Psalm 127:3-5

Behold children are a gift of the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a mighty warrior, so are the children of one's youth.
How blessed are those whose quiver is full of them
."

Monday, April 22, 2013

More "dand"

Rivers is such a happy little guy. Very little upsets him and everything makes him happy. I just adore the zest for life a 2 year old has.... Especially this one.

Tonight we were all playing outside and Jimmy came from the side of the house with a new bag of sand for the sand box and Rivers jumps up and starts running to the sandbox and says "more dand, yoo hoo"...

Love him!!

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Patience at a year

Wow, this girl... She is really blossoming and coming into her own.

She loves to clap and say "yay" when we get excited about something. This week she was doing it over and over when we got excited about her birthday... Oh my so presh!! :)

She is a serious climber. I found her almost to the top of the clubhouse the other day.. So scary and funny in a way since she can do that in about 10 seconds but has shown no signs of walking.

She has got quite a little temper on her and will really let you know when she is not happy about something. I mean REALLY.

She loves to eat green peas, meatballs, eggs, bananas, strawberries, cheese, guacamole, potatoes, yogurt... My favorite are the peas (no mess)!!

She hates to eat milk (guess that's drink), applesauce, raisins, and anything remotely tart.

She says "Anna" all the time. If Anna is not in the room she yells for her until she sees her. :)

She loves animals.

She is a quiet observer most of the time but when she decides to let her voice be heard she does... She really does!

She still loves to nurse and nurse to sleep for naps and bed!!! Love!

She takes really good naps and sleeps very well at night.

She puts everything in her mouth.. Which can be very scary. We have fished so much stuff out if there. With a big brother who carries pocket change everywhere he goes, I would say pennies are the number one scary thing we fish out almost daily... Yikes. I do my best to keep them of the floors but still. :(

She plays really well by herself and can sit for fairly long periods and play in the sandbox or with dolls or taking all the plastic bowls and lids out of the cabinet over and over and over!

She loves the kids little motorized kiddie car and climbs all over that thing.

She makes us laugh and giggle and brings loads and loads of joy to this home!! We are so incredibly grateful for her sweet smile, her chubby hands, her constant love... And even her fits are cute!! :)

We love you Patience Joy!! You have a beautiful face and a beautiful soul!

One year

Wow, I am certain one year has never gone this fast....

After Patience birth last year I really struggled with some post partum depression so honestly the first 6 weeks after her birth are kind of a blur. That stuff if for real though.... Nothing to be taken lightly. I'm incredibly grateful for those who stood with me and helped me through and my dear midwife who not only emotionally walked me through but nutritionally too. I'm happy to say that one yet after Patience birth I feel better than I have felt in years.. Emotionally and physically and I'm down 55 pounds. That would make anyone feel better!

Having five children has been a huge adjustment for us. We even needed a new car to adjust to our size.

We have over the past year though learned how to eat out with five little people... And mostly eat out peacefully.

We've become quite good at not only grocery shopping efficiently but actually enjoying a rather calm stroll through Central Market on Friday nights. (Yea, that's considered a wild night out for us... Five kids and us at a specialty foods store).

We've learned to smile at those who randomly make rude comments about the size of our family and we've enjoyed engaging those who randomly come up and tell us how much they enjoyed seeing our family interact at a restaurant or the grocery store and love hearing their stories of their own large families or the ones they wished they'd had.

We've learned to settle for a cup of coffee on the back porch as a "date" while the kids play in the backyard... It seems finding a sitter for five kids is a bit tough. :(

We've learned to get five kids dressed,(with shoes), in the car, belted in and driving away in new record times... The shoes are the single factor that can add large amounts of time to our getaway. :)

We've learned many many things about "doing" this job of parenting five kids... We've also discovered that having five kids brings out every personal character flaw you ever had! :( If you ever had even a minor yelling problem.....yep, five kids will make that glaringly obvious. Ever had perfectionist tendencies? Five kids will test you to your limits on that one. Have a tendency toward getting easily frustrated? I think that one speaks for itself. Ha!!

At the end of the day though it's those very things that make this job so fulfilling. I'm learning to adapt and change and give grace to myself over and over and learn and grow and change and anything that leads me to a life that's less about me and more about becoming like Christ is what really counts. I love this job more than I could ever ever express and I feel so blessed to do it everyday. It's hard though... So hard. Some days I think, I'm getting a live in nanny and maid and calling it quits. :) But who am I kidding, I can barely stand to be away from these kiddos for a few hours cause I just adore each one so much and find their presence so enjoyable!! So, even through the hard days and the many many adjustments over this first year of having five kids I find myself dropping... Literally crashing into bed at night with a heart so full it could literally burst. Some nights my personal nighttime prayer is "Lord, just get me through tomorrow".... But most nights it's "thank you Lord, how in the world did I get this blessed..,.. Oh and please get me through tomorrow!!".. :)

A party for our little ladybug

Here are a few snippets from Patience first birthday party! We all loved celebrating her and I think she had a fun time being the center of attention..... Which is just like everyday for her!! :)

Three things:

1. How cute are those chubby little hands eating cake.

2. That's Serene proudly showing the lemonade she made especially for her baby sisters party.

3. Love the picture of Patience totally pooped out in the car seat after a long long day of partying! :)