Oh so much!

( NOTE: this post was written june 30 but for some reason did not publish) i have some great God-filled blogs coming this week! Last week was Summer camp and it was such an amazing week! 

But first-a surprise. Madyson turns 7 next Saturday and I am in denial. But I promised her we would have a fun birthday (because I turn old the same day!) The problem is...our birthday is on 4th of July weekend. My family is out of town on vacation-Todd's stepdad has a wedding to go to-Todd has to work-it's going to be a "different" birthday this year.

So when i started thinking about what we could do-I wanted to Surprise madyson with a party. Madyson has amazing friends. Precious boys and girls who hold a special place in her heart. She has a few girlfriends that are very special-and because the last couple of months have been such a baby filled life I wanted to get her special girlfriends together to celebrate her. 

I feel like she is at such a tender age-starting adolescents and soon preteen years. I really want to nurture those relationships with her girlfriends. So I set it up to have a small surprise swim party today. Madyson had NO clue and it was great! When she arrived she was shocked and said "I don't know if I should be embarrassed or happy!" Lol.

The girls had a great time. It was low key. Simple but special. She got a few great hours with these friends & was so excited.

We had cupcakes and ice cream and sour cream and onion Pringles (that's her favorite combination) and opened presents and just had fun.

 I am so thankful for this group of friends. And that their mommas shared them for a few hours with us today! 

Here's to the start of the birthday celebration! 

What I am loving: 4months

Oh Mia Margaret you are 4 months old today!!! 

You weigh a whopping 18.75lbs!

WOW! such a far cry from that little 5lb self you were just a few months ago! 

Everywhere we go people talk about how "juicy" you are. It is true-you have some amazing rolls!

You wear a size 2 diaper

You are in a 6month or 6-9 month clothing! BIG GIRL!

You love to sleep. Usually a good 7.5 hours a night plus a 3-4 hour nap during the day. (you get that from daddy)

You were going every 4 hours eating-but you decided 3hours was long enough...YAH!

You still nurse most of the time-unless we are out and about-however-this past month mommy forgot bottles on more than 1 occasion so you have enjoyed nursing in the Sam's Club Bathroom & in the Bass Pro parking lot. Joys.

You are a very smiley-very happy baby and love to be talked too, held, and patted. However-you are no longer a snuggler. You get hot-and in Mississippi-hot is the norm. 

You like to be cold when you sleep and have stripped yourself of pj's 4x.

This month we have added a few new things to your list of "baby products" and also taken away 1!

We no longer use our Rock-N-Play. Sad. It was my most favorite baby tool. But you were starting to rock a little too much for my liking and with ceramic floors I was scared of you toppling over. 

We have added-

Cloth Diapers! And boy do you look precious in them! Right now we are experimenting with different brands of pocket diapers. So far-they have been a breeze to use. Right now my favorites are Charlie Bananas.

Also-after much debate you started having a little bit of cereal this month! I was trying my best to hold you off but you would sit and "mock" us eating. You would have a bottle and 10 minutes later-be starving. So we play with baby oatmeal. you get about 3 tablespoons a day and you love it. It's not replacing any meals but I usually feed it to you right before your afternoon nap-and then you nurse and sleep well. You are also digesting it very well. 

Nana ordered us some spoons from tupperware and I love them! they are the perfect size for you and come in a great traveling case.

We have also started using your pack-n-play more and introduced a few "toys". Your favorite is this little zebra-

This month you have a lot of first coming up and I can't wait to watch you grow! So thankful for you little one!

Grief.

It's been almost 8 months since Todd's mom passed away. The longest, most painful months in my life.

Back in October, Halloween to be exact I sat and watched her go to be with Jesus. I knew it was going to be hard for  Madyson and on Aubrie Kate and on Todd because they were all really close. 

Kathy and I were close but I had accepted months ago this was going to happen so I had begun the grief process before she was actually gone. 

In Nov was Todd's birthday and thanksgiving-we made it through. In December Christmas and her birthday..again we survived. In January we declared 2013 had to be better...in February things weren't...in march we welcomed Amelia and celebrated aubries bday..2 things that Todd wanted his mom here for..in April, life got harder. In may...mothers day. Which was awful.

Y'all, it is hard to be the spouse of someone who is grieving so hard. And to be the mother of two big kids who daily "miss their grand momma" and to be the momma of a baby who requires a lot. Thankfully we have a great life group and the guys have been there for Todd but he still hurts so much. It's a constant battle at night for him to be able to relax and to sleep. He still calls her voicemail just to listen to her voice. And I sit and pray. Because on those bad days-there isn't anything else I can do.

Madyson and aubrie have done children's counseling but still ache to spend the night with grand momma and make cookies and play in their card table forts. 

And well...I can't fix any of their pain and its hard. 

Christ promises us he is always there for us. He is our greatest comfort and for the past 8 months he has been mine. It's a very isolating feeling when you are going on with life with the attitude of she is no longer suffering but is with Him and what an awesome thing that is. And the rest of the family is just sad...a lot. 

