10 on 10

10 pictures from my day.

Early morning workout.

Quiet time with Jesus. 

The house was quiet while I was getting dressed and I came out to find all the kids reading.

Mid-morning snack while driving home from the grocery store. :)

Levi had a great eye appointment today! He was excited about his sucker and that he doesn't have to go back to the doctor for 4 MONTHS! His eyes are continuing to improve!

Tired mama and silly baby girl.

My handsome boy has grilled or smoked the last 3 nights. So thankful for him! 

Yummy supper - grilled chicken and corn on the cob were cooked tonight and the grilled veggies, baked beans, and slaw were leftovers.

Levi keeping himself occupied during prayer meeting.

Since I was gone a lot of the afternoon for Levi's eye appointment, I didn't get the laundry folded. Even though I hate to get behind in the laundry routine, I'm going to bed now and will do it tomorrow.

Nighty-Night.

Pregnancy update {Baby #5}

This is a hard post for me to write. I have wanted to post updates on our sweet little baby, but my heart has been so heavy for weeks. Many of you probably remember me sharing about my sister-in-law losing her first baby at 21 weeks gestation last September. Well, she found out she was pregnant with her second baby about two weeks before I found out I was pregnant with our Baby #5! She and I were so excited to be pregnant together! We loved chatting all things pregnancy related. 

Back at the beginning of May, her precious little Isaac was stillborn at 22 weeks gestation. The grief has been indescribable. Seeing my sister-in-law and brother-in-law go through this again has been heart wrenching. I cannot imagine the sorrow of losing two little ones.

I have struggled with many questions in my own heart. It's been so hard to be the one still pregnant - the one who already has four healthy beautiful children while my sister-in-law just longs to have a baby of her own to snuggle. Trusting God's promises and believing in His perfect will is the only way to get through a trial like this, and I am thankful for the truth of His Word feeding my soul every day.

19 weeks.

I am doing well pregnancy wise. This has definitely been a different pregnancy than normal for me. I have had a lot of cramping and spotting, but thankfully it's not anything to be worried about. I have been making an effort to get my feet up each afternoon while the kids rest/nap - doesn't always happen, but at least I make the effort. :) I've had my occasional only-while-pregnant upper digestive discomfort (in my other pregnancies it's come after eating spicy foods or chocolate, but this time it doesn't seem related to certain foods). Thankfully the discomfort is taken away with a little lemon and peppermint essential oils.

21 weeks.

The 20 week ultrasound went well and everything with Baby is perfect. We are grateful! We did not find out the gender this time! Ever since we found out I was pregnant, we thought it would be fun to wait until birth to find out. The only downside to not finding out is that it means we need to have both a boy and girl name picked out (or at least some ideas of names). So far we have none. Every time I bring up to Jacob about names he starts goofing off and suggesting hilariously crazy names. Haha!

23 weeks.

I'm actually 25 weeks along right now, due September 18th, but I haven't gotten a new picture taken yet. We are thankful for our 5th little blessing!

10 on 10

Mother's Day edition of 10 on 10. 

Early morning coffee and time with Jesus. 

Delicious breakfast cooked by my sweet husband. I only ate one piece of bacon and sausage - the kids begged for the other pieces :)

I despise being late for church, but we were.

Ava and Grammie - Ava turned 18 months today!

Naptime!

Yummy fruit (local strawberries from the farmer's market - so yum!) for supper with my family.

Family supper.

We hugely surprised my mom with an iPad for mother's day!

Sisters reading.

I'm thankful for these crazy little ones who have made me a mama!

Motherhood Unexpected - book review

I have been working really hard to read more (pleasure reading for myself) this year. When my friend, Deanna, announced that she was writing a book, I knew it would be on my list even though I don't typically read a lot of fiction.

Deanna has been a friend of mine since we lived on the same hall one semester in college. She is a very gifted writer and I have enjoyed following her life over the years through her blog, Everything and Nothing from Essex. Deanna has a precious daughter named Addison who is beautiful, hilarious, spunky, loves fashion and chocolate, and has Down Syndrome. I love reading Deanna's witty, real-life posts about her adventures with Addison and her two little guys. 

Motherhood Unexpected is an outstanding book! It is a novel about three women who each face difficult, life-changing circumstances and struggle to see God's hand through them. I could hardly put the book down! I laughed and cried as I felt the vivid emotions of the characters. 

