1st Trimester Update

I really am not showing that much, it was the pants button sticking out....LOL

We've finally reached the end of the first trimester and I will have to say it's been a rough ride. I guess I was spoiled with my last three being easier and not having to deal with morning sickness or anything really. This time.... not so much. Let's just say brushing my teeth made me sick :( 

But - the light in all this??

I really had to learn to apply Proverbs 3:5,6 - "Lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways awknoledge Him and He will direct your paths".

There were days where I am sure the kids watched cartoons and movies all day. There were days where I had to pull over because I didn't want to get sick in the car. There were days that all I could do to keep my eyes open was feel like a zombie. But God heard my cry for strength each and every time I cried out to Him. So why didn't I do it more often? Maybe because when things start going well, we do tend to think we got this. How quickly we forget where we've been and who got us out of where we are.

All I know is that without God the road through the first trimester could have been SO much worse! I did have some awesome days where I felt like myself and I could get so much done and play with the kids. I am definately looking forward to more of those days as I move into the "honeymoon" phase of this journey.

I did get to see the little bean yesterday at my monthly doctors visit. It is growing right on track and even "waved" at us during the ultra sound. We still have no names yet, although I think once we find out the gender we will be able to narrow down some choices.

Baby "waving" hello

God is so good and the road He's set before us has been good. He never said it would be easy, but He did say that He would give us strength for each new day. And that He has - whenever I've asked for it.

Don't forget the road you've been on and how you've traveled to where you are now. Look back and remind yourself of the goodness of God. It shines bright in the dark.

Caught on Camera

I FINALLY caught Jayden walking on camera tonight. Seems he doesn't like walking much, but wants to go straight to running....Guess he's got three older siblings to catch up to!

Here he is on video:

{Update}

 The toolboxes came home today. Gives one a sense of reality. It's time to freefall - time to open our wings and fly. As scary as this adventure is, it is also exciting to have a "change" and to know that nothing that is going to happen is going to be from us, but from God.

When we are at our lowest, we can only look up and raise our arms up to give Him glory. There's no turning back now. We choose to get into the trunk of God's car and allow Him to drive. As my husband says, "From the trunk we can't be a backseat driver and tell God where we think He should go - we have to simply trust Him."

Some people have asked how they can help. If you are lead to help and are wondering how, there's a "Donate" button on the sidebar of our blog. Please do not feel obligated. Our God promises that He will supply ALL of our needs and in that I find rest.

Time to clean out the garage to make room for the three toolboxes that came home today...

Tis the Season...

Tis the season for finals, Christmas parties, baking, and just business. Normally I love this time of the year - the lights, scents, and the overal joy people have. I find though that having a baby one week before Thanksgiving leaves you exhauseted with catching up to do!

I took three weeks off from teaching to stay home with my munchkins and get adjusted as well as adjust all the other kids to their new baby brother. It was such a sweet, blessed time, but going back to school for the last two weeks of the semester was, to say the least, CRAZY! I came back to finals, five Christmas parties, and all the while my laundry was trying to compete with Mount Everest to see who was taller. So, needless to say, in an effort to make a more concious effort to keep everyone intune with our adventures, I will start with filling you in on the past month's happenings...

Joshua

Joshua has been growing up so much before my eyes. It seems like yesterday he was my baby boy and I was navigating through being a mom for the first time. He LOVES going to school and cannot wait to start Pre-K in the fall next year. All of his buddies, with the exception of Jenna's friend Sage, started Pre-K this year, and he reminds me almost daily that he will be a "big kid" next year. He even got the priveledge to sit with his friends at my school Christmas party, away from us! I have to admit that it was a little weird not having him at our table, but I suppose I'd better get used to it since he's our "outgoing" one. Here he is with his friend Nate dancing on-stage for all to see to "Jingle Bell Rock".... Yes, the WHOLE school was there with their families and my son was up there showing off....All I can say is, at least he's not shy!

