I have a 4 year old? And 3 kids?

I can't believe that it has been 4 years now since Sadie entered our lives. What a happy day that was! For a good part of this pregnancy I thought that Sadie and David would share a birthday, but he decided to be my May baby instead (I will do his birth story with my next post). I'm glad it worked out that way that Sadie has her own day, and she probably is too. We had her party last weekend, a mere 14 kids and 12 adults, I guess it was no surprise that 48ish hours later I would have a baby. It has been a crazy week, but I want to pay tribute to my little girl. She is my firstborn, my social butterfly, my helper, and my "chocolate cake buddy". It has been a wonderful 4 years. I could write many many paragraphs about her but my new little man is not on board with that plan....will blog more later!

Daddy = protector

 I haven't blogged about Steven in a while, I'm sure it's time. The Lord has blessed me with a wonderful husband and friend, and it's fun now to see him as a loving father. Sadie will frequently climb in our bed in the middle of the night, which I don't mind since she usually falls right back to sleep and isn't quite the wiggler she once was. I remember doing the same thing as a child, and actually, I wont tell you how old I was the last time I did it!

Last night, Sadie crawled in our bed and was more awake than usual. I heard her ask her Daddy if there were any scary things around. He gave her a sleepy answer and I chimed in too, although it became clear she was just talking to him. She said she was afraid of a witch. He very sweetly told her there was nothing to be scared of, and the Lord is with us, as well. I felt a little left out as I realized she had no intentions of snuggling with me.

However, I woke up in the early morning light to see her and Steven snuggled up on the same pillow, her asleep in his outstretched arm and holding onto his hand. I suddenly realized that Mom is not all-encompassing. She didn't need me at all last night, she needed him, her protector. I am so thankful that she, and we, have such a good one! 

Thank you Lord that we have a man in our home that protects, loves, and provides for us, showing us through these actions Your grace poured out on our family. 

Spring is here!

I haven't lef the blogging world, I've just been busy trying to finish all these last minute projects before little D decides to come. I'm pretty positive I wont go early with my history (9 days late with Sadie, 8 with Eli), but, I can't plan on it. We've had a fun few weeks....here the kids are at a Grasshopper's game (the minor league team in Greensboro). It isn't really about watching baseball anymore, Steven has realized, but the grassy lawn, snow cones, music, and awesome playground make it a fun family event.

We had a pre-Easter get together in Charlotte at my parent's house, 2 of my girlfriends and my sister-in-law came over with their kids to dye eggs, go on an Easter egg hunt, and make resurrection rolls. We had 10 kids 7 and under, it was great! Here are the 8 of them, not sure what happened to the other 2.... 

Steven and I got to take a nice trip to Sunset Beach for a couple nights, just the 2 of us, on a company trip. It was a sweet time together with good food and pretty sunshine, I can't lay out like I used to but I did manage to get a little sun on the arms. Mama always said "tan fat looks better than white fat" and I need whatever help I can get right now! :)

Last weekend my parents came up for the weekend, to visit but also to help with my latest project.....that has gotten me started on many home projects this week (nesting, maybe?). Apparently I am not very good at keeping the kids quiet while Steven works from home in his downstairs office. My personal opinion is no one could keep our 2 quiet for that long but the obvious answer to the problem was to move his office upstaris to the bonus room and move the kid's toys to the downstairs office, the "new bonus room" as Sadie now calls it. I told Steven it would be an easy move but I underestimated the amount of stuff he had collected in his office over the past 2 years. Thankfully, we got it done, and just a week later almost everything is into place. I had a thrilling day of organizing every toy in the house, unfortunately the kids want to play with them now, which messes everything up! They are not content, as I am, to just look at them in their rightful place. Oh well.

After a hard's day work last Saturday we enjoyed a lovely Mother's Day Sunday, here's a picture of 3 generations....I just hope the Mommy on the right can live up to the one on the left!  

