Weekend

I can't believe the weekend flew by so quickly. It was nice, not outside but just nice. Lish came over on Saturday to take pics of Kadie and Maddi for their upcoming 10th and 1st bdays, can't believe that day is almost here. Crazy. One of these days when Lish gets a photo site up and running I'll post a link to it. She's very talented and I'm very proud of her. So, Saturday morning got to spend time with Lish, Courtney and Logan. Sis was a HUGE Logans girl and just wanted to give him lots of lovins. She does the same thing with Eyan. Soooo cute!! I love how the cousins all love each other too.

Just Sweet

I'm just kinda grouchy today, or woke up that way anyway, which btw was at 5:30 am cuz the baby sister decided so :) . Got the son up and around on the way to work, NEVER an easy job. The big girls off to school looked around the messy house, which did NOT help my mood, not even a little. Hubby called and irritated me, no real reason, he just did. About 9:10 Sis drifted off for a little nap, which she promptly awoke from by 9:20. Mood not improving, neither was messy house. Then she was ready to sit and snuggle and nurse awhile, I do always love sitting and snuggle/nursing my little ones. Today however while she was nursing I was mentally going over my todo list. Then, she reached up and rubbed my cheek sooooooooo sweetly saying mama and looking at me with the loviest schmoopiest face ever. Awww, then to make it even better she sat straight up and gave me the biggest kiss and then lay back down to nurse and rub mamas face. Precious!! These are the moments I live for. Thank you God.

By the way, she is currently smooshing puffs in the carpet but now I don't care. Life is GOOD!!!

Hmmmmm

Hmmmmm, interesting. As I've mentioned previously after having Kadie I knew I still wanted another child and prayed about it for years and was very thankfully blessed with our Maddi last year. When I first got pregnant with Sis I was pretty sure that she was going to be our last one. However, since I've had her I've had this little niggling doubt in my mind, something/someone telling me hang on just a minute. Of course it doesn't help that all the sisters (my girls ) want her to have a sibling close to her age like they did and Meagan especially fervently prays for it. So, I've been praying about it myself and trying to decipher what is God's will for us. Last night the girls and I were talking about how they think Mike and I should celebrate our 20th anniversary this coming summer and Meagan thinks we should renew our vows , as soon as she said that it came to my mind that I would prefer to wait until our 25th so that all the kids could be there. Hmmmm, I don't know what this means, but I do know that I will continue to pray for Gods will in all area of my life including this one.

Now, some people will on reading this decide I am insane for even pondering this, including members of my family and close friends. Well, duh, I am insane and crazy!!

Easter Weekend and other info

Well, the kids are all back to school or in Michaels case work. The older girls had a 6 day Easter break so poor Maddi is wondering around wondering where all her playmates are today. We had a really nice time. Quiet, didn't do a whole lot but it was nice. Easter the girls and I went to church and then we came home and didn't do a whole lot. Michael got home from Britneys ( girlfriend, probably my future daughter in law) and spent some time playing games and giggling like a girl with his sisters. Mike and I lay in bed with Sissy and listened to them all for about an hour that night. How blessed we are that our kids are so close. Not a single fight among them all day!!

Monday was my moms birthday, so, I loaded up Missy, Kadie, Sissy and Nicole ( wonderful niece on Mikes side that has been adopted by my side) and went to moms. Lish and Ab were there and most of the nieces and nephews, Logan had boyscout event so we didn't get to see him and Tory and Gregg didn't stay long. What a mix we have at moms, young adults, teenagers, tweens, preschoolers and babies!! So fun!!

Because I forgot my camera and Lish hasn't sent me any from hers the picture you see is mom with ALL her grandkids from Christmas. It's getting really difficult to get everyone together anymore, especially the four oldest.

Big boy, Little Girl

A precious picture of my big boy and my baby girl. I can't tell you how special it is for me to see the bond between them. This picture was taken earlier this week on a gorgeous day and big brother just couldn't wait to take her out to play. I really treasure these moments between them, especially knowing that he's planning on moving out soon, UGH!! It's crazy to think about but he may be walking across his own yard with his own baby the next time I turn around.

What that means?

