My two littlest littles

Daddy took our 3 big girls to swim last Saturday & I stayed home with our 2 littlest girls, Ava & Anibella.  They had so much fun playing together the entire hour they were gone.  It was so sweet to see such gentle & loving interaction between 2 tiny little people.   It melted my heart as I watched & listened to them together.  They truly love each other & enjoy being together!  During their time together, Ava had to go potty & the scenario went like this.......

 

"Sissy, I have to go potty now but I be right back, K?"

  

"I gonna miss you baby, you stay right here......"

 

"I love you so much my Anibella Boo Boo Baby......."

"Now you kiss me FWEETIE!" (Supposed to be SWEETIE!)

  

"I back baby!  Did you miss me?"

The whole time Ava was in the bathroom she kept yelling to Anibella as loud as she could but in a sweet, kinda sing songy voice.  "I love you Anibella Boo Boo Baby, I miss you Fweetie, I coming right back honey!"  It was SO stinkin cute!  Anibella was so sweet & patient & just sat waiting for her big sissy to come back to play with her!  When Ava was done she ran up to hug her baby sissy & Anibella had the biggest "I MISSED you Sissy!" look on her face!  They were really so sweet together & it made my Mommy-heart so happy & grateful for my sweet girls! (Notice that Ava is wearing her bathing suit?  She really wanted to go swimming too but she had the beginning of this cough/cold thing that all my girls have right now so the 3 of us stayed home.  When she heard that her "big girlies" were going "sl-immin'" she brought me her "bavin' suit" so she could be like them too!  It only took her a moment to get over the disappointment when she realized that she could have her baby sissy all to herself!)    : ) 

From parched to refreshed......it doesn't take much for a very tired Mama!

 My girls are still sick.  This makes me very sad & I am getting tired.  Not just physically tired but the kind where all of you is tired.  Mentally, emotionally & spiritually too.  I know God is sovereign.  I know He is kind, loving, good, gracious, merciful & I know that He cares for me.  I also know that He loves my 5 little girls more than I ever could, which is hard to fathom, but it's true!  I so desperately want my little girls to feel better & be healthy.  They are all coughing, actually "hacking" would be more accurate.  They all have runny, snotty noses, sad, sleepy looking little eyes & they are all tired.  They try to act like they're not tired & don't feel crummy because they just wanna play & have some fun!  They're tired of being cooped up in the house even more than I am!  If you know me at all, I am naturally given (I say "given" because it is something that, more & more, I recognize that I am bringing upon myself!  God doesn't want this for me, I do it to myself!  His grace is there if I would just take hold of it!) to fearing for my childrens' safety & health.  I cry out to God for His grace & occasionally I find that I might have grown a little bit in this area, but I  usually struggle with & fail in this area of sin.  I pretty much always fret & am anxious when my sweet ones are sick.  I always fear & imagine the absolute worst.  I know this is so sinful & I get so discouraged with myself for it.  I know that God only gives me grace for what I am going through right now.  During a prolonged season of sickness of all kinds, including 5 miscarriages, in our family due to what we later found to be toxic levels of mold growing in our kitchen, I was once encouraged by one of my very best, most precious friends, Vivian Holland, to think about the quote by Carolyn Mahaney that says that God "is not sympathetic with my unbelief"!  HERE is that link.  Talk about knocking the wind out of my sails (in a very good & much needed way!) as I was sailing along on my vast & lonely sea of worry, anxiety & 3 am freak out sessions! I so needed my faithful, loving friend to tell me that & it was so true! 

Unfortunately, this time proved to be no different.  Although in talking with another sweet friend on the phone earlier that day, she said she heard a glimmer of growth in what I was saying & how I was saying it.  I was surprised & so very grateful!  God IS at work in me!  : )  Here I am once again, listening to my sick babies raspy breathing, congested coughing & bringing out the thermometer at midnight.  Not a good scenerio for this fearful Mama!  So, here I have a fresh opportunity to trust God.  I think I failed.......again. 

