16 months

Sweet Levi is 16 months old today! Wow, can't believe I'm actually typing that! Babies grow up way too fast. 

• Levi is a typical busy, busy boy. He is rarely still, as you can see in most of the pictures I post of him!
• He wears mostly 12 month clothes, but still some 9 month pants. He's short and chunky! :-) He wears size 3 shoes. Yes, he has small feet!

• He is extremely mischievous.
• His vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. 
• When he gets frustrated he lets out an ear-shattering scream! Ugh, we are working on that!

• He is so curious! He will sit in the floor and examine something for the longest time. 
• He gets into everything! I have to keep my eyes on him all the time.
• He's started taking a longer afternoon nap...about 2 hours. Such a blessing!
• He is back to eating most things. He's not a huge fan of fruit except bananas, so we have smoothies every morning for breakfast. He loves drinking his smoothie out of his "big boy" cup (with a straw).

• Reading is his favorite thing! He likes to sit and look at books by himself but he also likes for us to read to him.
• He loves playing outside.
• He sleeps about 12 - 12 1/2 hours each night. 

• He loves brushing his teeth.
• He likes to figure out how things work. I will put his snack (usually cheddar bunnies) in a container and give him another container and he will move the bunnies from one container to the other. Keeps him busy for a few minutes, but also helps his coordination.
• He loves singing! Away In A Manger is still his favorite song, but he also likes Twinkle, Twinkle and Jesus Loves Me. He actually sings alot of the words and carries the tune pretty well.

• Anytime I am in the kitchen, he pulls his little chair up to the counter and wants to help. He likes to help with the laundry too...basically he likes to be where ever mama is, so he helps with everything.
• He is definitely a mama's boy.
• He is a great big brother - patting Asher sweetly and giving him his paci when he's sad. We are still working with Levi about giving gentle hugs to Asher.

How I love my sweet boy!

Our Week In Pictures

This has been a long week. Jacob had rehearsals until late every single night, we didn't get a whole lot of sleep all week, and it was tiring doing the "nightly routine" by myself all week...but we made it through! I'm looking forward to an "at home" date night on Monday night! It's been weeks since Jacob's had a free night just to be together at home. 

 Asher is starting to like sitting in the nap nanny looking around.

 I just love when Lily and Levi play happily together! They are at the age where they still need alot of guidance to help them play sweetly together, but they are getting better!

 Storytime while waiting for breakfast.

 These two love to help in the kitchen! They brought plastic play food and pots into the kitchen to play.

 Asher is smiling huge grins these days, but I have get to catch it on the camera. He's usually moving his arms wildly, so the pictures are blurry.

 Levi learning to be gentle.

 Sweet brothers.

 Jacob is working on building a water table and a sand table for the kids, but they have enjoyed using the tubs for boats for now. I love how they are both playing with dolls!

 Asher spent a lot of time in his carseat this week. We had several appointments, errands, and trips out to my parents. One appointment was with the midwife for our 6 week checkup. Asher has gained about 2lbs (give or take a few ounces...he had his clothes on and he'd just had a 5 oz bottle). I'm so happy he's doing great!

I love walking in the living room and finding my sweet girl sitting on the couch reading. 

Makes me so happy!

Two Little Cooks

Thank you all for your sweet and encouraging comments on my last post. I'm so thankful to know that I'm not alone in this stage of motherhood. Pouring ourselves into our babies is so much more important right now than having a clean house! The days are sometimes long, but the years are much too short!

Lily and Levi love to wear my aprons and cook up some tasty concoctions in their play kitchen. They were playing so sweetly together until Levi tried to stir Lily's "soup."

She is shaking her finger at him saying, "no, no, no!" 

Totally cracks me up!

Y'all have a great weekend!

Keeping It Real

Ok, so I feel like some of you might tend to think that I'm Super-Woman or Super-Mom. I'm not. I know I don't often post about our rough days, my shortcomings, or my kids not-so-great behavior. It's not because we don't have them...I just try to do my best to focus on the good days and happy times. 

Also, I never ever want to give anyone the impression that I'm discontent with my life. Yes, it's not always easy being a mama to three babies under two and half, but it's what God has called me to do, and I wouldn't trade it for the world!

That being said, I thought I'd share some "confessions" so you all know I'm 100% human! :)

• I have had more cooking failures in the last 2 months than I've had in my entire life.

• Our bathtub hasn't been cleaned since 2 weeks before Asher was born. Yes, that's 7 weeks if you're counting.

• I lose my patience more than I ever thought possible.

• My house hasn't been vacuumed since Asher was born...although it's been on my to do list for going on 3 weeks.

• I've only "done" my hair twice since Asher was born. My new normal is a pony tail or messy bun.

• My kids often portray less than spectacular behavior. They don't like to share, they bite, they hit, they throw fits.

• There is about half an inch of dust on our bookshelves.

• I get frustrated.

• I usually can't remember when I had my last shower.

• Asher has cried himself to sleep several times...not because I'm a fan of the Cry It Out method, but because there are two other little ones who need my attention.

• I say (or think) "I can't do this!" often, but then remember that I can through God's strength.

• Lily and Levi had cheese cubes, frozen peas, cheddar bunny crackers and fruit for lunch at least four times last week.

• Some days I find myself counting the hours minutes til naptime or bedtime.

• I allow my kids to make huge messes since it keeps them occupied while I feed Asher. For example, today, Levi pulled 38 diapers out of a package and scattered them all over the living room, and it was totally ok with me.

• My kids average two baths per week. I don't have the energy to bathe them every day.

• Some days I just want to run away and live in a hole.

• I try to remember to put makeup on before leaving the house...doesn't always happen.

• I fall into bed utterly exhausted every night and usually can't even remember if my hubby kisses me goodnight...he says he always does!

