Happy Sunday!

Awww! Church friend flashback!
This is so adorable!  This is my two girls (in the middle) with their two sister friends that used to go to our church.  They are really very missed, my daughter talks about them all the time, it's sad when friends move away.

Like my little one and her Alfalfa hair?! It's from when her brother chopped her hair off!

I am so Blessed

Wow I am amazed at how sweet you guys are, coming in and checking on me.  Thank you Crafty Mama of Four for visiting me even when my blog was not in the land of the living! :)

And you too Mary, especially for telling me you missed me!!!
This blesses me more than you know.



So, let me try to fill in the past 2 years - oye!

My Blog...
Well obviously it hasn't been very appealing to me, I have been all over Facebook, more recently on Instagram and I'm now new to Pinterest which I LOVE!  Most of that has been from my phone, which is another huge reason I don't blog... I just don't often get on my computer anymore.

As I come back I realize I like things more simplified now.  The layout of my blog before was driving me away.  I wasn't quite ready to let go of my framed pictures yet though.

Life...

As you my have noticed from the updated pics...
I am now blonde... my hubby has a beard...
my kids are HUGE...

AND... there is an extra stranger in this picture here.  That's my lil brother, he's been living with us for about 7 months now.  He was living with our oldest sister and her 5 kids, but her hubby passed away in May, so we took the responsibility of him off her hands.

We plan on moving very soon, possibly buying a house.  This is both terrifying and exciting all at once!  All 7 of us are currently in a 2 bedroom apartment!

I am no longer homeschooling my children.

I still struggle with depression, but I fight it MUCH better now.
Let's see... I really wanted to dreadlock my hair, but found I get traction alopecia from the pulling tension of even smaller braids.

Health & Fitness...

I am now around 145 lbs.  This is 10 pounds below what I told you my last goal was.  I still have maybe another 5 or 10 pounds to go... depends on muscle.

I DID finish another round of P90x and now I have moved on to TurboFire! I like this program a lot!  All the intense cardio we do does great things for my fatty tummy!  The HIIT training makes me sweat harder than P90x ever did... well other than Plyo!

I am not currently on top of my game with eating clean... I have also been sick as of late and do not find enough energy for my work out videos.

Scrapbooking...
I haven't been scrapping much at all.  I have most my stuff packed away for moving, but I do plan on picking it back up to at least finish a baby album for each of my children.  The first 3 LOVE looking at their albums, so I definitely cannot NOT make one for my littlest man!


My Walk...
Just yesterday I was reading back on a note my friend wrote for me in 2009.  She had taken notes on what I was struggling with at the time, and now 3 years later it was really nice to see how much has really changed.  God is so good in my life.  I love Him now more than I did yesterday, and I pray that is how it will ALWAYS be.


Thanks for visiting guys, I will see you again soon.

The Cloud I've been Hiding In

I haven't been blogging much lately.

I've really been out of sorts with things these past two months or so.

I am just now finding my desire for interests again.

And now that I feel I am back into the swing of life again and am remembering THIS post from November and I am thinking back on having my other babies. I always went through about a 3 month funk! Whatever that funk is attributed to (postpartum depression, sleep deprivation, life-style adjustments, spiritual warfare, selfishness...) I feel I'm adjusting and coming out from behind the cloud now :)! Thank the Maker.

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Let me attempt at an update with the few pics I have taken from within "the cloud".

Back in September I became an Independent Mary Kay Beauty Consultant :) My first quarter through the middle of December went well as I was really trying to follow a work plan and set goals for myself. The start of my second quarter was very slow and now that I am "awake, alive" (see video below) and interested again it is all picking back up. God is faithful when I put even the smallest effort, He is good to bless me :).

This picture is meant to show you that I finally picked a lip color for myself :)...

While ditching out on MK goals and spending time trying to sleep or tv (= movies on my laptop, E.R. online, or Glee) my problems away my adorable little man has been growing like a weed! So cute he is! Squish-able in point of fact...

Even when I was at my worst these little people God is letting me borrow would smile at me and I knew I was still okay somewhere deep down...

Also while my little man was growing like a weed, my older girl turned 6!...

My younger girl turned 3...

And yes that big little man turned 6 months old! A whole 1/2 a year when it has seemed more like 2 months...

I LOVE him! He still smiles and giggles in his sleep. He is starting to roll a lot more on the floor not minding to be on his tummy. He will probably be in a size 4 diaper soon and is wearing mostly 9 month clothes. He has been eating rice cereal for about a week now and I think is definitely teething with the amount of drooling, gnawing, waking and fussiness. Clearly his favorite person is his Daddy and his favorite thing is a toss-up between the bouncer and his fuzzy blankie :)

Don't you just wanna chew on him? Muh!...