So, last night my little 2 year old was so congested that she was having a hard time sleeping.  She was very fitful & kept crying in her sleep.  About 2 am she cried out to me & as I ran to her bed she hung onto my neck for me to pick her up.  I brought her into the kitchen so as not to wake her sleeping sissies.  Through her sad, sweet but cranky I'm-only-2-&-I-feel-really-yucky tears she told me, "Mommyyyyyy, I can't breafffff in my beeeeeeedddddd!"  Oh my heart just sank.  My sweet baby!  So, I got her a drink, rubbed her chest down, helped her blow her nose & we went to sit in her room by the cool mist humidifier.  I sat there rocking my sweet little sickie.  To say I was already tired was an understatement but my heart just broke with compassion for my little girl.  Yep, I was tired & yep, I really really wanted to be sleeping in my comfy bed beside my best friend BUT at least I could breathe laying down, at least I wasn't hacking at all hours of the night, at least my nose didn't feel like it was gonna fall off.  Rocking my baby & stroking her soft, blonde hair was the least I could do.  So there we sat together.  I was loving our cuddle time.  Slowly but surely, one by one, each of my big girls woke up & peeked their little heads over their bunks to see what Ava & Mommy were doing.  One of my older girlies offered to let Ava & I listen to her i-pod.  (We're not into technology for our children at all but my Hubby & I both felt that giving our girls the ability to listen to music that teaches their little hearts about God was a great thing!  Our 3 oldest girls got their own i-pods for Christmas last year.  Daddy has very carefully & lovingly chosen music for them & they each have about 30 songs on their i-pod.  We use them for afternoon quiet times, long car rides (for a limited & pre-set amount of time!) & special treat times.)  At first, I put one earbud in Ava's ear & one in mine.  As Ava was listening to the music, I was holding her & scratching her back (a new favorite of Ava's!  "Mommy (or Daddy or sissies!), please scratch me?!"  SO cute!) & within minutes she was fast asleep!  She could breathe much better with me holding her up!  Yay!  My Mommy-heart was so happy!  After my sweet little Ava fell asleep, I was listening with both earbuds.  I was singing softly & still holding Ava.  One of my girls asked me to sing louder so they could hear me.  That made me smile & of course, I obliged.  I found myself worshipping.  At, by that time, 3 or so in the morning, I was worshipping God!  I could sense the joy welling up in my heart.  It was a sweet, comforting, refreshing time with my amazing God!  As if that wasn't enough, God gave me another gift last night too!  I could hear my girls all softly singing along to God!  My children, who I pray for earnestly every day to know & love the Savior like their Daddy & I do, were singing to the God of their little hearts!  That was such a sweet, precious sound that I'll cherish forever!  We sat singing for a long time.  I plopped in bed at 4:30 am with a very happy heart!  This morning I was tired physically but my heart & my soul were refreshed!  It doesn't take much, it was just a little moment, but my kind & loving God knew what I needed!  Below are the lyrics of 3 of the songs that I love the most from my little time with God & my girlies last night!  

Oh the Deep, Deep Love

---

Original words by Samuel Trevor Francis (1834–1925), Music, chorus, and alternate words by Bob Kauflin.
 
Lyrics

Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus
Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free
Rolling as a mighty ocean
In its fullness over me
Underneath me, all around me
Is the current of Your love
Leading onward, leading homeward
To Your glorious rest above

Oh the deep, deep love
All I need and trust
Is the deep, deep love of Jesus

Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus
Spread His praise from shore to shore
How He came to pay our ransom
Through the saving cross He bore
How He watches o’er His loved ones
Those He died to make His own
How for them He’s interceding
Pleading now before the throne

Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus
Far surpassing all the rest
It’s an ocean full of blessing
In the midst of every test
Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus
Mighty Savior, precious Friend
You will bring us home to glory
Where Your love will never end

© 2008 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI)

Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me

---

Lyrics by Augustus Toplady.  Music and additional lyrics by Bob Kauflin.

