Springtime sunshine

Bright sunshine, blue skies.

Walking with friends.

Stopping to climb trees, roll down the hill in the spring grass.
(How would my kids survive without friends?  who would teach them how to climb trees?)

Sharing snacks and hugs as we say goodbye.

Kids napping after the exertion.

Pretty much the perfect way to spend a day.

On the mend

The lovely flu is what it was.  Each of the big girls had fevers off an on for 4-5 days.  Not Fun!  Fortunately, the youngest had it for a day and moved right on.  The plus side to all of this?  We got lots of snuggles!  One great thing about breastfeeding a toddler is that you don't have to worry about them so much when they are sick.  Since E still nurses, the bulk of the day of fever was spent curled up on me nursing off and on when she wanted.  It is so very cozy and so very reassuring to feel like I can do something tangible when she is sick. Poor thing!

We are still recovering.  Amazing how much it takes out of you. 

We have done a couple fun projects around here that I will be showing ASAP!

MIA?

so, did anyone miss me?  :)  Life has happened, I'm afraid.  Just life, nothing exciting.

Let's see.  Baby E turned 2.  She's still a tiny little pipsqueak at about 22.5 pounds.   Much smaller than either of the other girls.  She's chattering and we're attempting to decipher.  She thinks she's pretty big stuff, though, and does her best to keep up with her sisters.

K thinks that she is ready to start Kindergarten.  Mommy is SO not ready, but that is another story for another day.  She's still a bit of a space-case, but very bright and sweet. 

First grade is going wonderfully for B.  She is a reading champ and soaks in just about every single bit of information that she comes across.  This has been her first year in girl scouts and she's really enjoying that.  Daddy helped her sell GS Cookies last month and Mommy is looking forward to them arriving.....mmmmm, thin mints....

I'm full hog into school right now.  In the next couple weeks I will be applying for two different nursing programs, both of which have a fall start.  We'll see where God wants me/us.  I have found it to be an incredible mixed blessing to have that decision out of my hands.  None of it is up to me, yet I continue to worry about it.  Crazy how we do that, no?

Hubby is in school, too.  Two semesters left - yahoo!!!!  He's also working as a warehouse manager for a chemical company, trying to keep busy.....because 3 kids and a crazy busy wife isn't enough.  :)

We're in the midst of trying to update a bedroom for the oldest and the youngest.  This involves painting furniture (2 beds and a dresser) and much junk disposal.  Unfortunately, the painting is the easier task.

Other than that, life is the same: busy, challenging, rewarding, crazy fun, and we are realizing how incredibly blessed we are.   You wonder why?  Look at this:

the girls

Well, it's true.

I'm the mom to a 6 year old. It's true. I'm finding it rather hard to believe.

It's true that I allow my 15 month old to watch television. She doing it right now.












It's true that she'll be content for maybe 3 minutes. So I had better type quickly.

It's true that I ride the bus to and from my classes to save money on gas.

It's true that I actually enjoy riding said bus. I use the time to read or study or close my eyes or *gasp* knit. I love it! My favorite is to knit while listening to a book on my mp3 player. Fabulous!

It's true that I currently have A's in each of the classes I'm taking--microbiology, 2nd semester Anatomy & Physiology and an Art class.

It's true that I've amended my schooling plan to include a major in Art. This is only so that I can hopefully enroll in a photography class or two. I will then drop the Art major.

It's true that my 3 1/2 year old hasn't nursed for at least 3 weeks.

It's true that this makes me a bit sad.

It's also true that it makes me very grateful for having another baby still nursing.

It's true that my 15 month old will sign "all done", "milk" and please. She also nods and/or shakes her head vehemently to get her point across.

It's true that my hubby and I had our first uninterrupted night of sleep in more than a year this weekend.

This was only true because we convinced the grandparents to keep the girls overnight on Friday.

It was lovely. This is very, very true.

It's true that the youngest has lost interest in the video and has now gone in to wake up her big sisters who are napping. She has also found the camera cord and thrown it in the garbage. She is now stuck between the couch and the end table.

Time to go. This is most certainly true.

one smart cookie

Yesterday "Baby" E was throwing a fit--one of those unexplainable, throw herself on the floor fits. I had tried to distract her, tried to feed her, tried to snuggle her, all to no avail. So, I got up and went about my day.
She was following me around, hanging on my legs, wailing the entire time. I leaned down and told her that when she was all done crying, I would give her some milk.
Pretty soon, she stopped crying, walked up behind me and started signing "all done." :) Sure enough, she knew exactly what I was telling her and what I wanted.

After a little milk, she was good to go again.

carving out a few minutes for myself

Between caring for three children, a husband, a home, working part-time for my parents and going to school full-time, I rarely have a minute to myself. I often taking kids into the shower with me in order to save time by washing us all. The baby is frequently found crawling around in the bathroom whenever I'm in there since she's always happiest around me. I hardly have any desire to be on the computer because I'm feeling guilted into doing homework rather than relaxing. This is my life for now, I guess. When I'm not feeling overwhelmed or exhausted, I'm actually enjoying the challenge. I'm enjoying using my brain, learning and broadening my horizons.

A few little things that I've been doing to stay sane. My hubby bought me an mp3 player for my birthday this summer. I keep that loaded up with audiobooks that I download for free from netlibrary.com. This is one of my favorite things to do--I listen to a book with one ear and listen to the kids with the other. I can frequently be found "plugged in" while doing dishes, cleaning bathrooms and now even driving/walking to and from class. One HUGE saving grace these past few days has been the fact that my husband has taken over doing more baby care in the evenings. Thank you Hubby!! In addition to taking her from me in the evenings, he's been working on getting her to sleep by herself in the pack-n-play rather than being constantly attached to me and sleeping in our bed. For those of you who have co-slept, you know how huge this is. Thanks again, Babe! I love you!

bad mommy award

Want to know a great way to feel like a terrible mommy? It's very simple, really. Just roll your ankle while walking down the stairs carrying your baby. Just that easy, you see the baby rolling on the floor with her head on the edge of the bottom step.

