Yikes.

I've always been a bit accident prone while pregnant. I like to blame it on the stretching ligaments, or something like that.

I have recently taken it to a new level with this pregnancy though. On Christmas day I fell down the hardwood stairs at my parent's house and practically broke my elbow. Thankfully my bottom took most of the impact and, well, let's just say it has a little extra padding right now so no problem there. I do have a huge bruise on my arm though, and it still aches.

Then just in case I was looking for a bit more drama, I stabbed myself in the hand with a new butcher knife while making dinner last night. We're talking squirting blood and everything. I'm still finding splatters the next day. So gross. And off to urgent care we went. After some debate as to whether or not a pregnant woman can have the numbing medicine used for stitches and if I needed a tetanus shot, they finally just decided to glue the wound shut. The doctor encouraged me that it was actually better to have a puncture wound (squirting blood and all) than a laceration because the tissue underneath closes in on itself and heals better. Great. I'll keep that in mind next time.

And, I kid you not, while I was typing this, the newly one year-old Brody just picked up a glass, walked off of the carpet onto the hardwood floor, and threw it down. Shattered. What is going on here? Maybe he was jealous and wanted some attention of his own :).

Why??!

Dear Pink,

Why did I just spend a whole day painting the nursery two different colors of pink and completely hate it? Pink, you have let me down after all this time of hoping for your arrival. You fooled me on the paint swatches and made my back hurt for no reason. Now I am walking like an 80 year old. But don't you worry, I WILL be back and I will tame your outrageously bright ways so that I no longer need sunglasses when I look at you.

Sincerely,
A design conscious soon to be Mommy to a little girl (who better REALLY like pink)


I'm not kidding in the above letter. I finally got the crib bedding after waiting 6 weeks (special order or something), dutifully looked at swatch after swatch of paint--in the daylight and evening--all to no avail.

Gotta fix it.

Will post pictures some day if I'm satisfied :).

Happy Birthday, Joel!

Wow! Our "little boy" is 5 today! I'm not going to say these five years have flown by so quickly, because to be honest, they haven't. They actually have been the five hardest years of my life. Little did we know that five years ago, we would face cancer, moving 3 times, 2 job changes, Autism, and the addition of 3 more children. That is a lot to take on, and while I wouldn't have necessarily chosen our circumstances, we have seen God's grace, mercy, and blessing so clearly through it all--especially through Joel.

Three years ago his diagnosis of Autism was devastating. Today he is a thriving 5 year old who truly loves life! Yes, his challenges result in extra diligence, patience, effort, research, prayers, tears, and attention, but we have seen a miracle in his life and he always challenges us better parents. Nothing like paving the way for your siblings, buddy!

So, for the one who has been counting down the days until his birthday since the day after it occurred last year, Joel has been eagerly awaiting this moment. We actually celebrated on Friday and Saturday evenings so he got two "parties"! Somehow Brody injured his ankle Friday afternoon and we were sent to the hospital for x-rays to see if it was broken--thankfully it wasn't, but he did have to wear a sad looking splint all night. Side note, when I was on the phone with the on-call doctor that night, she asked me what happened to him. I honestly had to say that I wasn't sure--we were in the same room with him when it occurred, but we didn't actually see it. Meanwhile, in the background, Zac is wrestling with Joel and Jesse and during a pause in my conversation, Joel shouts out "Daddy, give me another body slam!!" I'm sure at that moment the doctor had doubts about our parenting skills :).

This cut into our plans for Joel that evening so we just had a nice family dinner with cake and presents. He was very gracious about the change in plans when we explained we'd do the second half (going to a nearby museum that has a Christmas celebration and trail of lights) the next night. Because after all, the only thing better than one birthday celebration is two!

So now he's saying cute things to me like, "Mommy, don't you like having a 5 year old boy now?" He also enjoys reminding me of the upcoming birth of his sister by saying, "Mommy, soon you are going to have two babies in the house. Aren't you excited??!!" To which I reply, "Yes, I'm very excited but since you are 5 now, I'll definitely need your help". Little does he know that responsibility also comes with age :).

Many blessings to you on this day, our sweet son, we can't imagine life without you!

Life...

...is just flying by!! We've been so busy, with good things, but it is just making the clock tick extra quickly. I cannot believe Thanksgiving is in 5 days, and then Christmas is just right around the corner. Where did fall go?