Lyrics

Rock of Ages, cleft for me
Let me hide myself in Thee
Let the water and the blood
From Thy wounded side which flowed
Be of sin the double cure
Save from wrath and make me pure

All the labors of my hands
Could not meet Thy law’s demands
Could my zeal no respite know
Could my tears forever flow
All for sin could not atone
Thou must save, and Thou alone

Nothing in my hands I bring
Simply to Thy cross I cling
Naked come to Thee for dress
Helpless, look to Thee for grace
To Thy fountain, Lord, I fly
Wash me Savior or I die

While I draw this fleeting breath
When my eyes shall close in death
When I soar to worlds unknown
See Thee on Thy judgment throne
Rock of Ages, cleft for me
Let me hide myself in Thee

© 1998 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI).

The Precious Blood

---

Words and music by Peter Gagnon. 

Lyrics

Before the cross I kneel and see
The measure of my sin
How You became a curse for me
Though You were innocent
The magnitude of Your great love
Was shown in full degree
When righteous blood, the crimson spill
Rained down from Calvary

Oh, the precious blood
That flowed from Mercy’s side
Washed away my sin
When Christ my Savior died
Oh, the precious blood
Of Christ the crucified
It speaks for me before Your throne
Where I stand justified

And who am I that I should know
This treasure of such worth
My Savior’s pure atoning blood
Shed for the wrath I’d earned
For sin has stained my every deed
My every word and thought
What wondrous love that makes me one
Your priceless blood has bought

A crown of thorns, pierced hands and feet
A body bruised, and Mercy’s plea

© 2005 Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP).

My Big Girl!

Today was my sweet baby's last day wearing size ONE diapers!  She is finally over 14 pounds & she has moved up to her BIG GIRL size TWO's!!!!!!!  : )  My little Anibella is 7 1/2 months & she weighs 14 pounds 3 ounces.  She is petite but spunky, adventurous, full of curiosity & so incredibly sweet & lovable!  She does not let her tiny-ness keep her from doing all of her big girl stuff!  Anibella was only 1 day early which seemed late for us since all of our other girls were anywhere from one to two weeks early.  She weighed 6 pounds 7 ounces & she was 19 1/4 inches long.  God knew she needed to bake just a little bit longer & she is absolutely perfect!  Sometimes I worry when people comment on how tiny she is but I am happy to know that she is perfectly healthy (PRAISE GOD!!!!!!) & has even hit most of her baby milestones early.  (Not that it really matters but it is comforting that she is physically able even being so little!)  She started rolling back to tummy AND tummy to back in the same week, the week she turned 4 months old.  She started sitting up & said her first word, "Mama" (which TOTALLY melts my heart!) at 5 months.  She said her second word, "Dada" (which equally melts both Randal & I's hearts!) & started pulling up to stand the first week she turned 7 months.  My Anibella Hope is just a very sweet, content, social & happy baby!  So, our girls & I made a big "to do" about Anibella "graduating" from her size 1's to her size 2's today!  Her size 1's still actually fit her but the tabs don't come together quite as much as they used to.  Her size 2's are much more roomy & comfy!  I LOVE for my babies to look & be comfy ~ it makes me ridiculously happy!  : )  My sweet Anibella baby is growing up!  She is doing new things every day!  She is such a joy to her Daddy, her 4 big sissies & I! 

My Life Today.......Monday 6/7/2010

My life today........

Right now I am...nursing my sweet little baby girl!  (Usually, if I'm sitting down it's because I'm nursing my baby.  That is when I blog, check email or say hi to family & friends on Facebook.  I don't like to just sit down to blog or Facebook unless I have a good reason to sit & if I can multi-task.  BUT.......always, always, always, when I sit down to nurse my baby, she is my priority & I give her my attention!  Those sweet moments are fleeting & I cherish them!  It's Baby & Mommy's special time!)    : )

Outside my window... overcast & stormy. 

I am hoping...that all of my girls get over this terrible cough, runny nose & plain ol' yuckiness very soon!

I am thankful...that my Hubby is going to pick up a few things that I need at the grocery store on his way home from work so I don't have to take my sweet, sick girls out!

I am smelling...my vanilla coffee candle.  YUM!!!!!!!

I just...talked on the phone to one of my very best girlfriends in SC who I miss SO very much!

From the kitchen...taco meat for Scoopie. 

