My baby girl is turning FOUR!

Oh, where has the time gone. My little Lily Grace is about to turn 4 years old! It has been amazing raising a daughter. She is the light of my life and I love being her mommy! Everyday is an adventure with Lily. Here are 10 things I love about Lily, heaven knows there are like a Million, but here are my 10 favorite!
10. Her crazy personality, never a dull moment with Lily
9. Her love for the out doors, she LOVES being outside, laughing, screaming and being with the neighborhood kids
8. Service- she loves to do nice things for people..... even when she almost burns the house down (read old post)
7. I love hearing her talk about primary and what she learned. She truly loves Jesus.
6. I love her contagious laugh and beaming smile.
5. I love how she is with her 2 little brothers, doesnt always like them, but she always loves them!
4. I love watching her try and solve problems, then when she cant, I love being the one to always help her. Basically, I love that she needs me!
3. I love that she loves to be held and hugged and kissed and kissed and kissed and hugged (you get the point)
2. I love who I am when she is around. I love the grown woman I can see in her eyes, and I love seeing her grow into a gorgeous young little lady!
1. I love Lily! Everything about her, everything she will become and do someday. I love that she looks like me, and I love that she has freckles popping up on her little body! I love love love my daughter.

Being a mother has taught me oh so much. It has taught me about patience, love, service, enduring, miracles, kindness, and the list goes on and on. There is no other job in the world I would ever want. Having a daughter has also taught me about "attitude". Wow.... was I really that dramatic when I was young? Little Lily bug is quite the diva. I love you Lily. Happy Birthday, and thank you for giving my life purpose. You are my life, my light and my love. When I look into you amazing blue eyes, I see wee bits of heaven shining back. You are truly a angel!
Love, Mommy
(Pictures- Lily's blessing dress was made out of fabric FROM my wedding dress. Jake's mom is a awesome seamstress and she hacked my wedding dress up and made a GORGEOUS long blessing dress for Lily. We still have tons of fabric to make another dress when Lily gets baptized)

Porter is SMILING!

Well babies are cute I must admit... mine are pretty cute. Porter has been smiling lately, and well... its so stinking cute to see him so expression other then his normal "dopey" little look! All is well in Stephens-ville... I am finally sleeping.... thanks to Porter. He sleeps for 11 hours a night now (I love you Porter)! We are getting ready to host some family for the Brown Family reunion..... rescue me, please! haha! No, it will be fun. My dad has never met Jackson or Porter, and has not seen Lily, Jake or myself in 3 years. So it will be nice to see him and his new wife. All in all, we are doing great, enjoying the last bit of summer. Jake just turned THIRTY FOUR, and I wil be TWENTY NINE in a few days! Wow, what a bunch of old fogies! Pretty soon I will be dying my hair for a real reason! ahha! Jackson is doing really good. He had a at home evaluation because he isnt communicating like he should be... and his social skills are pretty iffy sometimes. His pediatrician feels he has a learning delay, so he will be tested for a BUNCH of things. His thought is that he has Aspergers syndrome. Which is funny, because I know someone who has a son who was just diagnosed with that. He has a couple of more at home evaluations, and then he will see a behavior therapist, and we will have some answers. All in all, he is such a cute, fun boy.... But as his mother, I do notice some things that concern me. I just want him to go to school when he is supposed to, and learn. We will keep you all posted!

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So much to be happy about!

Well I have been a slacker the past week, but I have uploaded some new pictures of my babes..... oh they are so cute. This week has been better. No fires, the family bed is now a "couples" bed. Which means, NO KIDS! WAHOO! Lily has done so good! She loves being a big girl, and now she loves her bed. We have to keep our balcony light on at night (her bedroom window faces the balcony) but other than that... Boy wonder and I have our bed back! Some of you know that lil Jackman has a severe case of eczema. Well it has gotten significantly worse over the past few weeks. SO we have to see his team of doctors yet again for more allergy testing and some new prescriptions. It was pretty depressing because we thought it was getting better, NOPE! So hopefully we will get some answers so I can have my happy boy back! Po Po has been SO GOOD over the past few days. He sleeps for around 6 hours a night, wakes up for a little top off, and the back to bed for another couple of hours. Its been nice getting some solid sleep! THANK YOU PO PO! He just started smiling which of course just warms my heart! I put a picture of his little smirk he does... Oh I love him! Lil and Jackman have had a blast since the splash pool opened. We have spent many hours there. Hey, it gets me out of the house, and the kids have fun! It has helped my tan as well! Boy wonder took the kids to the lake this weekend for a paddle boat ride. Well, I am a crazy paranoid mama! The dock worker put Jackman in the back of the boat alone, and Lil and Boy wonder were up front.....you kidding me! I yelled at Boy wonder to put Jackman up front with him. Then I see Lil' hopping from seat to seat, while the boat is going. Oh goodness.... I am getting too old for this drama. Life vests or no life vests... I was freaking out. The dock worker assured me that if the kids fall in, they would in deed float. I was very happy when the boat came back. Enjoy the pictures!

A better day, please?