I had my first baby 12 days after I turned 18. Oh man, I was in love with that little boy, still am 19 years later. Over the next 13 years I had my first 3 daughters and fell in love 3 more times. Mike worked really hard and I was able to stay home for those 13 years. Unfortunately due to bad financial decisions on my part (ugh credit cards) we had to make the decision for me to go to school and start a career. So, in the fall of 2001 I started LPN school at our local community college, I graduated in December 2002. I worked at the same local nursing home for most of the next 5 years, working my way up from CNA to LPN then department manager, first managing the Assisted Living for a couple years then moving on to the Alzheimers Special Care Unit. Wow did life get busy the last 2 -3 years I worked. Many late nights, overnight trips I was missing out on more and more time with my husband and my babies who were starting to not really be babies anymore and it was breaking my heart. Now, I need to explain quickly that during this time, even when I started and believed a little I wanted a career I also still knew my heart wanted more children and I prayed for that often. Soo......





In August 06 Mike the girls and I took a little 2 night trip. ( Michael had to work and stayed with his girlfriends family.) I was miserable, had a terrible stomach bug, couldn't eat anything and just wanted to sit, or maybe lay down. We got home on Saturday morning and I looked at the calendar to see what the upcoming week was bringing and noticed, hmmmm, where in the world had my period been for the last 5-6 days??? I did not think I could be pregnant, not really. I had to go to Walmart and pick up a few things that afternoon and grabbed a pregnancy test, I distinctly remember telling the checkout girl that I would probably start as soon as i tested. WRONG!!!! The test was positive before I stopped peeing!! Shock!!! I prayed for this baby for 8 1/2 years and finally.........YAY!!!!! Oh my goodness, Mike is gonna freak! YAY!!! Thank you Jesus!! Thank you Jesus!!! Thank you Jesus!!! Oh my, I'm old!! I'm MUCH older then before!! Thank you Jesus!!!!! Ok you get the picture, these were my thoughts those few minutes in the bathroom before I stepped out to get Mike and bring him in on the surprise.





Now, another little detour, Mike is a wonderful wonderful man that loves his children endlessly, once they get here, he has however not reacted well to a pregnancy since Meg. In the 8 1/2 years since I had Kadie we had many a birth control malfunction, even at times that I was fertile and no babies. In July 06 we were not getting along, only were together 3 times because of this and not at times I believed myself to be fertile, slight change in b/c that should not have made a difference. And, here we were, me 35 almost 36, Mike just turned 41 and pregnant. Again, Thank you Jesus!!! Mike was more like well, maybe a few words I wouldn't choose.








We decided not to tell the children right away, however..............Another detour, I of course did tell my best friend forever, My Rob I call her right away, ironically she was the first person to know about Michael years before, even before Mike, shhh, he doesn't like me to remind him of that. Anyway, though sworn to secrecy she told her parents that live in Georgia so they would pray for me and the pregnancy etc. plus I think she thought it was funny a little. So they mentioned it to her Grandma who lives in our small county who mentioned it to Aunt "J". Ok, so after my first MD appt I'm eating at Applebees with a friend when here comes Aunt "J" and her daughter so happy and excited for me, Congratulations etc. cleaning off the table next to me was a lady from our town, guess what, her son goes to school with Meg, so we told the kids that night, the girls anyway, I had already told Michael the night before to prepare him in advance. At first they all thought we were lying but got excited fairly quickly.








Morning sickness, never had it before until this pregnancy!!! Hard to keep it a secret when I worked with women. Aunt Janice and Rachel figured it out right away, Rachels words were something like " You're puking again and you haven't had cramps yet, you're pregnant!" I was also blessed enough to share my pregnancy with Gina, who had her little Sylvia 3 weeks before I had Maddi. The morning sickness was interesting, and made it impossible to keep my pregnancy a secret. I was so happy about the new blessing on the way that I did thank God even while gagging over the toilet.



In December we found out that we were having our fourth little girl, something I suspected already. We also decided on Madilynn Alyshia, for my sister Lish, I will go into names in another post.




Ok, this is turning very long. Anyway. Through prayer I decided that I should resign my position, not a terribly hard choice since home had been calling me anyway. However, convincing Mike took work. So, in february I gave notice and in March I was done!!



On April 16th 2007 Maddi was born. Her daddy and I and Aunt Lish were there and Aunt Lish cut the cord. She has been an amazing blessing for our entire family and I believe brought us even closer together.



Here is what staying home again means to me. God wanted me here with my children where I belong. In answering my prayers for another child he paved the way for me to be home. Some people might look at the paycheck I gave up, so called prestigious job in management etc. All that I see is the blessings of my life. The joy all my children have now that I'm home again. Life is crazy, but in such a good way.

Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; They will not be ashamed When they speak with their enemies in the gate.
Psalm 127:3-5 (NASB)