I am wearing...an extremely comfy orange maternity t-shirt & white capri's.  No.......I'm definitely not pregnant but I LOVE my orange maternity t-shirt that I've had since I was pregnant with my little Abby.......7 years ago!  Yep, it's still around, it still looks great (it should for what it cost at Motherhood!), it's SO comfy & oh, it's one of my very favorite colors too!  : ) 

I am creating...a never-ending list of "to-do's"!  

I am going... to try to find some fun free things to do with my girlies this summer!  I'm thinking story time, restaurant tours, free summer movies at the theater & anything else I can find to keep my girls minds & little bodies learning, growing & having fun! 

I am STILL reading..."Feminine Appeal" by Carolyn Mahaney.  The chapter I read today is called, " The Blessings of Loving My Children”.  It was encouraging & convicting & reminded me, once again, of the amazing honor & privilege it is that I am called to this precious adventure of motherhood!  One of my favorite quotes is about loving my children tenderly.  Psalm 127:3-5 says, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.  Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth.  Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!”  Carolyn said, "Our speech and actions are shaped by our thoughts.  Therefore, we must make every effort to think Psalm 127 kinds of thoughts (heritage, fruit, reward, arrows!) about our children.  Thinking of them as a heritage, a reward and a blessing will alter our attitude and provide the fertile soil for our tender love to grow.”  Wow!  Amazing!  .......heart, mind & attitude changing!  I want to love my children more tenderly every day!  

I am thinking...how amazing it is that my sweet baby girl pulled herself up to STAND.......ALL BY HERSELF today!!!!!!!  She was playing happily beside me on her blankie & I felt a little tug & out of the corner of my eye I saw her cute little head pop up!  When I looked at her, she was standing like such a sweet, big girl, holding onto my leg & smiling as big as she could!  She looked so proud of herself & kinda surprised too!  

I am hearing...my 3 oldest girls playing with their sweet little toddler sissy who has such a sad, yucky cough!  They are trying to distract her & make her feel better!  They keep saying, "Mommy, laughter is the best medicine!"  So they're trying to make their sweet little sissy feel better!  SO sweet! 

Around the house...OKAY, this is really another "I am hearing" but I just can't resist!  My baby girl just started saying "Mama" & "Dada" & REALLY really REALLY meaning it this week!  She has been saying "Mama" for a while but I'm not quite sure she knew that *I* am "Mama"!  So, she started saying it when she sees us & wants us a few days ago & OH MY GOODNESS........it totally melts our hearts!  It's so cute, she kinda sticks out her tongue & says, "mmmmmmm........Mama........mmmmmmmm  ........Mama" & "dddddddd........Dada........dddddddd.........Dada"!  SO precious!  : ) 

Some of my favorite things...knowing that out of all of the friends my girls could draw pictures for, they always make their first picture for Mommy!  : )  I LOVE that! 

Some of my plans for this week:

~ our 2nd week of naptime potty training was put on hold since our sweet toddler has had a cold so we're gonna work on it again this week!  
~ look into finding free/inexpensive things for our girls & I to do this summer. 
~ laundry.......again!  : ) 
~ playing outside, running, burning energy, having adventures & letting my kids be kids!
~ *STILL* reading my book ~ "Feminine Appeal"
~ putting into practice what I am learning about "loving my children tenderly"! 
 

