I simply cannot believe that it has been an entire year since Levi joined our family on the outside! He has been such a gift to us despite my initial shock of expecting him.
There are so many things that I wish I could store in my memory forever (and be able to recall it) and it makes me sad to know that I will forget.
At his first birthday, I always want to remember
How his 5 tooth smile looks when he grins at me
How he crawls on his butt dragging one leg behind him, just like Keira did!
How he LOVES to eat anything put in front of him
How he clapped when we gave him his birthday cupcake at one of his family birthday parties
How he has such an easy going personality
How he outweighs his 2 1/2 year old sister!
How much he looks like all of his sisters....and his daddy!!!
How when I pick him up, he wraps his arms around my neck and squeezes
How he digs through a pile of barbies and other dolls to find a car or a ball!
My labor and delivery with him was so easy and other than the first 2 months of reflux, he has been the most easy going baby I could have ever dreamed of.
We are so blessed to have our little buddy, Levi Daniel.
Do you ever feel completely out of sync with normal life? That is me this week. Nothing bad, just different. With two sick little ones, I guess my normal routine just goes out the window. I am exhausted from lack of sleep. My two youngest are not feeling so great and the two older ones are feeling a bit shut in. This is also why there wasn't a "Worship Wednesday" post this week. I was getting pretty down on myself about it until I realized that it completely didn't matter. My number one is taking care of my kiddos and that is what I was doing. Our usual activities were cancelled this week due to it being a week off of school and I had already planned to take the week off from homeschooling (though I am rethinking that for future school breaks...we need the routine of it). We probably wouldn't have been able to attend anything with the babies being sick anyways so I guess it is for the best! So...we have had a different from usual week but here is what it has looked like.
It was in the 40's yesterday which seemed like summer compared to this cold Winter so Keira and Libby went out to play in the driveway..one would have thought they went to Disney World!
Janessa has been resting...or crying...a lot of this week. She has bronchitis and is on the mend but definitely has needed some extra snuggles this week. I feel terrible for her but have also enjoyed the lack of destruction in our home the past couple of days. (though if you saw my house right now, you would think that we were hit by a tornado for sure!)
I simply cannot believe that Levi is 6 months old today...and had his first sick visit to the Doctor. He is wheezing a bit so we have to keep an eye on him and make sure it doesn't get worse. I always worry since Libby had RSV at 6 weeks old and was hospitalized for a week but I don't think he's on that path thankfully! (Click Here for a post about when Libby had RSV)
I rarely include anything that we do but Tom and I are both on praise team this week plus we had choir practice beforehand. We have an awesome sitter/friend who can actually handle our children, even at bedtime. It was like a little praise vacation. And Levi actually slept the whole time we were gone:) So even though I missed the Worship Wednesday post, Tom and I did go to Worship practice!
Being flexible is good...but I cannot wait until things are back to "normal".
In an effort to show the "real" side of us, here is a picture from yesterday.
My four cuties. (L to R we have Keira, Janessa, Levi and Libby)
This was not taken at 8am...but more like near lunch time....and yes...three out of four kids were still in their jammies and none of the girls hair had been brushed.
Sometimes...well... a lot of the time, I think we as mommies tend to compare ourselves too much to everyone else. I know that I am guilty of this. The reality is, we all have days like this. Days where things just don't get done that we think should.
So, here is my reality. Some days, we simply don't get dressed. And you know what, we all survive...with a little less laundry!
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That title might be a little deep for the blog post I am about to write, but oh well!
Before I had children...or even before I was married, I used to say that someday I would have 5 little boys and drive a mini-van. I would be the "soccer" mom and when I turned around in the van, it would have a bunch of rowdy little boys in overalls.
I LOVE LITTLE BOYS IN OVERALLS!!!!!!!!
God obviously laughed at my plans when he gave me 3 little girls first...but today...TODAY...I got to dress my little boy in overalls.
I have been trying to put into words how I have been feeling lately. Overwhelmed is an understatement. I am still adjusting to so many aspects in our lives. Having a 4th child. having a 19 month old who looks for trouble...for real...she does. Moving in 2 weeks. Having a husband who is out of the home a LOT very suddenly...doing things that he needs to do right now which will benefit the whole family. It's all good...it's just a lot.
I am blessed that when the hubby is here, he is a hands on daddy. Last weekend, he allowed me the time to go and hear Lysa Terkheurst speak. For those of you who do not know who she is, she is an author and works with Proverbs 31 ministries. I have read a few of her books and am now currently reading "Am I messing up my kids" by her. It is hilarious and so full of God's truth.