Some of you have asked "How do you do it?!" Besides God's amazing grace, these are some practical things that help keep me sane throughout the chaos:

• Having devotions everyday. Right now that consists of reading a devotional on my phone during Asher's 4:00am feeding.

• Going to bed with a clean kitchen sink. My day just goes so much better if I don't wake up to a sink full of dirty dishes.

• Picking up the house every night.

• Doing one load of laundry from start to finish everyday (except Saturday and Sunday). 

• Eating dark chocolate everyday.

• Putting the computer away when the babes are awake.

• Getting some type of exercise (besides running after babies) everyday.

• Snuggling my precious babes and remembering that this season will pass way too quickly!

Hope this gives you all some perspective into my insanely crazy wonderful life!

Weekend Happenings

We had a fun-filled, busy weekend! Jacob was out of town from early Friday morning until late Saturday night. Being a "single" parent wasn't easy, but we all survived and had a good time!

Friday was my Mom's birthday. My sister planned to come over for a picnic lunch and egg hunt, so we invited my parents and brother as well as another young mom from church with her little boy. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time soaking up the sunshine. It was so funny to see what the different aged kids thought of the egg hunt - my 3 year old nephew got really into running around finding eggs, 2 year old Lily enjoyed finding them with a little encouragement along the way, the 1 and 1 1/2 year old little guys were either not interested at all or just sat and played with the eggs after they were found. 

We pulled out the little four wheeler for the kids to drive around too. Our neighbors gave it to us right after Lily was born and we've had it in the shed since then. Jacob got it out a couple weeks ago and let Lily and Levi try it out. Of course they love it! Thankfully it has different speed settings so they just creep around the yard. Lily has no clue how to steer. Ha! It's hilarious to watch her (and Levi for that matter) drive!

Friday night I packed up the kids and went to my parents for a yummy pizza and salad supper and playing on the farm. I can't believe that I didn't manage to get even one picture of my Mom on her birthday! So sad!

Petting the goats

I woke up at 6:00am on Saturday morning and realized that Asher had slept the entire night...and was still sleeping! He'd been waking up every 3ish hours through the night pretty much since he was born, so of course I had to check and make sure he was breathing. Ha!

We got out of the house early and met my sister, nephew, brother and Myra's mother-in-law at a spring festival. 

 

There were tons of vendors, a train ride, a playground area, pony rides, and a huge chalkboard for the kids to draw on. Lily and Levi really enjoyed it!

I'm so thankful my brother came along! I couldn't have managed without his awesome help! Yes, I got one of those leash thingys for Lily. Not so much to keep her from running away from me, but to keep her from getting lost in the crowd. Myra's mother-in-law also helped a lot with Asher when I was occupied with the other two. Such a blessing!

The kids fell asleep in the car on the way home but they woke up when I put them in their beds. I was hoping they would settle back down and sleep, but then I heard Lily calling, "Mama, I need foooood!" Ha! They just had a little snack at the festival and it was past lunch time once we got home. I got them up and fed them, but by that time, no one was interested in taking a nap. Oh well.

I loaded them up once again and headed to the grocery store. As you can tell from the picture, it was a crazy trip, but we managed! The kids were actually pretty well behaved for only having a little snooze in the car. They made this mama proud! :)

I was so glad when Jacob got home late Saturday night! Unfortunately his brother had gotten a stomach bug during the trip, and Jacob woke up Sunday morning feeling sick. He stayed in bed all day and is feeling much better today. Thankfully the kids and I haven't come down with anything yet. We are praying that we've been spared!

Hope y'all had a fabulous weekend!

1 month.

I cannot believe my little Asher-man is 1 month old! What a month this has been, so full of joy and adjustments.

• Asher weighs about 8 1/2 lbs.

• He wears newborn clothes and size 1 diapers (they are huge, but we ran out of newborns and just used what we had on hand).

• Our breastfeeding experience was the best out of all three kids. I did everything under the sun to boost my milk supply, from lactation cookies to taking a milk boosting tincture, to eating lots of calories, to drinking a ton of mother's milk tea and water, to taking a bunch of different supplements, but after a few weeks, my supply just disappeared practically overnight. I never really had enough milk for him in the first place, but I would nurse him as much as he would and then offer goat milk for supplement. I'm thankful for short but sweet experience! On of my midwives is giving us frozen breastmilk so at least Asher is getting a little bit of "liquid gold" each day!

• He is a hefty eater! He takes 5oz of homemade goat milk formula every three hours.
• He's a good sleeper - up once during the night to eat, but then goes right back to sleep.

• He has a fussy time around 5pm every night.
• Asher likes to be outside just looking around.

Good morning, sunshine! 

Yep, that's a pink blanket...all the others needed to be washed, so we borrowed Lily's. Ha!

Love this sweetie!

Resurrection Sunday

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating our Savior's resurrection! I am so thankful for His work on the cross.

This the power of the cross

Christ became sin for us

Took the blame, bore the wrath

We stand forgiven at the cross.

I was looking back through some old pictures and thought it was funny to see our family grow over the past four Resurrection Sundays.

2009

 2010

 2011

2012

Sunday was my first time taking all three kids to church by myself. Jacob was playing at another church's Easter program, so I was on my own. Thankfully everything went well with getting us ready and loaded in the van. I was pretty happy that the kids and I made it to church with 10 minutes to spare! It was no small feat, let me tell you! :-)

My handsome boys

I love my precious babes!

After church we had dinner with my family at Memaw's. Of course we had to get our traditional family pictures too. Yes, I like to have the whole family matching/coordinating! So fun!

Lily 2 years old

Levi 1 year old

Asher 4 weeks old

I hope you all had a blessed weekend!