Our beach day ~ New Symrna Beach

We spent the day at New Symrna Beach last Saturday. It was lovely and perfect and had the feeling of a family vacation even though it was only a day trip. The sky was a bright, almost electric blue, the water refreshing & very splash-able, the sand just right for squidgling little toes in, that wonderful salty beach air all toasty warm with a slight breeze and my 6 most favorite people to spend such a delightful day with........my sweet Hubby & our 5 precious little girls!  We ate at a cute little pizza bistro right off of the beach as soon as we got there.  At the beach my girls loved having time to just run, play & explore!  Amy, Ashley, Abby & Ava spent all day in & out of the water, roaming the beach looking for treasures & digging in the sand!  We found some really cool things like 7 "Blue Button" jellyfish, a "Leopard Crab" shell, a piece of coral, a spiral shell with a little snail still living in it & lots of beautiful sea shells!  My big girls dug a huge "hot tub" in the wet sand for their little sissies!  Ava had so much fun running back & forth from the ocean to her little hot tub & she also hung out a lot with Mommy & little Anibella under our huge & really cool beach umbrella!  She loved the having the "freedom" to run around & play & come back to Mommy & Anibella to rest, have a snack or get a kiss whenever she wanted!  This was Anibella's first beach day being able to sit up on her own!  She LOVED it!  She loved to pick up the sand & feel it in her hands & then she would kind of shake her hands like she was trying to throw it & it would go everywhere!  It blew back in her sweet little face a little & she looked a little concerned but didn't even cry then or as I gently wiped it away from her eyes!  She is such a sweet baby!  She loved to squidgle her little toes in the sand & kept getting excited & kicking her little feet!  She was so cute & it was so much fun to watch her explore her little world & love the beach as much as the rest of us do!  She is barely old enough to wear sunscreen so I kept her under our big umbrella most of the time!  The last two times we've gone to the beach I have brought an extra laundry basket that I just stack under the basket we carry all of our stuff in.  I put a soft blanket in the bottom & a bunch of Anibella's toys & it's like an instant portable play area for my sweet baby!  I forgot to get a picture of Anibella playing in her basket but I got a few of her taking a little nap in it!  Anibella's hair is naturally curly & it was especially curly in the warm, humid air!  My amazing Hubby played & played with our girls all day!  He was tired but he loved every minute of it!  Coming out of our extremely busy season of him working 12 hour days in his previous job in SC, online college which took up every spare moment he wasn't working for the past 3 years and our recent whirlwind busy move, it is so fun to see him just be able to play & enjoy our girls!  I am a summer & beach lovin' girl at heart & I really loved seeing my family have fun on our beach day!  Roaming the beach, swimming all day & having little adventures is how I spent most of my summers growing up.  I love seeing my girlies do the same thing & I'm grateful to God that we live where we can enjoy the beach.  I didn't take many pictures but here are a few of my amazing family! 

 

 

My patient Anibella!

I don't know if it's because Anibella is the youngest of 5 little girls or if she just has a super sweet & content little personality but she is so patient!  She loves to play with & be loved on by all of her big sissies & she endures so much of their "mommy-ing"!  Abby asked if she could gently brush Anibella's hair & this is what I saw when I came to check on them!  Abby was so sweet & gentle & Anibella was so happy & patient!  She was smiling & giggling & seemed to love it!  Anibella's hair is really naturally curly but Abby wanted to see how it would look straight!  It was so cute!  I love that Anibella is being so sweet & smiley!  She is such a patient & enduring baby girl! This is one of my favorite pictures!  I love how Anibella is so sweetly smiling at her big sissy Abby as if to say how much fun they were having together!  So precious! 

My Life Today.......Monday 5/31/2010

My life today........


Right now I am...cuddling my sweet, sick little baby girl! : (

Outside my window... sunny & bright with a warm-ish breeze.

I am hoping...& PRAYING that my sweet Anibella baby will be healthy again soon & that her cough won't turn into anything else!

I am thankful...that my Hubby took our 4 big girls out so Anibella & I could have some quiet to nap since we were up all night together. I'm thankful that they brought home Chinese for lunch & a peppermint mocha frappuccino for Mommy!

I am smelling...my delicious frappuccino from my amazing Hubby & our sweet girlies that I'm sipping.....right.....now.....YUM!

I just...helped my little toddler go potty & then layed her down for her afternoon nap. She is doing absolutely amazing & is completely potty trained during the day now! Yay for my Ava!

From the kitchen...I was hoping to make a special Memorial Day lunch for my family but I didn't get to the store yesterday because my sweet baby is sick! : ( I wanted to grill steaks, have corn on the cob, loaded baked potatoes, broccoli & sweet tea. If you don't know, my girls are kinda crazy about broccoli! They have been known to cry over the broccoli bowl being empty or bargaining with a sissy in order to acquire more of said desired veggie! Great "problem" to have! For dessert I wanted to make a white sheet cake with the classic strawberries for red, cool whip for white & blueberries for blue "flag" design! Instead we'll have our favorite back-up meal that we always have on hand, Scoopie! Basically it's everything you would eat in a taco with all of the yummy toppings in a bowl & scooped up with tortilla chips! We'll have our Memorial Day meal later this week.

