All 3 Dressed in Pink!

Goodness gracious!

I have to pinch myself sometimes to realize what a 

charmed life I have been given!

We found out yesterday that we are having a 3rd baby GIRL!

Ecstatic does not even describe how we feel 

about this great PINK news!

What great friendships I get to watch be established

and grow in my very own home!

With all of that said, I was pretty vocal about

wanting to have a son. A part of me wanted 

to venture into the land of the unknown!

A part of me wanted to watch Tyler grow a young

boy into the Man he is today.

In fact, all of me wanted to see that happen.

I can promise you this:

There is no greater person walking planet Earth

that is better equipped to turn a boy into a Man than Tyler.

 Knowing that, here is how yesterday unfolded for us:

We went to the doctor and had a sonogram.

We looked on the screen and saw a healthy, growing, moving,

happy, precious life right before our very eyes.

We were grateful and in love at the very sight.

We had Dr. Neel put "the picture"

in an envelope and we took it home to open.

The girls were both at MDO, so it was just the Trooper 

and me.

We were both shaking a little, and super nervous. 

I was the one who ripped into the envelope.

Inside we found a picture that clearly

showed the little lady

in all her glory. Also included

was a little note that read,

"I'm a little Girl!"

I had my moment. A possible tear or two was shed.

That was ok, it was almost like I was grieving 

the son I would never have.

It lasted 5 minutes before the elation set in.

The joy that we already have known 2 times.

Oh my word. Another little girl who has two best friends

already living in her home.

A Mama who promises to:

put her in cute bows.

match her clothes to her sisters.

love her with all her heart.

make sure she gets good naps.

fill her belly to its fullest.

A Daddy who is committed to:

provide a strong foundation of faith that she can grow into.

give her time and attention.

pour into her self worth.

tell her she is beautiful.

believe in her abilities to do anything.

teach her.

fix things for her.

be her very first love.

While I still believe that there is no one better suited to raise a son,

There is also no one better to bring up a daughter

who is confident and full of self respect and never lacking for anything.

So much goes into raising a daughter. Its no job for the weary.

So much extra worry. Details that will desperately need to be tended too.

What is more precious than the heart of a woman? Who

has God entrusted to mold and grow this little girls heart 

into that of a woman's?

Our Lord has granted us the privilege and the extreme challenge

to do this 3 times. Our prayers are heavy,

as we know raising these girls will not be easy all the time.

Needless to say, raising girls is nothing but an honor,

so my tears came fast and went away even faster. 

We are humbled to be given such a task!

 

Tyler, this house full of girls will build generations 

of happy and successful families because

of how you are raising them.

I dont know of 3 girls that could have a life any better

than one with you guiding them!

Here she is. One of Three of the most precious 

little girls I will ever know!

PS: I know the high school years will be interesting.

PPS: Is it ok to just have one big wedding day, for all 3 of them? no?

PPPS: We think she already has a name, this time, thanks to her daddy. Stay tuned!

The Cross.

My Anslee has always had great timing.

By that I mean, she decided to make her entrance

into this world almost 4 weeks early

at a whopping 4 pounds.

Today, in the car, she insisted we listen to

Christmas music.

Ironically enough, we were on our way

to get our first sno cone of the season.

My Mom bought her a pair of sketchers

light up shoes for Christmas.

She outgrew them before we saw the month

of February.

However, this Easter season,

My sweet Anslee has started asking a lot

of questions about The Cross.

Her timing could not be more perfect.

Tyler and I both wanted this years Easter

season to be a bit more meaningful

in terms of the beautiful

Easter story being brought to true light for her.

We both agreed that her understanding is at a level

that could at some degree understand 

more than the Easter bunny and hunting eggs 

this year.

Almost everyday for the past week, Anslee has been 

asking both Tyler and I

"What does the Cross do?"

"What does the Cross do?"

Are you kidding me? Talk about stopping a mommy

in her tracks. What an important question.

How it requires such a delicate answer.

In all honesty, the first time she asked this,

I acted like I did not hear her!

I was so intimidated! 

I didn't want to mess up the answer.

I knew she was not going to stop asking though.

I wanted to revisit this, and I knew her inquisitive mind

would be mulling over the Cross again soon.

Tonight, I purposefully pulled out our Easter books

for bedtime. Clearly, The Cross being 

the focal point of the story, the question

came in the same form again.

"Mama, what does The Cross do?"

Still, unprepared to answer, this is what I said

to my precious, beautiful, future Child of God.

"It saves us, baby."

It satisfied her 3 year old mind. 