Joshie is also our tender-hearted child. He is the one that prayed for a baby long before we did and knew that he would have a baby brother. He's shown us so much about "having faith like a child". He loves to play with Jayden and help me out with taking care of him. I can tell that they share a special bond and I can't wait to see how this develops as they grow.

Jenna

Jenna-girl recently turned three years old and has grown-up overnight. She's become such a little lover and has such a vivid imagination. She's also our creative one. She might be shy at first, but the wheels are turning inside her head! She has become quite the "little mommy" with her dollies and taking care of them. Since her birthday is December 1st and we didn't know when Jayden was to arrive, we couldn't plan a party for her. She was SO excited for her birthday this year and so after Jayden was born, we had dad and Sherrie over to sing and make her feel special. She thought the Tinkerbell cake her grandma made was the best cake ever and the look on her face was priceless.

I am thankful that Jenna is also very good around Jayden and is very accepting of him. She likes to "hold him" and gets concerned when he crys. She has always taken care of Julianna and is developing a lot of natural "mothering" instincts. Of course she and Joshie are still inseperable and are best friends - something I am grateful for.

Julianna

Our little "Nanna" has changed so much in the past few months. It's hard to believe she'll be two years old in a little more than three months. Where has the time gone?! She's definately the one that has grown the fastest - bust a lot of that is that she has two older siblings that she wants so desperatly to play along side and keep up with. She turned 20-months on December 1st and has transitioned into toddlerhood full force. She's a lot like Josh, personality wise, but also has a sillier side to her. Here she is trying to walk in my "work boots"...She didn't get too far and she looked like she was going to wade in waist deep water in them!

Julianna is currently getting the last of her teeth in - four on the bottom, and thus has had a terrible time with that. She also loves her baby brother, but had a tough time transitioning from being the "baby" to now a big sister. She was used to being called "baby" and we definitley dropped the ball in encouraging her to be the baby for so long. But she transitioned well and now we're working on losing the paci. Come the New Year, all the ends will be snipped from her paci's and only Jayden will have them. Below is a picture of her playing with Jayden today in his new bouncer.

Jayden

I cannot believe a month has past since my little munchkin was born. Time is going by too quickly! Sure it's chaos and we have our moments as a family of six, but not only would I not trade it for the world, but I want to cherish these times I have with "four kids four and under". Part of me is sad that Jayden is the last baby - I cherish each moment I get to look into his eyes and to hold him. Knowing that our family is complete though is priceless - now is the time to "train up a child in the way he should go" and to really focus on what matters in this life.

Jayden has grown since he was born quite a bit! I am going to weigh him tomorrow, and will be writing a more detailed blog about him, but at his two-week check-up he weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and was 21 inches! So far he is such a sweet baby and is so content to be wherever he is.

And now our family is complete and we embark on this journey....what started as two people five years ago has flourished into six hearts intertwined and headed out to make a difference...why? Because we're "Made From Above"...

Family Time

This year for vacation, we decided to take some time as a family and just see some of the Houston sights that we really haven't seen in the almost three years we've lived here. Plus with the rising cost to fly, California was out of the question this year... :( But I am saving up for us to go out there next summer - hopefully for the 4th of July! :)

Anyways, Jason took a week off of work and we were able to have some time together with the kids that we really haven't been able to have with him working and me tutoring in the evenings. It was nice just to take time and relax. To not worry about where to be, getting laundry done, or keeping up with the kids, but to enjoy every minute of every day. The week seemed so much longer too! It was so nice!

One of the places we visited was the Houston Aquarium. I wrote about it earlier - Jason and Joshua had a daddy-son day and I got to spend some time with Jenna. Another place we visited was the Houston Zoo. We never knew there was a zoo in downtown Houston!! Granted it didn't compare to the San Diego zoo, it was nice to take the kiddos and Joshie seemed to enjoy it. We did learn though not to go to the zoo in the summer - there were hardly any animals out, and I actually got heat stroke from being so dehydrated. I didn't think it was that hot, but when you need water, it doesn't matter how hot it is outside!

