Moments

I'm trying to find my camera's memory card reader so I can post some of the moments captured the past week and a half, like Gray's first bath (he loved it). I'm trying to capture more of our everyday moments, and focus less on the state of the background, do I have makeup on, do Gia's clothes match (okay that one is a long shot on any given day). I realize even more now how quickly time passes. We will have had this sweet baby boy in our lives for 3 weeks on Tuesday night and he is changing so quickly.

My heart keeps screaming grab this moment right now as it is, don't try to fix it or make the background better just pick up your camera and snap because before you know it the moment is gone and you want to freeze it, remember it just as it is, maybe it's not perfect in terms of rules of thirds or maybe your lighting is terrible and the shot is gonna be grainy but this moment is yours and that reason alone makes it absolutely perfect.

So I'm making a point to just pick up my camera and shoot, no thinking, no fixing just snap. It's the pile of laundry that is peaking in the corner of a picture, Mateo's bed head, Gianna's purple striped leggings, blue flowered dress and converse, and the spit up on ratty tank top that I have on that makes us "us". Our life is loud, crazy and wonderful, it's a messy house a lot of the time, dishes from breakfast on the table at lunch time, but it's full to the brim with laughter and love and I want to capture us exactly as we are in these moments.

I want my kids to have books full of memories, to be able to look through them and remember playing Blokus with their dad on the coffee table after dinner, reading Charlie's Super Hero Underpants and laughing every time when we see the Yeti in his undies even though we have read it a million times, cracking up over daddy's Darth Vader spiky kisses (or any of the other 70 made up kisses). I'm going to jump on the 365 photo a day band wagon starting Jan 1st, and my theme will be "the everyday". I'm sure with a full house there will be more than plenty of everyday moments for me to grab.

How Wonderful Life is ... Now You're in the World!

He's Here!

For those of you that might not know, we had our sweet baby two weeks ago and it's a boy!!! After lots and lots (seriously) of searching, we decided on naming him Grayson Charles.

He's perfect and amazing and fits in perfectly. He completes us so amazingly well! He is such a blessing, a perfect miracle from God. He has yet to learn what it means to be put down. In fact, there are wars in my house right now over who gets to hold him (although the biggest feud is between Nana and Ava). There is not a number big enough to count the times he has been kissed in the short time he has been here.

I am so in love with my littlest man, I can't tell you the number of times in a day I try to soak in and memorize his smell, his sweet newborn noises, the softness of his skin, and all his newness. I didn't realize how much I missed nursing, but I did and that bonding time is something I'm so thankful for. I just wish I could stretch out time and make it go by a little slower.

Our family is even more complete now.

His birth story and pictures to come soon.

2 days old



2 weeks

38 Weeks

My sweet little one,

38 weeks! Can you believe time has gone by so fast!! We could meet you any minute now, in fact we cannot wait for that moment. Your brother and sisters can't stop talking about you, they already have plans for what they want to do when you are born. Gianna and Ava want to cut your cord, Mateo wants to put on your hat. They make me smile talking about it.
I am trying to take in every second I have left feeling you move and kick,being pregnant for one last moment.I'm not sure how much room you have left, in fact that ribcage that you have been hanging out in, could use a bit of a break if you don't mind. I cannot wait to hold you in my arms, to kiss your sweet face, to see if this mega heartburn I've been having means you will have a full head of hair. I can't wait for your daddy to announce "boy or girl". I hope you know you are so loved, you have been loved from the moment we decided we needed you in this family. You are the blessing that completes this family, so meant to be!

I hope you are ready to be a part of this crazy life of ours, we are so very ready to meet you so come whenever you are ready!!
XOXO
Mommy

31 Weeks

This past Monday I hit the 31 week point in my pregnancy. I can't believe I am so close to the end, and like a lot of things in life it's bittersweet.

I am so very excited to meet this miracle that has been growing for the past 31 weeks and find out if we have another girl or boy. I am excited to see what genetic makeup he or she will have, dark hair, blonde, blue eyes or could I end up with a redhead like my dad?