Wel after yesterday, and the day before.... I kept telling myself "Things can only get better". Well they did. Yesterday afternoon Lil told me why she tried to make toast. "Mommy, I just wanted to make you breakfast, because I love you". Ok, how could you be mad? The house still smells like burnt toast and a little smoky, but thats OK. Over the past 4 years of either being pregnant or having kids I have learned that its the little things that matter most. Its the hugs, snot nose kisses, the I love you's that come from their hearts. How could I seriously be angry with my little girl. She was trying to do something nice for me! Now the toaster is in a cupboard! This morning she did put some bread in the oven (luckily she cant reach the knobs) so she could try and make breakfast AGAIN. So I told her that tomorrow she can help me make a big breakfast.
Having kids does teach you patience. It teaches you to not let the silly things get to you. It teaches you that love is so important! Everyday is an adventure, especially in my house =) But everyday is oh so fun!
Last night Po slept in his bed, HALF THE NIGHT, and in my arms the rest. Hey, its a start! I love that he LOVES me so much that he needs to know I am right there next to him! But wow, it would be nice to sleep comfortably. Will that ever happen while I have kids at home? Will it ever happen again? Even when they are grown and moved out (sniffles) I will always worry about them... oh the joys of mother hood!
What is pretty pathetic is...... Last night Lil tells me "I love sleeping in my families bed". Not Mommy and Daddy's bed, but the FAMILIES BED! Maybe I should move my bed to the living room? haha! Lil knows that she needs to fall asleep in her bed for 1 week and she will get a trip to Wal mart for a treat. Blackmail or reward? What would you call it? hehe!

FIRE FIRE FIRE and SMOKE!

What is your biggest fear? Well ONE of mine is my house catching fire with my family in side. Well, that nearly happened today at about 7:30 am. Po and I were RUDELY awakened by the smoke alarm! I jumped out of bed faster than I ever have before grabbed Po, ran into get JJ and Lil, well Lil wasnt in her bed, she wasnt in her room, she wasnt anywhere. I scream for Lil, as I see SMOKE and hear the high pitch scream from the fire alarm. I hear a little voice from the kitchen saying "mommy, Im on fire". So uh... I bolt for the stairs but in those 10 seconds or less that it took me to get down stairs I thought to myself, "Lil seemed pretty calm for being on fire?" Then I saw her, she was fine, in a little ball scared. Then I saw the source of all of our panic. A toaster STUFFED with 2 english muffins, on fire, and smoking like crazy. JJ was freaking out, Po was freaking out, Lil was freaking out. I was too puzzled to freak out. I just wanted the noise to STOP. So I tried to turn the smoke alarm off, it wouldnt turn off. I opened windows, turned the vent on.... and finally the noise stopped. Yesterday was a bad day, today, well..... things CAN get worse. *sigh* I love my kids!

what more could seriously happen today...

Ok, now this was "one of those days". The day started "ok". Po slept all night, of course right next to me *sigh* BUT HE SLEPT FOR 8 HOURS! The kids woke up, ate breakfast etc etc. Then while I was feeding Po in my room, L and J were in the bonus room "playing" or so I thought. J comes into my room and says "oh no mommy". L had colored ALL over him with marker. Head to toe, even his clothes. So I threw him in the bath. Then after nap time..... I was out side talking to some people and I came back inside to see J again covered head to toe with "fabreeze" air freshener. L said "he is so stinky, so I wanted to make him clean smelling". J has some pretty bad skin issues, and well, the Fabreeze bath didnt really help. SO I had to soak him AGAIN in another bath, slather him in medicine and clean the Febreeze mess they made all over the floor. Then L got mad at me for not letting her take a bath with her brother, and throws a GLASS on the ground shattering it. She then gets naked and tells me in a not so nice way "I not get dressed until I take a bath moooooooooooommy". So I threw a glass of water on her and threw her in her room. Maybe that wasnt the most mature thing to do, but I had HAD IT! She then came out dressed and knew "not to mess with mommy!"
Why do these things seem to ALWAYS happen when you have a baby "attached" to you? And of course if you "detatch" the baby, you have to deal with them crying hysterically? double edge sword. I love motherhood.

Forgot to add....

Our dogs.... yes I said DOGS (PLURAL) Foxy was our first child, Roxy is new. Jake HAD to get a Pug. He has always wanted a Pug. Now we really have a family bed.... Jake, me, Lily, Porter, Roxy and Foxy. The dogs will get kicked off by me about 20 times a night. Oh... the dogs... now seriously, including Jake, I have 5 kids haha!

Family BED

OK, I love my kids, and sometimes I even love our dogs. But what I do not love is having a "FAMILY BED". Lily is almost 4, and STILL insists on falling asleep in our bed, then we have to move her to her bed. NOW, my perfect little adorable newborn has to fall asleep cuddling. As much as I love having a cuddly baby, wow.. how can such a little body fill a king size bed? His little 8 pounds and 21 inches seriously takes up more room than me. I lay in the far corner of the bed worried that I am going to roll over and smother my baby. Sleep? Whats that! Then I look over at my sleeping husband I wonder.... hmm thats just not fair. So I smack him to wake him up so we can share the misery of no sleep together...... well that doesnt work. His body wakes up for a few seconds, says "what you want?" Then crash, back asleep. So unfair.... but so worth it... I love my baby Po But I would love having him sleep in his own bed for once!
Last night I went to a girls night at Z's house, wow... It was so nice getting out of the house. Thanks Z for the yummy dessert, Po says thanks too *wink*. Looking forward to wearing make up again, that is if I am able to wash my face or even shower today! haha!

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