5 years

Today this baby of mine turns 5 years old.......

enjoying her birthday donut saturday morning

Can't believe she's 5 years old today! I thought I'd share this video I made for her 3rd birthday......so sweet remembering  how much our family has changed in the past 5 years! Very thankful at all the Lord has done! We are indeed blessed greatly!

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
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Past birthdays.......

Sweet sweet Emery-Claire. How full of joy you are! We love you so so much and are ever grateful that you are apart of our family!

5 months: Update

So a little over 2 weeks ago this girl turned 5 months old!

Love those little crossed feet!

So many new fun things happening with this big girl! She is definitely giving us more sleep! She is consistently going 7-8 hours at night (at 4 months it was still on and off--but I would definitely say it's a consistent thing now)......she smiles and laughs all the time! She is just such a happy, happy girl!

love those big blue eyes

She is sitting so big with support......

She most recently got to meet her Aunt Jess....

and had fun hanging with cousin Rett; so sweet! reminds me of seeing this......

where did the time go?? I barely remember these days!!?!

she also started grabbing and wanting to "hold" toys....

Maggie Starks you are growing by the minute! We are having so much fun watching how you change, and ever thankful you are apart of our family! I know it is just a matter of time before you will be up and running with the big kids.....your little body is full of smiles and excitement as you watch them!
Trying to savor all these moments is hard some days.....I don't want to look back and think I really missed them! Off to go savor my babies!

Mother's Day 2013

Five Months

Can't believe this precious little girl is 5 months old!! It's May 2nd so we've officially been 5 months for the past two days......although I'm too tired to download the camera and more recent pics here is a cute one from a couple weeks ago. Love our little Maggie so much! I'll document more soon on how much she's growing and changing!

Life these days

So often I want to sit and write a blog post....though I feel lately I just post an event (for my own memory keeping---because if I don't write it down I can't remember anything) or how many months have passed as our baby girl continues to grow. But I do have thoughts in my head, my head is swimming with thoughts really! I want to write some meaningful post like some really good blogs I read......some days I just feel like I get lost though, does anyone else feel this way? I easily begin to feel like all I'm doing is changing another diaper, preparing another meal, cleaning up dishes, folding more laundry, picking up messes, doing school work, etc etc etc.

 I know every other mother of young children feels the same. So I question do I have thoughts?? as it feels so easy to be lost in all these daily tasks I do over and over and over again. Where is me? What do I think? What is going on inside my heart? What is God teaching me?? So often I feel frustrated. Frustrated that I can hardly find time to spend in God's word. Frustrated that if I make the time it's maybe 20-30 minutes and I don't even know where to begin in His word. Prayer; at least I think I'm attempting to pray....for my heart to be softened seeing and hearing what He wants me to see; praying for my husband and children; ....but then it seems I'm just floating and ultimately I'm depending on me is what I so often see.

I know motherhood is our calling.....we are raising and training and preparing these little "disciples", we could call them, to be equipped to know God and praying so desperately that He changes their hearts and that they too will grow up never remembering a time not knowing and loving Jesus! That they will desire to not be conformed to the ways of this world, that they would desire to share this faith and hope with those lost all around them! But I so often feel I fail at this. I constantly fall short. But isn't that because I'm trusting in me; I'm depending on myself and my own strength?! 

So I often ponder when the house is quiet and everyone is in bed....was today any different? Yes I wiped noses, fed people, gave them clean clothes, etc.......but did I make a difference in the big picture of eternity?! I know that loving them, praying for them, teaching them is what it's all about but I question if I did it well......was I just mean and grouchy, being unnerved by every little mess I found as I turned a corner. Again...reflection.....I'm trusting in me, depending on my strength and my abilities. Oh how I need Jesus!! I need His righteousness, His perfectness, His Spirit to cover all my mess (forget about the messes they make all over this house, I'm the mess!!) I need to remind myself of His promises, His unfailing love for me--despite all my shortcomings and failures!

"The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love." Psalm 103:8

"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." Psalm 103:11-12

"....for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." Phil. 2:13

"for I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high." Leviticus 26:13 (one of my favorites!)