I digress. Lately, I just felt completely crazy. I feel pulled in every direction and have really been having a hard time with discipline in our home. The kids are still adjusting to not having daddy home all of the time too and it is hard. Sometimes, I feel like going into the bathroom (only room with a lock) and just staying in there all day. No worries...I don't! In fact, I usually don't even get to shower or use the bathroom by myself these days! haha.
So, tonight, as I was doing the dishes and listening to worship music, Keira decided to climb INTO the refrigerator...yes...into the fridge! Why...I will never know, but of course she fell out...landed on the floor (she was fine) and I lost it. I should add that this came after Libby fell down the stairs because she was climbing on the railing and Levi pooped all over himself, his clothes and the car seat. Yep, just one of those days....but seriously I just started crying. And then I started praying. and then I started singing along with the music on the radio.
After about 10 minutes, I heard a quiet voice say.."mommy, can I get out of time out yet". Ooops!
We talked together and we prayed together and I apologized for screaming at her.
I know that this won't be the last time that I feel bad for the way I react to her but as I went back to washing the dishes, a song came on that spoke volumes to me.
Grace Flows Down. I highly recommend listening to it. But the words are so simple and true. His grace covers us. We do not have to be perfect. We just need Jesus. We need to be so full of Jesus that is spills out of us. But when we do mess up or have a bad day, a bad attitude or just plain don't like the cards we've been dealt that day, we have Grace. It covers us. And I am so thankful for that.
Amazing Grace How sweet the sound Amazing Love Now flowing down From hands and feet That were nailed to the tree As Grace flows down and covers me Chorus It covers me It covers me It covers me And covers me
Well hello there...I have been trying to write this post for a month...but it is finally happening! Oh well.
Levi Daniel joined our family on August 20, 2013 at 12:27pm. It was by far my easiest labor and delivery and he is already such a blessing to us.
Levi weighed in at 6lbs. 9oz. (our smallest little peanut) and was 19 inches long. He is adorable and all of his sisters are loving on him constantly. We intended to take our own newborn pictures of him when we got home from the hospital but that didn't happen. When he grew out of his newborn clothes, I went ahead and ordered the pictures from the hospital to share with you all! Enjoy!
Some details:
On Monday the 19th, I went for my routine 37 week visit at the doctor. I didn't feel well...can't pinpoint what was wrong but I was tired and just plain sick feeling. The Doctor told me that I was doing so well with my blood pressure and gestational Diabetes that they would probably not induce until closer to 40 weeks. Don't EVER tell a pregnant lady that she will not go past 39 weeks and then take it back. I was upset to say the least. I went to the mall...ate a hot pretzel...and purchased the last few things I felt that we needed for baby boy...and a Sophie Giraffe just because I was mad. HA!
That night, I decided that I would finally put some things in my suitcase...because it had been sitting empty in our bedroom for weeks. I was having some contractions...they hurt...but I went to bed anyways since it was still a few weeks until my due date. I figured if I fell asleep, than the contractions weren't real. At midnight (ish) I fell asleep. I woke up at 2am and my first thought was, "I guess the contractions weren't real" and I kid you not, my water broke the very next second!
A little of my history will tell you that I have been induced with 2 of my pregnancies and with Libby, I sort of went into labor but had pre eclampsia so they kept it going for our safety. I was giddy with excitement because there was no question that baby boy was coming to meet us!
My mom came over to stay with the other kids and Tom and I left for the hospital. Everything at the hospital was fairly normal but one funny thing was that we had a nurse named Tana. This is only funny to those of you who understand that Libby has an imaginary friend with this same name and pronounciation (Taw-nah).
At 9:00 am they decided to give me some pitocin because my contractions were still 5-7 minutes apart and I was only a few centimeters dilated...I was fine with that but told them to just give me the epidural too figuring we were settling in for a long day. At 11am, I was 6 cm and by noon was fully dilated. They called the doctor and by the time he got in to my room, I pushed through 2 contractions (6 minutes) and Levi was here. I still had my eyes closed focused on pushing and was actually thinking "I can't possibly do this for 2 more hours" (just assuming that he was a huge baby and that this part would not go quickly) when the doctor told me to look. It was crazy how fast and easy it all was. I am not claiming that it was painless...it was not. But it was soooooo much easier than my experience with Janessa and for that I am incredibly thankful.
He is here...hopefully we will update more frequently...but you never know!
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