The cool this is that they had different animals from most zoos. We saw a HUGE monitor lizard and an albnio crocadile, and a cebu! There's a VeggieTales silly song that talks about a Cebu, but I thought it was a made-up animal....nope! And it really does look like a cow. LOL....

Here's a little slide show of some other sights we saw at the zoo:

So Busy

I know it's been over a week since my last post. Seems like some weeks are just busier than others! Tomorrow is Father's Day, so I wanted to post before since I know I will have something to post about that tomorrow or next week. ....

I guess I'll start with Jenna's 6 month stats. We went to the doctor for her check up, and she is doing well. She weighs 14 pounds, 9 ounces now and is a little over 26 inches tall. She is crawling all over and can sit up for long period of time now. The doctor said though that since she likes to stand and pull up on things that she will probably be walking before long. I guess she won't be crawling very long! My guess is that she wants to chase after Joshua!! Look out! Two little ones on the run!

Lsat Saturday we got to visit my sister and her husband and their little boy, Elisha. They recently moved into a new house, so we spent the day over there and had lots of fun swimming and hanging out.

Here's Eli and my sister, Jessica:

And here's the kiddos:

It was a great time to splash and get wet in the summer sun. At night Jason and Shon went mini-golfing and we stayed home to stay with the kiddos. Josh learned a sad lesson in physics though: "An object in motion stays in motion, unless an opposite force acts upon it". Poor little guys was trying to take a toy downstairs (which he wasn't supposed to be playing by the stairs anyways) and he fell down them to he landing. Scared me to death as he was on the landing and his mouth was covered with blood and his jammies were too.
Thankfully he had only bitten his tongue. It looked really bad, but he was such a big boy! He held onto the ice and sucked on it (while watching Cars) and it stopped soon after that.

Sunday was a good day as my little sister, Vanessa, had her baby! Little Caitlyn Jane Marshall was born in the morning around 5am and she weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces, and was 21 inches long. She is so cute! We went to go see the baby after church...

Joshua wanted to take the baby home with him and couldn't stop giving her kisses...

I had to be the meanie and tell him that this baby wasn't coming home....and if I can help it, there won't be a new little baby coming home to our house for quite a while! :) Glad to know though that he is still sweet to new babies! He's turing out to be a wonderful big brother!! Of course Jenna didn't really know what was going on. She was too busy trying to get over by Elisha to play with him. Now there's four grandchildren for my dad and Sherrie - all under 2 years old!!! HOLY COW!!! Score is even though - 2 boys, 2 girls......wonder who will break the tie?? I'm voting for a boy since the older two are boys......but we shall see what happens and when! LOL

A year and a half

Its hard to believe that time doesn't really go all that much faster when you are older. I am 25 (almost 26!) and I remember when the days used to drag along. Now they seem to blur right on by. Our little guy - Joshua - is turning a year and a half on Saturday. I know to some it might seem like not a huge milestone, but it is! I can't believe that he has grown so much and turning into a little boy - not a baby anymore. He talks all the time and loves going to "school" with me on Monday's. He even has his own little backpack - of which he walks around the house wearing! Its hard to believe that Jenna is 3 1/2 months old too. Wow - time is flying by. sadness. Here's some "quick facts" about our little monkey:

• 8 teeth
• 21 pounds
• about 30 inches tall
• favorite toys: keys, balls and trucks
• favorite movie: VeggieTales
• favorite words: dada, ball, duck, cracker, doggie

Although he's growing so much - he's still our little peanut. He still fits in 9 month baby clothes! 18 month clothes fall off of him - especially pants. Its funny to see him next to other babies becuase he's so tiny still. But don't let his size fool you - he's very smart, and can get into anything! Last month he locked himself in the bathroom with the "doggie" and I had to take the doorknob off to get him out. He also is currently trying his hardest to escape his crib. He gets one foot up and over, but then gets stuck. I think he will go into some sort of engineering field as he can also take off the child-proof doorknob thingys. I guess they aren't "joshua-proof". I wonder what fun stuff he will be into next!!