So here I look at them...these 4 beautiful little people that God has entrusted into our care! I know I'm going to mess up. Because the fact is I'm sinful; I can't do it right or perfectly, only Jesus can! So I know I must remind myself of His truths, His promises....I must run to Him daily, leaning all on Him and not at all on myself!

"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithful." Lamentations 3:23

Four Months

It's already time to write another update post on little Maggie! I can't believe she has been with us and apart of our family for 4 months now! Some days feel long keeping up with 4 little people......but then when you turn the corner of another month it seems so surreal how fast it goes by!

So on Saturday this sweet girl officially turned 4 months old!

She is just such a joy and full of pure sweetness! We are so blessed and thankful that baby #4 is so easy going......unless she's hungry or tired this sweet girl is full of smiles and coos and even some attempts at a little "uh huh" (beginning laughs with a big ole grin on her face!). It is so crazy that last year at this time we were just finding out God had knit her together. To be honest it was slightly stressful and overwhelming. We had lost a baby back in the fall, and were really back and forth with the idea of how to add (if we were going to add) to our family. Let's face it...at 2 1/2, 3 1/2 and 5 1/2....things were beginning to calm down....they were seemingly becoming "easier" if I dare say that. We felt our heads were beginning to come up for air from the water we'd been swimming in for the past 5 years of having 3 children in less than 3 years! A missed nap for a 2 1/2 year old was not a big deal, outings were easier not toting a diaper bag full of all those baby essentials (granted she wasn't potty trained till later in the summer.....but it's not as big of a deal to grab a diaper or 2 as you run out the door).

But it was this week, right after Easter last year, I took that test. That test that has changed our family forever! I was scared to be pregnant again...honestly. Would I loose another baby....I was almost 37, would she develop ok? And the biggest deal.....oh please Lord let Reed have a brother....how I'd love to experience baby boy all over again....the trucks, the machines, the trains, dirt, all things boy! But again we were all shocked upon hearing in that ultrasound that God had ordained for it to be girl #3. 

But now she is here...she's healthy...she's perfect! We are all so smitten and in love getting to know her more and more everyday! Even big brother adores more than I could have prayed for him to! You'd never know that sweet boy was so confused having asked God to give him a brother and then to find out it was another sister.....but I don't think he could imagined it any other way either! 

How amazing it is to see that the Lord knows what is best for us, for our family. Last fall we had to go through loss.......but again He still was God, the God who He says He is. He is good, all the time God is good! And undeserving as we are....He did bless us, again, with another very healthy baby! Maybe it didn't balance out our boy/girl ratio....but He knew balancing out the ratio didn't really matter! He knew she was perfect for our family, regardless of what we "thought" was best. We love, love, love you Maggie Starks! How abundantly blessed we are by your presence in our family! I certainly couldn't have imagined last year at this time how perfectly this girl fits right into our mold, but she does! And we are ever thankful she is here with us....praying that she too will grow to know and love Jesus as her Savior---and impact people, nations with this great truth and hope of Him!

A very long week!

So lately it's hard for me to post much on our blog...though I want to because it's one of my main forms of documentaries of all the fast happenings of our little clan around here! They are growing and changing so quickly before our eyes and I want to enjoy and soak it all in....but remember all the sweet moments too! But with piles of laundry, food to prepare, dishes to clean, kids to care for, etc. etc. I find it harder and harder to take pictures, and much less download them and sort through them and even less time to post them on the blog! But last weekend I wanted to document Reed's fun experience being apart of the "all star team" from his basketball league. He had so much fun....and it was fun to see him enjoy the fast paced sport he's come to love (he's loving we are in March Madness and brackets!)

So here is Reed and Andrew.....They are exactly a year apart and Andrew is the son of Casey's former boss, Will. So they've known each other since they were born and go to the same school. So it was fun they got to play on the All-Star team together! They had played against each other during the season....Andrew has played with his dad, Will, coaching the past couple years so his team is really good! They won the championship game, and so it was fun that for All-Stars Reed and Andrew got to play together with Will coaching! They won both their games! 