Tears rolling down my face, as my heart deeply

yearns for her to know her God.

To know the power of The Cross.

She looked back up to me and recited her Sunday Schools monthly Bible verse:

"Love God all your heart!"

There is so much more to say to her regarding The Cross. 

I am praying wholeheartedly that the Lord give her Mom

and her Dad the right words to say

and that her ears be ready to hear and her heart

be ready to understand.

This Easter season excites me. I am looking forward to celebrating

the greatest gift we have been given with my family and 

praying that my girl will 

challenge me yet again with more questions

that are so important, and a nerve wrecking to answer!

 

Bless Your Child.

When I grow up I want to be a Mom, but a Mom who is just like my dear friend Brandy Beaumont.
It was no surprise to me when I walked into her home several weeks ago and saw this front and center in her living area.




What an encouragement to have and read on the rough days. What a great reminder of the gift our kids are on the good days.

Thank you Brandy for encouraging me in my motherhood journey, by simply letting me walk into your home!

I hope this will motivate all my mom friends to be intentional each day with your sweet blessings!

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Pregnant Once, Pregnant 3 times. Its all the same. Or all TOTALLY different.

I went and saw our sweet surprise on the big screen earlier this week.

It was fun to see him/her again.

Goodness me that child was wiggling and squirming 

so much that it took the docotor a couple tries

to get the heartbeat. Oh, but then,

like a good little peanut would,

she/he allowed us to hear the sweet sound.

Back up in the 160's.

Moving and dancing so much already.

love it.

Ok, so there was a new nurse.

She was really sweet. It was just a new face,

and in her efforts to get to know the patients,

she says to me,

"So, is this your first?"

Tyler was off work today so he got to tag along!

Sure do love when he gets to accompany me!

We looked at each other and laughed.

I said, "oh no, this is not our first!"

Then Tyler said,

"this is actually our 3rd baby, our 2nd is just 

over a year old now."

The nurse was like, "well honey, I have 4

and once you have more than 2, whats another added to the mix!"

I have heard that a time or two lately, and let me tell you,

those words are music to my ears.

I will always be wanting to hear this phrase over the next 6 months.

It got me thinking though, about how the tables have turned.

How much I have learned.

How things are incredibly different from the first time I learned

I was going to be a mama.

When I was pregnant with Anslee, I wanted to have morning sickness.

I thought it would make me, you know, "feel the part".

Was I crazy? Well, maybe so, but thats the truth.

I was also wanting to feel all the other pregnancy symptoms.

Isn't it funny, how, when you want it to happen, it doesnt happen?

I was later very thankful for the ease at which my body handled 

pregnancy.

Oh my goodness. I wanted to show! I wanted people to take notice

I was pregnant! Ha! and Ha!!

I was really disappointed when I was approaching the 3rd trimester

before I bought my 1st pair of maternity jeans.

again. HA!!!

I waited with a great deal of anticipation for each doctors appointment.

It was a sweet time, and just brand new.

I embraced every single thing about the changes pregnancy brought on.

You can bet I had her nursery planned out to every last detail by the time I was 22 weeks.

She arrived. We obsessed over every little thing.
I remember asking the doctor if it was normal that she sneezed so often.
Tyler took about 6098567 opportunities to learn how to swaddle.
We had to have the diapers with the yellow line that turned blue
when it needed to be changed.
(ok, we do still like those)

Then I got pregnant with Kensington.

Yay! We planned out this pregnancy!

The first thing I did was pray that I would not be sick.

Uhm. What good would I have been to my Ans

if I was spending all of our quality time with head over the toliet?

I was so thankful when just not wanting food anywhere near me

was the worst "sickness" I experienced.

I eased through this pregnancy, working out

at high intensity 4 times a week usually.

I also eased through this pregnancy in the sense of 

I felt like I had an idea of what to expect.

Ha! Kensington as any regular reader of this blog would know

rocked our world into something brand new.

Bless her sweet, ever so "present" personality

she made herself known (and loudly!) when she arrived.

I was a bit saddened when I busted out the maternity pants around 16 weeks.

I wanted to hold out. Oh I wanted to hold out

(not like the first time around!)

I think I had her nursery done like 6 weeks before she came. Maybe 7.

Then she arrived. I didnt think I would obsess over the little things with her like I
did with her big sister. Then she was colic
and forced that to happen. Mostly out of denial.
After that ended, we eased up and took things in stride.
It was nice to be able to do that.