 

I am sharing this rawness of life to document the struggle we face daily. I know in His time I will look back and see the many ways God has worked and how it is better. I have seen His work play out with job issues, the 4 year wait for a baby, and the evolution of my relationship with him.  I know He uses situations like this to call us closer to Him and to allow Him to orchestrate His great plan. 

One day we will see that plan and we will understand the whys of things-until that day-I will continue to pray.

Vacation Bible School.

Have you missed me? Well-this past week was Vacation Bible School it was a 5 day 4-5 hours a day jam packed week!

I worked with one of our 3 kindergarten classes (i had 31 on roll!!) and I was blessed with a great group of kids!

The most exciting news for the week is that my niece accepted Christ as her savior! This was the greatest joy for me! I loved getting a text from Todd (who was also a leader on Thursday/Friday) that she had made this decision!

If you follow me on IG you saw this amazing picture of the kids before the performance on Friday-

Yea...that's 3-6th grade!


God really worked this past week and I am SO thankful to have been a small part of it!

A moment.

(Today has been one of those days. You know the day. The ones that don't make for Mother of the year speeches. The ones that older ladies tell you "to treasure". The kind of day where you send your husband a text like this....

Yup. Welcome to my day.

Today I had one goal-get the house ready for our tball party tomorrow. As of 10pm (right now) I am hiding in an undisclosed location eating chocolate chip cookies out of a box praying that a fairy comes and does it for me...or at least the kids are asleep by the time I decide to come out. 

Lets look at the day in pics...shall we? 

Amelia decided she was hot last night and somehow took off her gown-had it around her head and her diaper off. (9am)

Work hard cleaning house with 3 kids by 4 pm-I was defeated. The house looked worse than it did at 9am-so we went downtown for coffee, honey at the market, and some playtime.

5pm-8pm Mia screams due to gas/teething/anger so I try everything to console her. Taking a ride on the washing machine gave me 30 minutes of peace.

During this 3 hour frame-madyson is in dire need of attention and I can tell this by her hanging on me and being totally oblivious to the fact I am loosing my mind with a screaming baby-a messy house-and a five year old who is melting down because I may or may not have feed her lunch and neither of us can remember and she is starving. 

In the attempt to provide food fast I turn to a thrown together pizza and cucumber and tomato salad. 

All while child #3 is still riding the washing machine...

(Don't worry mom I had Madyson there making sure she didn't roll off for the 3 minutes it took me to plate the food)

Once the big kids were fed and the babe was done using the laundry room as her personal amusement park. I turned on some Tomlin...because Chris brings the spirit and I.needed.it

So yea-it's been one of those days. Here's to the season of insanity. Cheers :)

What I am loving 3 months

Amelia is 3 months old today!!! My how it is flying by!

She is 13lbs and 22 inches long! She is wearing 3-6 & 6 month clothes-size 1 diaper.

We are still loving all of our previous items

Month 1

Month 2

and this month we added: 

A Bumbo

and a play mat!

Amelia is doing so well developmentally! She has rolled over a few times. She has excellent head control and she is very alert now!

Her schedule fluctuates daily (since sisters are home and we have to "enjoy" summer) but typically it is

6:30 wake up/diaper change/nurse

7:00 back to sleep til 9

9:00 diaper change/nurse

10-2 out and about-usually a bottle in this frame (4oz)

2:00 nurse/nap/diaper change

5:00 wake up/nurse/diaper change

8:00 nurse/diaper change

11:00 nurse/diaper change/bed

She enjoys her bed and likes to have a blanket in one arm and her "wubby" in another. 

The other night on instagram I played around with picstitch of all the girls at 3 months-who do you think she looks like?

*left to right* Madyson, Aubrie, Amelia

 

Summer activities

Being home all summer (and on a budget) takes a lot of creativity. I have to plan and select activities that are fun for the girls but also aren't going to break the bank! Last summer I had a whole calendar of things-this year-I am taking it week by week. 

Mondays are our designated cleaning days. We sweep, mop, vacuum, laundry, do it all-the kids know this and they help out that way we can play all week!

Tuesday: this week we took a walk and went to the library. They love the library. While we were there I picked up the summer activity schedule. 

Wednesday: water day-we hung out in our baby pool with the sprinkler. Then it rained :/ well at least it kept with the theme.

Thursday: baking day. The kids wanted to make daddy a cake! So they picked out the ingredients and decorated it themselves.

Thursday night I took the girls to a members only party at the children's museum and then to see Grandaddy who just got back from his month long trip!

Friday: adventure day. I had a lot planned  for this day so by calling it an adventure we made all the errands/activities fun! 

Aubrie Kate had preschool water day at the church. So I dropped her of there and madyson,Mia and I went to see our friends Bridgett and ken! They had just had their baby, Joshua!

We picked up aubrie Kate around noon and napped! 

That night Our town had a 5k race for chick-fil-a, and a free viewing of the sandlot at night! 

Saturday we went to the nursing home to celebrate my Maw's 87th bday-then we did some shoe shopping

And took a trip to old navy 

It was a busy week! What sort of things are you doing this summer!!!???