Here is the book description: "All Claire wants is to be a mother, but her perfectly planned birth ends with a surprise. Forced to question everything that she has ever believed, she struggles through new motherhood. How can God still be good when nothing about this is even remotely good? 

Meanwhile, Claire's teenage sister Felicity goes too far with the wrong kind of guy. Faced with a life-altering decision, she can't help but wonder, "why me?" 

Julie counsels her daughters as they deal with the complications of sex, disability, broken expectations, and jealousy. However, a deeply buried secret won't leave her alone, causing her to have her own doubts. 

Three women face circumstances that leave them broken and desperate. Will they find peace with the unexpected before it's too late?"

I am thankful to Deanna for challenging my own heart on mothering, God's goodness, and His sovereign plan for our lives. Motherhood Unexpected is not just about motherhood, but about life, and life's biggest decisions - something everyone can relate to.

This week Amazon has a really great Mother's Day sale on Motherhood Unexpected! You can get the Kindle edition for $0.99 and the paperback for $7.99! This is a perfect gift to give your mother, friend, wife, sister, daughter, pretty much any lady in your life! :) 

10 on 10

Today did not start out according to plan at all. A huge thunderstorm woke me up at 3am and then Ava was awake off and on from 3:30 to 4:45 (she must be going through a growth spurt because after I was finally coherent enough to give her a snack, she went right back to sleep). My alarm was set for 5:13 so I could go workout, but I texted my dad and told him I had to get a little more sleep. I got up at 6:15 but have totally felt like my whole day has been off. blah!

{{Time with Jesus and coffee are a necessity for me every morning}}

{{On our way to the doctor to get stitches out of Levi's chin - will post that story soon}}

{{Stitches are out!! Levi again wowed the doctor and nurses with his unwincing courage! Our pediatrician was very pleased with how well the inside and outside of his mouth has healed even though the anti-bac cream the ER doc prescribed was backordered in all local pharmacies and we used colloidal silver and essential oils for healing!}}

{{Lunch on the porch since the grass was soaked from the storm}}

{{Bike washing}}

{{Mud-puddle jumping}}

{{There are some days that a good cry followed by baby snuggles are in order}}

{{My favorite part of supper}}

{{Bedtime stories}}

{{There must always be a silly face picture}}

It's SPRING!!!! (and other randomness)

We have really been enjoying the beautiful weather the last week or so! It seems like my kids do so much better when they can get outside - so much less whining, fighting, crying, etc. The three big kids are really into riding their bikes this year. We don't have much space at our house to ride, but we are enjoying rides around the neighborhood. 

Ava is loving toddling around this year. She doesn't like walking barefoot in the grass - she walks on her tip toes. So funny! She is a little stinker and likes to take off for the road whenever she gets the chance. I can't take my eyes off her at all!

Snack time.

We are happy to be back at the park too! 

Lily found these daffodils in our yard. She picked them and put them in a glass of water on the table.

Ava loves this little outfit and would wear it everyday if I let her. 

Spiffed up and headed to church. Jacob was out of town for a weekend conference, so I snapped this picture to send to him. 

Snacks, stories and outside time = joy to this mama's heart! 

Happy Birthday, Asher!

On March 11 our sweet second son turned 3! I can't believe he is already three - craziness! He is goofy and stubborn. He loves to snuggle, play outside, read books, ride his bike, eat and snack all day long, be silly with his siblings.

We celebrated with Jacob's side of the family for Sunday dinner (a few days before his actual birthday). Asher requested baked beans, mac & cheese, corn, and Grammie's bbq chicken along with peach cobbler for dinner. :)

There is always plenty of help when it comes to opening gifts!

On Sunday night at my parent's house we celebrated my sister's birthday along with Asher's. 

Opening more gifts!

We celebrated with cinnamon rolls on his birthday. He was the first person to get to use our new "You are special today" plate - which he was excited about! We learned that if you put candles in a too-hot cinnamon roll, they will melt all inside the roll. Oops! :) 

A couple of days after he turned 3, Asher lost his last paci. I finally did find it later and put it away because he was definitely ready to be done with it. He cried (and I cried with him) at rest time that day, but then didn't have any trouble going to sleep that night. It was bittersweet - I wish he didn't have to grow up so quickly, but I'm glad to see him growing through the challenges.