Our sweet neighbors have given us many hand-me-downs, and this might win the prize for the Spring. They love this little jeep and Eli is quite content to ride in the passenger seat, for now, although I can't imagine he would be a worse driver then she is....

Typical girl....my Dad said, on the phone while driving and not paying attention!

As for little D, he's a busy as ever and puts on a quite a show at times. He was bouncing the hymn book all over my belly the other day at church, it's fun to watch. I've been getting the baby things out, including all the cute clothes....and it's making me excited to meet him! Less than 3 weeks now, and I'll take him anytime he wants to come. In the meantime I'll try to improve my blogging frequency....

The terrible 2s and a fun girl's weekend

 Last year some of my best girlfriends, Julie and Rachel, and I flew to Louisiana for a surprise trip to see our other friend Rachel who was about to get married. This year, she is expecting her first baby (a day after me!) so we decided to go see her again, this time in Georgia where her parents live. It was a shorter trip but the time spent with dear friends, minus kids, was priceless. Of course the subjects of conversation rarely veered away from our families, even though we were states away from them. I drove down to Charlotte Friday morning and the three of us spent a girl's day in Charlotte, a little shopping, a pedicure, and a yummy dinner at The Cheesecake Factory before heading to Columbia, SC, where we spent the night. The next morning we got up and drove the rest of the way to GA in time for Rachel B.'s baby shower and a few hours of visiting. I am so happy for Rachel and Reagan as they get ready to welcome their first little blessing into the world! They will be wonderful parents and are in for a good time. Here we are below at her baby shower, showing off our bellies!

The kids stayed mostly with my wonderful mother-in-law since Steven traveled to Richmond, VA, to speak at a youth rally there. They got to go to Charlotte and stay with Aunt Leslie, which is super-fun, especially since it included a soccer game and Chick-fil-a, as well as some amateur wrestling between Eli and Leslie's youngest. Since they got home Sadie has been saying that she doesn't really live with me, Eli is her cousin and I am her aunt. She also has a dog named Hooch (coincidentally that is Leslie's dog's name). She has not let up on her dog pleas, lately she has been promising that she will take care of it all by herself. The other day I told her I didn't have the money to pay for a dog and she immediately responded with "Daddy has money to get a dog, he takes all your money so he can buy a dog." I laughed for awhile at that one. She has actually been pretty grown-up acting lately, and Eli has been my handful. I should never have bragged about what a good sleeper he was....because he is starting to show his true colors with fussy bedtimes, early waking up, and faking naps. And of course, poor sleeping = whiny 2 year old. I was beginning to wish I could cap him out at how many times he can say "Mommy" in one day, especially with no real request. But then I laid down with his exhausted little self and watched him fall asleep and realized anew the blessing it is to raise a child. Or two, or three. God bless all you mommies! It's trying at times but wonderful all the same. Thank you, Lord, for the honor of raising these you've given me, for now. Goodnight!

Anniversaries and Birthdays!

This past weekend was great. Steven took the kids to Charlotte on Thursday afternoon since I had to work Thursday night and he was going down for work anyways. Obviously they had a great time, as always, at Nana and Papa's house.

 Friday I had a (routine) doctor's appointment then was able to sleep until Steven and I left for his TEST. Obviously, Sadie has very little concern (here she is while he is taking the test, helping Papa water the plants).

The dreaded exam that he had poured hours of his life into. It was a stressful and prayerfilled 2 hours and thankfully..... HE PASSED! I have my husband back and am so excited. And if he ever considers higher education I just might have to put my foot down. After that we headed down to Catawba, SC, to the Harmony House Bed and Breakfast. A lovely little B&B just south of Rock Hill, in celebration of our 7th anniversary. We went to downtown Rock Hill for a nice dinner, pulled through the Baskin Robbins drive thru for dessert, and had a delicious breakfast the next morning. I tried to upload pictures from the beautiful

Harmony House Bed and Breakfast but all I could get to work was the link. Check it out!