I was telling Zac the other day that with each baby, toward the middle to end of my last trimester of pregnancy, I get into "focus" mode and really buckle down, a little withdrawn, and mostly just focused on preparing for the task ahead. I haven't fully reached that point yet (I'm only 26 weeks), but I do feel this urge to really focus on what needs to get done around here, and I'm not so interested in the periphery. Unfortunately, blogging seems to fall into the latter category, hence my absence here.

I do want to document this crazy stage of life, but I just feel so consumed with the daily details of life, that there is little to no creativity left in me to blog. And I have to try to make it at least a tad fun to read, or I'll probably never want to go back and do so (nor would you!). A real look into my day goes like this:

6:30 awakened by crying child (usually Brody)
7:00 breakfast--lots of arguing by big boys about who gets to pick their cereal first
7:30 clean kitchen, empty dishwasher
8:00 get ready for preschool/whatever we need to do that morning
9:00 kid(s) off to prechool, Brody naps, I run around cleaning/organizing, etc.
11:30 lunch
1:00 preschool pick-up then "rest" time (I must insert thankfulness that all boys still usually nap!!)
3:00 therapy/play/do house stuff
5:00 make dinner
6:30 clean up
7:00 Brody bed, play games with boys
7:45 Read stories
8:15 bed time
8:30 more cleaning, laundry, relaxing until my bedtime (which is getting earlier and earlier...)

But that would be boring if I typed that every day. I'll spare you that torture.

For now, I'll share my excitement about baby girl preparation. I've ordered crib bedding, a few super cute girly headbands and a hat, and the world's pinkest car seat anyone has ever seen...hey, if you're only going to do a girl once, go big!!

We're also getting ready to move the bigger boys into a room together so yesterday we bought them beds and fabric to make their comforters. They are SO excited and I hope that transitioning goes smoothly. No one needs to lose any extra sleep around here! :)

But anyhoo...the REAL reason I am posting today is to say that Zac's song won the first round of radio competition and so you can go and vote again! Go to the radio's website and follow the link to vote for "My Church Band Rocks".

kxwa.wayfm.com/

Thanks!!

Happy Birthday, Brody!

One of Zac's songs from his new album has been chosen for a contest on a local Christian radio station here in Denver. They pick three songs and listeners vote for their favorite, which will then be played on air!

Fun, huh?!

So...if you have literally 2 seconds, just follow this link and vote (and I'm not biased, it's the best of the 3 songs :).

http://kxwa.wayfm.com/index.php/community/97-community/134-my-church-band-rocks-.html

And, on a totally different note, out sweet littlest boy is now one!!! Oh wow, I feel like he was just born, literally. Except for the fact that I am 6 months pregnant again, which sort of makes it feel like at least two years must have passed since I had him!

Word cannot express our deep love for this sweet baby and I cannot imagine our family without him. His behavior is becoming a bit more demanding and challenging, because after all, he is now officially a "toddler" right? But still, he has a very mellow, sweet personality and the stoic face that he consistently portrayed as an infant has given way to a giant smile every time we look at him.

I look forward to his continued growth and development as his personality continues to unveil itself. We praise God for you, our precious son!!

My little Builder Bobs

When I was at a baby shower a little while back, the boys took on a construction project. Don't worry, they were fully "supervised" by Daddy. You just can't seem him from behind the camera. And no one was harmed in the making of this object which they call a "train station".

Pretty darn cute if I do say so myself. And that's why Zac and I balance each other out so well. The idea of putting my three small children near some serious tools and open paint cans is enough to put me into a cold sweat. But they sure loved it!
Nice job, everyone!

Brothers.

I got these matching shirts for $2.50 a piece. Who can resist such a good deal? Now if it was only that easy to get a cute picture of the three of them. This was my 5th and best attempt. Ha!



I think the balloon man was a little bored when my parents took us out to dinner awhile back. Guess who reaped the benefits of his boredom?



Playing at the North Pole (an amusement park) with Daddy and Papa. Mommy and Nana took Brody shopping (he didn't know any better). It was a good day all around.





The boys found these scarves and hats when I was switching out our summer and winter stuff. They really wanted it to snow, but this was at the beginning of September. Well, they finally got their wish because in the last 2 days, we've had 2 feet of snow here. Can you say CABIN FEVER??!