Saturday, April 25, 2009

Having a daughter

Having a daughter is the most wonderful feeling in the world. When we had our sonogram and found out we were going to be blessed with a little girl., I was so nervous! I loved my boys, I loved being a mom of all boys, and I really felt like I had this whole boy thing down pat. I was nervous about how a girl would effect our family dynamic. All of that went out the door the moment she was laid on my chest after she was born. I felt such an immediate, strong, deep bond with her. It is different than with my sons. Not better or worse, just different. I had always been kind of jealous of the fact that Jason had this unspoken bond with the boys because they were all guys. No matter how close I am to my sons, I am their mom....I'm not a guy! But now I have this precious, beautiful little daughter, I just want to protect her and tell her everything will be OK and that I'll be there for her through everything because I've done it all before. I am just looking forward to watching her grow up and building on our relationship even more.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Happy Earth Day!

I hope everyone had a great Earth Day :) What a great day to take time and really think about what we are doing to our planet. I talk to the kids a lot about the environment and how it is our responsibility to take care of what God has given us. Also, having a large family I feel like it is my extra responsibility to do what I can to save the Earth since I have put so many new people on it :) There are lots more things I would love to do (get a hybrid car, grow my own fruit and veggies, make my own bread) but I think we do pretty well! Here is a lost of the things we do to take care of mother earth :

*use cloth diapers and wipes
*use cloth napkins (we don't use paper towels or paper napkins at all)
*use only environmentally friendly cleaners
*try to buy as much local food as we can
*recycle what we can (i'm working on doing more!)
*don't drink bottled water (all 6 of us, except Elliot, have our own reusable aluminum water bottles)
*use reusable shopping bags
*use compact florescent light bulbs
*i breastfeed (no formula cans or bottle liners to throw away)
*i make all my own baby food (again, no trash to throw away)

That's all I can think of right off of the top of my head! The things we do are cheap and easy, anyone could do them! I encourage everyone to take a look at their lives and try to find some way to cut back!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

A Joyous Easter!

What a wonderful holiday! Celebrating the single greatest even in the history of time! We had a fun and busy weekend!

Friday I took all 5 kiddos to Penney's to get Easter pics done. This was their first professional pics sine Elliot has been born. I took my grandma with me for some extra help, but really didn't need it. They were all so good and we got 1 good shot! That's all I ask! That evening we went over to my mom and dad's to see what the Easter bunny had left for the kids there.

Saturday I had choir practice at church from 8-12. We got to take a break around 10 to go over for the all church Easter egg hunt! The kids had so much fun! Well, the boys had fun.... Elliot slept :) That evening we went over to Jason's sister's house for a cook out and another Eater egg hunt. It was nice visiting with them and the boys had fun playing with their cousins.

Today the boys got up pretty early to see what the Easter bunny had left for them. I had to be at church early for choir so I rode with my dad. Jason got ALL 5 kids ready by himself and got them to church! He's pretty awesome like that :) Church was amazing! This was the first time I had ever sang in the choir and it was such a cool experience. It was very moving and I will do it again in a heartbeat. It was nice to reflect on the true meaning of this holiday and just thank God for all He has done for me. Afterwards it was off to lunch at my grandma and grandpa's for lunch and hanging out with my family. I've been blessed with a truly wonderful family and I love them all so much!

OK, quick funny story..... I bought a new dress, shoes, jewelry, everything, for Easter. Well, until this morning I didn't really take into account how the heck I was going to nurse Elliot in a one piece dress with no buttons in front! Whoops! So, during the sermon I had to go into the handicap stall in the bathroom, unzip my dress and take down the whole top of it!! So there I was sitting on a toilet, with the top of my dress pulled down nursing Elliot. Real classy!! I didn't think stripping down like that would be appropriate for the cry room :)