At the same time I'm sad knowing that this is our last pregnancy. I LOVE being pregnant. Watching and feeling my body change and the life inside me grow is truly experiencing one of God's most amazing miracles. I am doing my best to look past my swollen feet, achy back and ribs, the sleepless nights where you pee every ten minutes and breathe in and memorize the miracle that is taking place.

I am going to do my best to document for myself these next 9 weeks (and possibly more), until we finally hold this sweet baby in our arms and thank and praise God, because we are greatly blessed!

First Day of School 2010!

So it's that time of year again, the one that as a mom you are both dreading, looking forward to and stressing over. It's where you realize your kids are continuing to grow, even though you have done your best to keep them in the toddler clothing section of Target. It's not happening, and so you don your best pair of Jackie O sunglasses, stuff some kleenex in your pocket and send your babies off to school.

We feel so blessed because our three are all attending a wonderful Christian school that we fell in love with but weren't sure would be able to afford. God certainly provides, and we are excited to see our children grow both in faith and education this year!

As far as the move to Washington, we are so happy. We truly feel like we have come home! We are in the cutest house, and just having a great time reconnecting with friends and enjoying the beautiful weather and scenery!! I do PROMISE that pictures are coming! I left the last of the unpacking for after the kids started school and now that they have I can get it all done, and snap some pictures to post, but for now I will leave you with my 3 love bugs on their first day!

Missing Ava!

It's been a bit more quiet.

There has been noticeably less art up on the fridge, walls, nightstands etc.

There has also been less arguing between siblings.

There has been a dress up princess sidekick missing her dress up princess leader, because brother's just aren't the same when it comes to donning twirly dresses, sparkly crowns, and high heel shoes.

Our car quartet has now become a trio when it comes to belting out our musical numbers in the van.

The strong spirited girl with a huge chunk of my heart is being missed (even if her brother doesn't admit to this and says with absolute conviction that she can just stay with Nana)!

We are happy she is having some great one on one time with family and being loved and spoiled. She deserves it!

Although next time she plans to leave I think we truly wont be able to let her go, "we'll eat her up we love her so!"

WE LOVE YOU AVA!!! We cannot wait to see you in a week and a half when you get back!! Expect to be tackled with kisses, squeezes, and possibly some spicy kisses from daddy!! xoxoxo

Destin and Big News!

So I realize that I actually took a vacation when we were in Florida two weeks ago and only had my camera out for the first 20 minutes we arrived and then it stayed in my hotel room the rest of the time. I'm sad I didn't take more pictures, but think maybe it's time to invest in a pretty good point and shoot because my love is way to heavy to lug around and not to mention I was paranoid of sand, water, algae, etc getting in it.

With that said we had an AMAZING time in Sandestin. Debbie looked absolutely gorgeous at the wedding, by far one of the prettiest brides ever (seriously sad I didn't even take out my camera for the reception, guess that's what happens when you are having fun!)

Thankfully, there was no oil on the beach when we were there (although lots of algae). Our resort was great and the kids had so much fun spending lots of time in the pool!

Onto our big news. We are moving back to Washington. Yes, you read that right. We LOVE Lawrence, and I mean really love it here and have some amazing friends we have met, but Steve's job (once again) had some changes take place after being bought out by an investment company. We lost a week of time off, but the biggest (and main problem) is that all the travel. I'm so thankful that my husband is a family man and not a workaholic. So in order to keep us number one above work, we decided that we should go back to the shipyard.

We would love to move back east with my parents but we are done with the new job hunt, expectations, reliability, etc. We know exactly what we are getting at the shipyard, the benefits really cannot be beat - all paid holidays, paid overtime, better retirement (and we are planning on staying at least until the kids graduate from school), and what little travel there is to great places like San Diego (not that I'm saying Hutchinson, KS isn't great, it's just not our ideal vacation spot.) Steve will be going into the Nuclear Facilities group, and should be doing a lot of the same work he does now.

It's beautiful out there (which is an understatement), we have great friends there, know the area, and the weather is much more mild. I'm pretty sure I can live without the tornadoes, craziest thunderstorms I have ever seen, the 110 degree on the heat index summer days, and the negative thirty degree weather. Oh and the bugs, way less freaky bugs there!