I am wearing...a cute black t-shirt with gathers around the scoop neck line that my sister sent me from Germany & black, navy & grey striped jammie shorts. (I'm starting to notice a pattern here.......why am I always in jammies when I blog?! I'm just gonna say that I'm still in my jammies at 2 pm today because my precious little one & I were up all night! ; ) AND, I also noticed that I really love stripes & I wear them a lot!)

I am creating...a rotating menu plan that I came across on another Mom's blog. I haven't done this yet but I'm getting myself set up to try it. This is how it's supposed to work. In the front of my little recipe box I have a tab for every day of the week. I have enough recipe cards for every day of the month with new recipes & many duplicates since we like to eat the same things a lot. Even if you have duplicates, you need to have a different card for each day of the month so that you don't have to worry about shuffling them around. So, since we love to eat tacos/scoopie, I'll probably have 2 or even 4 of the same card so that we can have that every week. On each card is the recipe & ingredients for that meal or even just the name if I make it enough to know exactly what it is & what I need. There are 4 recipe cards in each day of the week so that there are enough for every week of the month. On Monday, I will use the first card & then when I'm done, I will rotate it to the back of the Monday section so that the next Monday I will make what is on the card in the front. The idea is that everyday of the month you have a recipe to make without having to go searching for what you want to make. We are trying to eat more healthily & I think having it planned out will help me with my shopping & daily meal making too! On my shopping day I can just take out my meal cards & add the ingredients that I need for the week to my list! The plan is to use this same rotation for several months in a row unless we want to add or take away certain meals. It takes the guess work out of it & lets me focus more on taking care of my family whose tummies I am trying to fill with they yummy, healthy meals! (wow, this one was long ~ SORRY!)

I am going... to make some homemade sweet tea when I'm done with this post! Sweet tea is our favorite thing to drink & I think homemade is the best! I've been told (by my sweet girls!) that our tea is better than Sonic & even.......dare I say it.......Chick-fil-A! GASP!!!!!!! It's true! : )

I am STILL reading..."Feminine Appeal" by Carolyn Mahaney.

I am thinking... how I need to grow in so many areas that it's sometimes overwhelming! BUT.......God has a plan & is working in my heart every day! I am absolutely sure of it!

I am hearing...my sweet, sick baby girl giggle at her big sissy & oh man, that makes my Mama-heart happy! : )

Around the house...lots & lots & lots & lots & lots of artwork from my girls! I love encouraging them to be creative & to use their imaginations but then I have the dilemma (by the way, I was always taught to spell that word "dilemNa" but since I got that lovely little red line underneath, I looked it up in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary & it is actually spelled "dilemMa"! Huh.......I've been spelling it wrong all these years?! : \ Oh well!) of what to do with all of their sweet, beautiful, amazing (silly & crazy!) creations! I guess I'm just TOO sentimental (not about knick knacks or furniture or the like! ONLY about my Hubby & girls!) for my own good!

Some of my favorite things...hearing my Hubby talk sweetly about me to our girls from the other room.......even when he doesn't know I'm listening! : )

Some of my plans for this week:

~ our 2nd week of *NAPTIME* potty training my sweet little 2 year old
~ working on the above mentioned menu rotation
~ getting out & moving our bodies at least a little bit every day this week!
~ putting all of our laundry away (I think I should just set this one in stone! It's pretty much an ongoing TO DO! The way I see it.......I have piles of laundry because I have 6 incredible people wearing/using all that laundry! Therefore, I love it in a crazy sort of way!) : )
~ *STILL* reading my book ~ "Feminine Appeal"
~ loving my Hubby more passionately & molding my girls more gently!
~ Trusting God all....the....time! Especially when I am tempted to worry, fear & anxiety, like when my sweet little 7 month old delicious baby girl is sick!