Reed made a shot in the game and he was so excited! He's number 5

Casey and Reed during the last game! He has loved playing this season.....and now we are about to start up tee ball......we definitely seem to have a little athlete on our hands!

Another big milestone....loosing the first tooth! He was super excited....our boy is just getting so big!

So also this week.....we had some bit of a scare with Reed. He came home Tuesday with red bumps and itching all over. At first I thought chicken pox......so we called the doctor...this was the beginning of a very long next 3 days! They tell us it was strep and he needed an antibiotic, and did give a steroid for his swelling....well we were still concerned because the redness and welts were increasing when he came home from the doctor. At 11pm that night his whole face was swelling up....lips, eyelids, cheeks, so we were scared and Casey took him immediately to the ER! They gave him some steroids and we were thinking it was some sort of allergic reaction. I called the pediatrician in the morning and told them what had happened and they still stood on their side of "he has strep"......I was frustrated but at least he appeared to be improving. Well, Wednesday evening the swelling started again! And by 4am the next morning his eyelids were swelling again! So we gave him another dose of the steroid and in the morning knew somebody needed to see him again! Meanwhile this is all we were seeing...no fever, no sore throat, just the itching and the swelling. Thankfully we have all sorts of doctors at our church....though we weren't sure who was best one suited to call for our situation. We ended up starting with one of the higher up CEOs of the university hospital and he helped get us in to a very busy allergist. So there he got a steroid shot (so much more concentrated dose than the oral) and said to continue the oral ones at home, but to be safe stay on the antibiotic if there is some sort of infection in the body. Finally yesterday he looked back to normal! Poor little buddy...it's just been a doozy of a week for him! But we are thankful he seems to be back to normal with no more swelling! It sure gave us a good scare! And I intend to follow up with an allergist to see if there is some allergy we don't know about that could have likely triggered all this!

So thankful for this precious little family of ours!!

3 Months

So a little over a week ago this sweet baby girl turned 3 months old! And I let myself call her 2 months probably a little longer....but hey what's the harm in that! Because when your birth day falls on the 30th and there are only 28 days in February....when are you technically another month older?? So it was probably March 2 or 3rd before I accepted she is now officially 3 months! That is the thing about the first year.....you count the weeks and then the months that they are.....I don't like that, b/c it just makes them get seemingly big way too fast!

Oh my, I love, love, love this little snugglebug! She is just so much fun and we are all just enjoying every moment with her!

I'm blessed with really good babies....I always kinda wonder those first few weeks during the "adjustment period" but then I soon realize that those were just some moments....and they seem to be on and off b/w 2-6/7 weeks, but after that they are happy and rarely fussy. And thankfully Maggie has proven to fall into this mold! 

So here at 3 months you......

*love to coo, especially back and forth with lots of "ahhhh" it's so sweet!

*smile so big and pretty--love it!

*love to watch and get so mesmerized by your brother and sisters...they adore you and i'm sure in time we'll see how much you will adore them as well!

*sleeping.....well these past few weeks (so maybe 10 weeks up until now) you are actually finally taking more real "naps!" thank goodness! you were stuck in this catnap, sleeping less than 30-45 min and that was hard, but lately you are doing much better!

*speaking of sleep you love sleeping on your belly! R and EC did too (Mary Etta did not)....I put you that way all day but still haven't braved up to do it all night....so at night you seem to wake up b/c I think you want to be on your belly : ( usually around 2-3am, but soothe quickly with your paci

*you'd been only going 5-6 hour stretches at night  (wanting to eat around 3-4 am....but this past week you have gone to 6-7am; so more 7-8 hour stretches....we'll see how the time change affects you : )

*loves lights and music.....your mobile is especially entertaining to you right now

Love this little elephant sleeper.....both your sisters wore it. Fun to see all my girls wearing some of the same sweet outfits. You're wearing more 3-6 month clothing....you sure are a growing girl!

Love this sweet girl! Trying to soak her in....every minute......her sweet smiles and coos warms my heart! Thankful for her sweet little life, and praying that another Willis will be a faithful servant of the Lord!