We are starting to figure out where we will live: Bremerton, Silverdale, Poulsbo, Seabeck, or Port Orchard (sorta toying with Bainbridge). We will be leaving Lawrence about the 28th of July. It really will be bittersweet - Steve has enjoyed the work he's done (minus the travel) and
we will absolutely miss some really great friends we have met out here and you can bet that we will be back to visit!

Here are some of the very few snapshots from Destin (mainly of Ava who likes the camera 99% more than my other two lovies).

Catching Up!

Happy Father's Day!!!
I'm so very thankful for the amazing husband, we are pretty crazy about him in this house!!

I thought I would try and come out of hibernation and start posting again. My poor blog has been so neglected this past year, with only random posts here and there. I can't promise it still won't be random, but I'm going to do my best to try and post as much as possible.
The biggest reason for this long past hiatus was that I was feeling super crummy for a couple months. I was exhausted beyond belief and not able to eat much of anything because we are pregnant!! Number four will be making his or her debut in November! We are beyond thrilled for this new little blessing in our life.
I will go ahead and answer the most popular questions being asked of us.
1) Was this a surprise? Yes and No. Yes in the fact that we got pregnant so quickly and no, because at the beginning of the year we decided after a year of praying about it and two years of discussing it on and off that we did indeed want to go ahead and add one more to our bunch.

2) Are you going to find out the sex? Nope, we did not find out with Gia and we loved the added surprise at the end of the pregnancy. We found out with both Ava and Mateo. Although I do think it is exciting to know both ways, we kind of feel like it's comparable to knowing what you are getting for Christmas. You are still excited for that present but when Christmas actually comes there isn't that element of surprise there. We also get to guess whether we will end up with another blondie like Ava or brunette like Teo and Gia.

3) Will you being have this one at home? Yes, as of now that is the plan. I personally cannot imagine having it any other way. As long as this pregnancy continues to go smoothly and everyone is healthy we plan on having a home birth with a midwife.

4) What do the kids think? They are so very excited!! They talk about the baby all the time, ask if the baby is hungry when I'm eating, pray for the baby at night. It's very sweet listening to them.

5) Four kids!! Are you Crazy?! Um.... have you met us? As was said in Alice in Wonderland, "I'm afraid so. We're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are." As I said before we really did pray about this, and it was not a decision taken lightly. We like leaving decisions up to God in our family, it makes the most sense for us, and life although not always easy seems to run better when it's in His hands and not our own!

Well it's late but I wanted to post our news and update the blog. I also hope to be sharing some other big news of ours this week, we are just waiting on something first!

I'll leave you with a picture my talented photographer friend Kim took of me while we were at a conference in Banff.

Three

3 years ago today we met the eyes of a beautiful baby girl for the first time. I still remember how anxious we all were waiting for her to finally come. Gianna's due date came and went and so did my patience. I wanted to take in all of those last moments of being pregnant, feeling her move, but I was so ready to finally hold her, and she was most definitely worth the wait.
Her birth was such an amazing experience. Both Mateo and Gia were born at home (yes on purpose) with a midwife. It was beautiful having her at home surrounded by my husband and kids. It was like almost any other day at home, except we had a baby. I couldn't imagine doing it any other way.

Today our littlest blessing is turning three and it's somewhat hard for me to comprehend. Time is most definitely fleeting. She is a little daredevil and has always believed herself to be just as big as the other two. She makes us laugh with her fashion sense and her contagious laughter or smile. She is an amazing gift from God, and everyday I thank Him for sending her to us. I can't wait to see how she turns out and the road she takes. I know God has huge plans for her.

Happy Birthday Squeaker! Thank you for your kisses, your laughter, and the way you pull at our heart strings with those big brown eyes of yours! "You cannot go, we'll eat you up, we love you so!"

Beautiful Life!

I'm working on revamping up and restarting this blog, but couldn't wait to post about the most amazing birth story I have ever read.

It is so full of honest raw emotion, so wonderfully written (you will hang on to her every word) and is truly beautiful! Make sure you grab your Kleenex box for this one, trust me you will need it. This post will move you beyond words!


http://enjoyingthesmallthings.blogspot.com/2010/01/nella-cordelia-birth-story.html