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If you actually read my post and didn't just scroll through my pictures and comment (which I am guilty of doing occasionally) you might wonder what I meant by mentioning being "awake and alive".

It's one of my favorite songs, by probably my favorite Christian band.

The song talks about being at war and being pulled into the dark (my cloud).

Lord I've struggled to find my faith as I've let myself slip from your arms. It's been hard to stay awake since I ironically wanted to sleep to escape the numbness, that feeling that seemed to drain my strength. But You've breathed into me and now I am awake and alive again! I'm fighting! I'll do what You want. I give You my life. I stand my ground. Help me not to back down! You've woken me up, thank You! I give You my heart. I give You my life.

Now out of that cloud hopefully I will once again be a "living" part of the community both blog and otherwise again :).

Thanks for reading - please comment so I know you are here too :).

May you always walk and talk with Jesus!

I miss our friends!

It's been a while now since I saw a couple of friends of ours that are like family to us. They are "Uncle and Aunt" to our kids even though there is no relation but through Christ :).

We were supposed to hang out with them today, but they were not feeling well. Our oldest was coughing too though and since their little man had surgery a little while ago I didn't want to expose them to more germs anyway.

I really hope we get to hang out soon!

He are some pics of when we hung out with them for like a whole weekend in September of 2010. These are our youngest two sleeping next to each other on the beach! SO MUCH FUN!...

Happy Baby - Crazy Mommy!

This makes me happy! How 'bout you? :)

My postpartum depression has kicked in! Just this past week or so. Please pray for me.

• It is hard to be agitated and irritable when you have 4 kids.
• It is hard to cry at the drop of a hat (or a cup of water, or a loud toy, or some food on the carpet, you get my point).
• It is hard not to be able to sleep when you know you will need the sleep the next day.
• It is hard when my memory goes out the window about something important that my husband shared with me when I then want to argue with him that he did not tell me and I am crying saying I wish he would have warned me first.
• It is hard feeling like I don't do anything right and I am a no good mommy!
• It is hard to feel withdrawn from the outside world when you are actually there!
• It is hard not to enjoy what I know I would usually enjoy!
• It is hard that all I want to do is sleep when all I have to do doesn't get done, then I cry about it not getting done!
• It is hard to not be able to handle the cry of my own baby!!!

Please pray for me.

All things are possible with God.

He will never give us something we cannot handle.

Though my weakness He is strong.

He will never leave me, nor forsake me.

With Him nothing is impossible!

Update on Homeschooling

It's been over a month and a half now :).

It was all so exciting at the beginning, and it still is, to be able to see the way my daughter thinks and processes thought is amazing to me! She is a lot like her daddy and I think he is a genius in many ways!

We got sick two weeks ago which truthfully made me FAR too lax with our starting time, which then rolled over into a bad habit for last week! Tomorrow - for the start of this next week I am determined for this habit not to continue!

My daughter is doing so well though, regardless of our "flexible" schedule. She is flying through math like it is all review even though she never went to pre-school to officially learn these basics (she just loves knowledge:).

Language arts is going great for her. She is loving all the different fairy-tails and definitely enjoys making alternate endings and illustrations of her own!

Here is a picture I took while we were acting out scenes from Cinderella :)...

Phonics she flies right through as well even though she has never done it. She knows that this is what will teach her to read, which she has so wanted for about a year now! She has had certain books memorized by recognizing what is going on in the illustrations for a while!

This is JJ during Phonics tugging her ear to show me that a certain word had the "secret sound" we were looking for :) so cute!

Art and Music are OBvioUSly great fun! She loves to spend extra time in art class. And as for music, she memorizes the songs so sticking fast!!! I am so proud, she recognizes melodies and rhythm so well. She even sings the songs so often just through her day of play that her little brother and sister as learning her songs as well!

Science and History are so new to her that she gets a little frustrated sometimes when she has to try a little harder to pay attention, but she really does enjoy learning! I am even re-learning some of the things I know I have forgotten from History. We have been taking a "trip" of Europe and she is doing well well recognizing all the different countries on that continent!

Last week learning about the Netherlands we made a dike and canal out of play-doh. See "Mr. Traveler" there safe on the land? :)!

We have even made some time to involve my older little man who will be in Kindergarten next year. Just since his older sister has started school he has sprouted into quite the artist! We are so proud of him!