On the way back to my parent's house we found out that Eli had thrown up overnight....and Sadie was going to follow suit a little bit later. Unfortunately we had to postpone his party until the next day, but to be honest it was kinda sweet since they both just wanted me to hold them for several hours each. Even though sick kids are pitiful, unless they're in a whiny mood, it's also enjoyable.Thankfully by Sunday everyone was well so after church we had Eli's party. Here are most of us, 9 adults and 10 kids! And that's just family. Mama and Sadie had made the cake on Friday and decorated it with farm animals. After blowing out the candles (actually Bennett got to them first, we re-lit them so Eli could have a fair shot), we let every child pick an animal off the cake. That seemed exciting enough, I shouldn't have bothered to get party favors!

Here's my little man being shy during the Happy Birthday song, something Sadie never would do!

But he ended up a pretty happy guy! Happy Birthday to the sweetest 2 year old I know!

Pregnant Sadie and Girl's Night.

 As I know I've mentioned in the past, Sadie is very resistant to going to sleep. This is usually what her bed looks like when I go in to check on her and turn off her light. This was done with very little light, too, if you're wondering. The other night when my Mom was in town she went to check on her and told me to come up and bring my camera. Looking closer at her I realized what was so funny......

 Apparently Sadie is now expecting too....and not just 1, but 2 of her favorite stuffed animals! The next day I was at work and my Mom asked her about it. She put them back under her shirt then starting jumping around, saying that's how they come out. I wish.

 This weekend marks the annual guy's beach trip that Steven has planned for several years now, 8 maybe? (I posted about this trip last year in "boys will be boys...") Last year Jenn and Maegan came for a short visit during the beach trip so we decided to do it again this year. The more the kids multiply the more fun it is to get out of the house while our husbands are gone. This year 5 of us got together at my house on Friday afternoon with the kiddos, most of them spending the night (which meant 4 moms and 9 kids!). We had a total of 10 kids in the house, ages and 5 and younger. In a few years we might feel like the Duggars when we get together!

 We had three precious ones less than 6 months old and they were troopers, here they are on their baby mats, trying to survive the rest of the gang running around.

 Eli is quite outnumbered, as you can see. Evan (in the first baby picture) is only 4 months old but in a year or two will help balance out the girly-ness. He seems perfectly happy here, though!

Not sure where Sadie's clothes went (that was popular all weekend), but apparently it was time to chill out and read a book.

We had a great time together, thanks girls for being willing to pack up your families and bring them over! Sadie can't stop talking about her friends. Hopefully no one had any serious meltdowns and everyone got a good nap in Saturday. It was well worth it and I think we have us a tradition...

Single Parenting

Steven's work has been crazy the past few months, and we are both getting quite tired of it (especially me!). There is an end in sight, so he says, in the next month or two. Sitting here tonight by myself, after pretty much single parenting it all day, makes me so thankful that I don't do that all the time. It was one of the hardest things to do tonight getting Sadie to go to bed, I'm not sure how we created such a monster, maybe it's genetic, or maybe it's payback (that's my parent's vote I'm sure). She finally stopped asking to come down and watch one of her shows to "sometimes Daddy lets me watch American Idol with him....". Wrong night, babe. And the answer is still "No!". Eli, on the other hand, has started sleeping in a big boy bed and couldn't be better about it. No tears, no getting up until morning, it's amazing. Here's my guys, Eli is getting ready to watch his Daddy play indoor soccer. Now every time he sees a sporting event he says "Dough Daddy!" 

 In other news, we are trying to make sure our kids learn loyalty and how to handle disappointment, so we've turned them into Wolfpack fans. Sadie's first experience was a good one, however, since Steven took her to the NC State/Clemson game and they actually won! She was excited, but truly it had nothing to do with the victory and everything to do with meeting Mr. Wolf and holding one of the cheerleader's pom-poms. Being a cute 3 year old helps you get on the floor without tickets, apparently.

We love you Daddy, and are ready for you to slow down and spend more time with us again! In the meantime, I'm off to bed.