I hear from those who saw it happen, she really only rolled off of me onto the bottom stair, so I didn't really drop her. Not that it makes me feel much better. It all happened so fast I can't even remember if I tripped or what. I went from walking down the stairs to lying on my behind on the hard concrete watching my baby rolling on the ground. Made me feel like an awful mommy and it hurt my pride a bit, too. Not to mention my ankle.....

Mommy, some assistance, please?

E is getting into EVERYTHING these days. She's crawling at an ever-increasing pace, pulling up and this combination is somewhat disturbing to her big sisters.


























Quite frequently, one or the other 'big' girls is hollering for me to move E out of their way or something of that nature. B asked the other day, 'Mommy, some assistance, please?" How very polite. :)

cold, cold go away

Since Monday of last week, we've had coughing, hacking and fevers at our house. I think that there has been at least one child with a fever every night for the past week; generally after having a mostly symptom-free day. We've also had some gut-wrenching cough-induced puking. Chest congestion has necessitated more upright sleeping, which is easier said than done when sharing a bed with a stuffy little one.

On top of all of that, last night baby E swallowed a little hair clip similar to these, resulting in the third threatened trip to the ER of the week (none of which actually materialized.) After much nursing, praying, debating and several calls to the doctor, we decided to wait and see. Don't worry, all is well. Apparently her little digestive tract is fairly efficient because the clip was in her diaper this morning and she seems to be no worse for the wear.

So, pray some prayers for us that we'll all be well soon. We're ready to be out and about playing.

She's counting the days

My precious baby sister is getting ready to leave on a mission to Ethiopia. She'll be gone for two years. The planning has lasted for about 9 months and we're down to the final week.

Sophie is one of my very best friends. We've coached volleyball together, played volleyball together, talked for hours and so much more. I'm going to miss her desperately.

She's the 'baby whisperer' of the church/family. Where there's a baby, you'll most likely find Sophie there. Here she is snuggling baby E at about a week old.

Pretty much all babies/children love her and she loves them. When B was itty-bitty, she was quite a handful. Sophie spent a few nights over at our house, slepeing on the couch with B so that we could sleep a little bit. She'll take my girls to run errands with her or take them on a walk. She came over last week and watched all three girls for a couple hours while Scott and I went out. It was the first time we'd been on a date by ourselves since E was born.

She leaves on Sunday. Tomorrow we're going to take a day trip to visit some friends 2 1/2 hours away. I'm looking forward to spending the day with her, even if it will be driving for hours with 3 little girls in the back seat.

Yesterday, she was commissioned at our church. When B saw the tears in my eyes, she told me, "It's okay, mommy, we'll still be able to email and talk on the phone." Yes, we will, it's just not the same. I'm not looking forward to this trip to the airport.

I'm going to miss you, baby sister!

when?

Is there a certain time at which I can...
....tell baby E that she's supposed to be a baby still. she's not supposed to be scooting/crawling across the floor. she's not supposed to be clapping and waving. she certainly does look adorable while she does all of the above, though.

...tell my girls "no, you can't watch Tinkerbell.....again....and not break their hearts?" They've been (starting to) watch it at least 3 times a week while I try to work, or do school, or cook or clean. I think they've only watching the whole movie maybe two times, total. We know the beginning very well, though.

To brighten his day.

Daddy's at school and we're all missing him. So we sent him a little picture to let him know we were thinking of hm.

And he really is a rock star.

5 months old

Time has flown. We've been sick, and busy, and growing, and living. You know how it goes. ;)

Yesterday marked 5 months that my precious baby E has been here. Seems almost like last week. Except that I'm *really* tired. ;)

E is a happy, happy little girl. Most of the time, all it takes to get a smile from her is a smile of your own. She laughs easily and is content to snuggle with any of us. B usually holds her first thing in the morning while I'm finishing up breakfast. They both seem to enjoy it.

My bigger girls each got their first tooth right about 4 months. E's not far behind. She's got a lovely little bump there and we're just waiting for the tooth to actually pop through. I've enjoyed her toothless grin, especially this last month, knowing that it soon will be no more.

Having mastered rolling from tummy to back at some ridiculously young age, about 5 weeks, we've grown accustomed to her flipping over pretty quickly. She's SO close to getting from back to tummy now, too. We're not ready for her to be mobile yet, though, so hopefully we have a bit longer before that happens.














I'm so glad that you are here, E! You bring so much joy and countless smiles to our family!

Love you!


*Many thanks to my friend Jill for salvaging my pictures from the depths of underexposure!*

chubby cheeks

Here's my precious Baby E:

grunty grunty

The littlest one over here is currently snuggled up with me on the couch. She's alternating between snoozing and grunting while stretching.

Her little grunts are too sweet. during the day.

At night, it's a whole 'nother story. It seems that it takes her at least 15 minutes to wake up enough to be ready to eat, which also involves 15 minutes of rather noisey grunting and groaning and stretching. For some odd reason, that's not quite what a somewhat sleep-deprived mommy wants to listen to.

Sometimes we wish that she came with a mute button.

I think we've wished that for one reason or another for each addition to the family.

Apparently, God didn't think that would be a good idea. Wonder why...

Baby E right now

*taken on the webcam, so excuse the quality.*

newest addition

And she's HERE!!!

Baby E arrived 4:36am on Thursday. She's just a wee little thing at 6 lbs 15 oz and 19.25 inches long. We all are totally in love.