We are also very excited to say that our son is now Born-again! I make time for a little worship, Bible time and prayer most morning (sadly not every morning depending on when we start). But during one of those times he wanted to pray to welcome Jesus to come and live in his heart! :)

Actually just this morning JJ was "preaching" at my husband... "Daddy did you know that you have to be born twice to go to heaven? You have to let Jesus in your heart which means you are born-again. Daddy are you born-again?" I LOVE LOVE LOVE that she asked him this because it shows just how much she cares for him, she cares about his eternal well-being! ... preach it sister... I mean daughter! :)

Thank You Lord. I definitely see where You have given us these kids as a blessing and a reward, though I don't often feel worthy I do always feel thankful! I love You!

A correct depiction...

... of how I am feeling right now :) ...

(My little man yawning September 1st 2010)

My kids Cut their Hair!

I found all three of them in their room with three pairs of scissors.

They each had their own pair like they were cutting each other's hair!

There was hair on the ground.

I tried not to overreact.

I accessed my oldest daughter first, who was not too bad, only self angled bangs.

Then my son, no problem we could always cut his ALL short.

But when I got to my youngest I acting started to cry silently. Not like it wouldn't grow back. But it was just so short and choppy all over the place. The photos didn't accurately show half the disaster. There were 1/2 inch pieces sticking out all over the place! I was more worried about how to fix it and sad about the fact that this was her baby hair.

She gave herself her first haircut!...

I called my husband first.

Then later on when I was ready to talk about the problem, I called my friend whom is amazing with hair and I knew she would be willing to help.

She is a great job. So cute.

No worries we didn't cut it all short, she just pulled the rest back all cute like.

And JJ got some straight bangs as well :) Nice smile for the camera huh?

If only I could keep those well-cut bangs in order all the time on my own!

Mommy is not the hair dressing natural that her friend is :) Thank you friend!!!

Balloons, Barf, Baptisms and My Baby oh my!

Balloons

On Saturday we all enjoyed a beautiful birthday party for a one year old friend of ours... balloon man and all :)

Here is my youngest lady with her "fissie"...

... my brave man with his "hord and heild"...

And my lady with her "kiddy and ball"...

Barf

Just after that birthday party on Saturday my son threw up all over the back seat of our car, poor little guy. We attributed it to all the sweets and possibly the bubble solution since he was fine all night.

Though my oldest daughter threw up in her bed that night, poor little lady. I was still thinking it must have been that candy, my kids are NOT used to me letting them have that much candy!

Warfare? Write it off, write if off, write it off... yes three times... but not until we already had been through church service, lunch, shopping and a car ride to the beach!

As soon as we were getting out of the van at the beach B.boy threw up all over the back of Mini :( still in the car! (You can imagine our car smells wonderful!) At that point I said "lets just go home" but I totally wasn't thinking it! I was thinking "warfare!"

So we stayed, and actually little Mister had fun until he got cold and hungry...

And Mini was quite the sweetness in handling puke all in her hair, down her back, on her bum, down her legs and in her shoes!!! She just wanted to go to the beach...

Baptisms

The reason why I kept thinking Warfare!...

... I got baptized! I will blog my heart on the subject another time (hopefully soon).

... blessed obedience...

My Baby! oh my!

She started Kindergarten today! We started homeschooling today! This was me waking her up at 8:30 a.m. to make sure we could start around 9:00...

... the name tag at her desk...

... her waiting patiently for her first subject...

... she jumped right in...

... and LOVED it! I knew she would... I am so proud of her...

... I can't believe she is such a little woman already and that she will be 6 before the year ends!

* Sniffle * Sniffle *

Such a Sweetie!

I refuse to give my little man a pacifier.

We let our oldest have one and don't want to go back! It was worse then a blankie or a thumb anyday. My older little man sucks his thumb, but only when he has his blankie for bed-time. And my littlest lady sucks on her blanket like a pacifier.

So instead of buying my newborn a binky I help him find this thumb or this fingers to comfort himself with :) obviously he is satisfied :)

Getting ready to Homeschool!

My oldest little girl is starting Kindergarten on Monday... sniff sniff.

I will be homeschooling her K-12 style, which is pretty much public school at home with me as her teacher. I signed her up at the beginning of this month after having my newest baby. It was a little late, but still good since we received all her (free) school supplies in the mail yesterday!

She was so excited! Three big boxes all for her! Not mommy's scrapbooking supplies, but JJ's school supplies! :)

I must admit though, I was a little sad they didn't send her a computer. I filled out a computer request form and our paperwork was approved, but I'm not sure if that means we were approved for a computer. We'll see.

