber hit the road and something was wrong, I kinda freaked out a little. So, please pray that my focus is set on Jesus, that my mind is calm and my heart is ready for this little lady to come. Pray for Cody to be calm and an excellent partner in labor, for his heart to be ready and prepared for his daughter. Pray that this will be a beautiful experience for him and I, as we welcome our 1st child into the world. Please pray that above all we have a safe and healthy delivery for mom and baby (be that any means necessary). Of course, I would love to also pray for a short, uneventful, smooth, natural delivery; so if you feel so inclined, you can toss that one up there, too! :)

We love each and every one of you so much and cannot wait to introduce our new addition to you soon!

Until then, we join you in prayer and thanksgiving of God's mighty blessings in our lives!

Merry Christmas,

LaRae

A broken promise

Ok, well clearly I broke my 'I promise not to be vacant from here' promise, from the previous posts. I should have known I would get busy (story of my life...can I get an 'amen'??) Anyways, things are going well...today I'm officially 1 week from my due date. Boy, did this day sneak up on us! We have our Christmas tree up and decor is being finalized in the house. We even got Harper her own little pink and green tree to match her nursery :)

Hopefully, we will have a baby in the next week or two, so we can introduce you to our little lady! Until then, I hope you're enjoying the beginning of winter and more importantly, taking time each day to remember the TRUE reason for Christmas; Christ our Savior being born!

Merry Christmas!!

Love,

The Davenport's

EASY Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins!

I have an obsession....it's Pinterest and all things pumpkin :) So, I've decided to combine my loves and make some muffins!

I have seen a few different recipes for pumpkin muffins, homemade pumpkin cream cheese muffins and some streussel muffins, so I've combined all three to make my own!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese filled Muffins (makes 24 muffins)

Muffin:
1 box yellow cake mix (I used 'golden butter')
1 -15 oz. can 100% pumpkin (not canned pumpkin pie mix)
1 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice



Cream Cheese filling:
1 'brick' of cream cheese (softened)
1 cup powdered sugar



Streussel Topping: (sorry no picture)

½ cup sugar
5 tbsp. flour
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees--Combine cake mix, pumpkin and pie spice in a bowl until well blended, using a hand or stand mixer.
2. In a separate bowl, combine cream cheese and powdered sugar using a hand or stand mixer, set aside.
3. Combine all ingredient for topping and put into the refrigerator to get cold.
4. Line muffin tin with liners or spray with baking spray.
5. Put about 2-3 tbsp of muffin mix in each cup, not very much is needed!
6. Put a dollop of cream cheese filling on top of the pumpkin muffin mix (press into the mix, so it's not too high above the liner)
7. Sprinkle streussel topping over each muffin
8. Make at 350 degrees for about 20-25 mins or until streussel is light brown.
9. ENJOY!!




YUMMO!!

Thanksgiving Countdown!

As you've probably gathered from my previous post, I adore Thanksgiving and Christmas.....basically the season of fall until New Year's day is my absolute favorite time of the year! I love seeing family, the decorating, the Halloween fun and craziness, FOOTBALL season, then the two best holidays ever---Thanksgiving and Christmas! But, to boot, this year, we are adding our little girl to our family in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, which is going to add ANOTHER fabulous holiday, for years to come!! But, I'm getting ahead of myself... since this year we will be celebrating the holidays from the comfort of our own home (I'll be about a week and a half from my due date come Thanksgiving day and the Doc says staying home is best....I'm secretly very happy!! I've ALWAYS wanted to have Thanksgiving at my house!) We will desperately miss our extended family and friends, but we are happy to open our home to some college kids and families who are, also, unable to go home for the holidays! PLUS, my parents and Cody's parents are coming in town to celebrate with us, too!!! AHHHH I'M SO EXCITED I COULD SCREAM!!!....oh wait, i just did :)

Wow, I'm wordy today! Well, enough blabbing---I'm going to start putting up decor ideas, recipes for Thanksgiving, thoughtful insights, and possibly even do a giveaway for the holidays! WHO KNOWS!?! But, I'm promising to not be vacant from here any longer :)

Let's kick off November with a DELICIOUS holiday recipe that I just made and is insanely simple and SOO YUMMY!


picture from Ourbestbites.com --I forgot to take a picture of mine!

Cinnamon Toffee Dip (adapted from ourbestbites.com)

1 8-oz. package cream cheese (you can always use light/fat-free cream cheese)
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
Toffee bits (1/4 to 1/2 a bag depending on your preference)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. (about a pinch) nutmeg
Optional: chopped roasted pecans/walnuts
*I was making this for our office Halloween party, so I doubled the recipe and it still worked great!

1. Let cream cheese soften a bit, but not too much (about 10 mins on the counter)
2. Combine all ingredients, EXCEPT toffee bits and nuts (if using), with electric mixer and refrigerate
3. Before serving, add toffee bits to dip
4. To finish add a few toffee bits and roasted nuts to the top of the dip.

Serve with granny smith apple slices and homemade cinnamon chips (recipe below)

Homemade Cinnamon Sugar Chips

8'' soft tortilla wraps
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tbsp. cinnamon
*cinnamon/sugar ratio can be altered depending on your taste preference

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

1. Either cut out pieces of tortilla with holiday cookie cutters or cut into triangles with pizza cutter (I did both and they came out really cute!)
2. Place on a cookie sheet (I used a cooking stone at first and they didn't get crispy...use a regular cookie sheet)
3. Using a pastry brush or really even your finger, brush each cut tortilla piece with melted butter
4. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mixture

Bake 10-12 minutes (check them at 9 minutes to see if they are browning) If you only have a baking stone, keep them in about 15 minutes to get them crispy.


They are DELICIOUS and go great with the dip or by themselves! Hope you all enjoy!

Happy Fall,
LaRae