So back in the early parts of December,

when we found out we were yet again pregnant 

I began asking for these things:

1. Please, I dont want to be sick

2. Please let me at least make it the 2nd trimester before the maternity clothes come out

3. Please do NOT let a stranger verbally take notice that I was pregnant for a while.

4. Please, lets do life like I am in fact not pregnant, so I can still be

everything I need to be to my TWO kiddos at home.

While I think pregnancy is nothing short of a miracle, the more you do it,

the more perspective you have that seems to change.

I just think its funny.

Thank goodness for my phone reminders! Its debateable
on whether or not I would have remembered we had
an appointment today if I buzzer did not go off yesterday!

Oh. and you can bet there will be NO belly pics this time. Its been done two times over.

We will take them, and save them for the baby book.

Which by the way, since this baby is coming in early August, 

and lets be honest. This poor, very loved little angel,

will probably come home to a crib with a clean sheet

and maybe a changing pad, maybe.

I get a kick out of how experience and time change your state of mind

so very, very much!

The Big News.

I bet you are not as surprised as I was 

(ok, as I STILL am!)

but yes. its true. it has been confirmed.

Baby Moses #3 will join us in the early part of August.

August 14th is the last possible day the doc will keep me pregnant.

(for those who likes dates and such.)

This child was given to us on God's time alone.

Certainly not on ours.

We are grateful.

This has taken us plenty of time to adjust too.

We found out a while before Christmas

and have barely processed the news since then.

Tyler and I agree that each child is a blessing, a reward, a gift, and

nothing to be taken lightly,

so we rejoice that our Lord has chosen

us to be raise another baby for His kingdom.

Kensington and the little peanut will be right under 19 months apart

in age. wow. I thought the 24 months between 

Anslee and Kensington was squeezing it.

We will be busy. We will be tired. It probably won't be easy.

Busy and tired will be nothing in comparison to the amount of

love and joy we know this baby will bring.

We saw the doctor in early January

(who told me I was almost as bad as some of his teenagers)

and Baby had a steady heartbeat of 152.

A bit slower than the sisters who rang in at 183

and 178 at their first sonogram respectively.

So there ya have it. No turning back.

Now.

Who will join me in a prayer for a non-colic newborn?

3 and 1.

3 and 1.

I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old.

Can anyone explain how that happened?

Nothing about them getting older makes a bit of sense to me.

I look at each of them like they are

my precious, tiny, helpless, totally dependent,

most needy little babies.

On January 19 Kensington turned 1 and I swear grew 4

inches and 5 lbs over night.

At 1 year old Kensington:

smiles constantly

laughs loudly

sleeps 12 hours at night

takes 2 naps during the day

has no interest in walking on her own

caught bronchitis :(

says mama and daddy

and night night

adores her sister

eats any and everything in sight

really loves blueberries

almost done with a bottle

has started MDO once a week

weighs 19.6 lbs

will let me snuggle her any time I want

will fall asleep on me 95% of the time

hates breathing treatments

still cries quite a bit 

does a silly one armed "booty scoot" to get around

likes to read with us

has come SO VERY far since we brought her home.

At 3 years old Anslee:

Goes to school twice a week

has complete conversations with us

has not worn a diaper/pull up since May 9th of 2011

still is an awful eater

takes 1 nap every afternoon

sleeps 11-12 hours at night

loves being a big sister

knows her shapes, colors, letters and numbers through 15

plays well with other kids

and independently

waits anxiously for her daddy to come home each day

takes dance class lessons

gives hugs, kisses, and "I love you's" unprompted all the time

loves Dora, Barney, and Cliford

enjoys trips to the library

is super sneaky

loves junk food (ugh.)

loves to play at the park or anywhere outside

has had 1 haircut

loves to pretend

weighs 26 lbs

would drink apple juice all day everyday if she could

makes her mama and daddy laugh every single day.

Tyler and I give thanks each day for these two precious girls God entrusted

us with raising. We look at each of them like the miracle they are.

We are tired a lot of days, but thats ok because we are full

of joy and very happy.

A birthday party post is in the making!

Blessing baby Landry!

What a sweet day today was! We spent the entire morning spoiling our sweet Libby, mommy to little Landry Reese who is set for arrival on or around February 9th!

We think Landry is already a lucky little gal with Ryan and Libby being her parents. God has blessed her greatly by hand picking those to raise her.

My prediction is that she will be a blonde haired blue eyed beauty that will break the hearts of many baby boys to be!

Precious Landry,
You are loved. You have a purpose and I can't wait to watch you grow into the woman your mama and daddy will shape you to be. You are so special! We can't wait to give you squeezes and snuggles!











































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