This is her adorable EXCITED face! :)

We opened the three boxes tonight after dinner. Lo and behold, there were eight more boxes inside! We will be going through those tomorrow when we organize the "school cabinet".

For now we were just content to get the main boxes opened and emptied...

I love that they always love playing with them! I didn't take pictures, but I let them all color on their own box after they played in them for a while :).

Good night!

My new Favorite Pic!

Thank you sister, you are amazing!!!

I LOVE how Newborns sleep!

LOVE the humming...

LOVE the eye rolling...

LOVE the giggling...

LOVE the smiling...

LOVE the random breathing...

LOVE the frowning...

LOVE the whimpering...

LOVE the mouth twitches...

My baby #4 almost 4 weeks old :)

Birth Story and Pictures

Baby was born Sunday July 18th just past 3:00 in the morning.

7 pounds 6 ounces and beautiful!!!

As far as a week and a half before his birth date I had quite a few "bad" nights. One of those nights I actually had an hour of contractions four minutes apart. This only had me, my hubby and a lot of friends more anxious for him to come :) I tried to wait patiently as I wanted him to cook in there as long as he needed (he still had two weeks to go). But my patience was running out... I started telling my hubby he was never going to come. Last Saturday was his actual due date.

At my appointment on the 13th I was 2 cm dilated, 70% effaced, and baby was at a -2 station. Since that check I had increasing signs that he would be coming sooner than he was due.

I don't know what made me feel like Saturday the 17th would be the day (maybe because two of my other babies were born on 17th's as well) but I was getting cave sick! Hubby and I decided to take the kids for a walk to the park (about 2 miles both ways). Then I took a nap and when I woke up we went for a swim (after a little emotional meltdown mind you). During the swim I had quite a few contractions but could not tell how bad they were because of the water, so we decided to get out and get in the house where I could feel them better and time them. We also wanted to get dinner because I was super hungry.

By the time I got changed after swimming I laid down on the bed and practically feel right to sleep again. My hubby was trying to figure out what I wanted for dinner and when I told him I was no longer hungry he knew something had changed.

While my hubby was out with the kids picking up something to eat I had 5/6 heavier contractions. They did not stop after he came home so we called the faithful babysitter (Auntie Mena) and my doctor.

Here I am right about then...

My doctor asked if I wanted to go to the hospital to get checked, but I said not just yet. I wanted to eat and shower and see if it would all just go away like some of the contractions I had the previous week.

I called a good friend of mine over to see if she would bring me a movie to watch and her exercise ball to sit on. I also invited her to come to the hospital with me :) and she did!

Of coarse the car-ride to the hospital stopped my contractions as usual... but it was still good we went in. I was 5/6 cm when I got there and decided to walk the halls a bit which got things going again, but after monitoring baby a bit they decided no more walking. His heart-rate was showing he didn't like contractions, but it was also dipping between contractions. We changed my position, started me on oxygen and got my iv going.

My doctor wasn't liking the baby's variables, so she decided to break my water and get an internal fetal monitor going. I knew this would get things going for sure, I was getting a little anxious, I was telling Josh "here goes - this is it!".

After this I went from 5 to 7 to 9 cm and wanting to push, all within 2 hours. My doctor was amazing, my husband was amazing, the nurses were amazing and baby did very well.

ABOVE ALL GOD IS GOOD!

As always I cried as soon as I saw him. He nursed very well soon after that and after me hogging him for about a half an hour my hunny finally got to hold him :)

Here we are...

After baby was all fed, checked, dressed, swaddled and ready to rest we got ready to move into a new room.

Here we are in the wheelchair...

I got about two hours of sleep that morning before I woke up wondering when breakfast would come :) I was starving!

And of coarse I couldn't go back to sleep because I had to stare some more at my new baby :)

I love that he was already making yummy faces...

Here he is getting a little disturbed by our family coming to visit...

The evening of the 20th we came home, the kids were so excited as you can see...

Baby was happy to be home as well :)...

On the 25th - when he was a week old - we went on a car ride to visit Auntie Charleen and her new baby born just two weeks before mine. She is also our professional photographer :)

There are others she took that I liked also, but I only have these from her facebook page :)

Here is a pic she took that day of her baby...

So precious! My baby is already 2 weeks and 2 days old. Giggling, smiling and frowning in his sleep... already growing out of the smallest clothes he has and no longer in a newborn diaper... nursing almost every two hours on the dot... and he loves to stare at his daddy more than anyone else!

Here we are now... he is hanging with me while I blog...

We hope to blog again soon. God bless!