9 months

Adalyn Grace,

My 4th baby. My baby that was supposed to stay little forever. How is it that you are 9 months old already? Each milestone is bittersweet. Being the youngest of four means many things.

It means that you have a Mom that has perfected her parenting skills. A mom that has learned to trust her own instincts and not to worry too much about what all the "experts on parenting" seem to think. A mom that doesn't fret the small stuff and embraces and cherishes all the simple, everyday milestones.

It also means you have a mom that is busy. Busy with helping your brother with homework, teaching your sister ABC's, how to write her name and a host of other "school" stuff. Busy with keeping your two year old brother from feeding you M&M's, playing in the ever-so-fun dog bowl of water and hitting you on the head with the spatula he so loves to play with. It means that your scrapbook hasn't even been started.

Being the youngest also means you are loved by many. That the 1st time you smiled, not only did you have a mom and dad that were excited beyond words, you have three older siblings that stood over you trying to get you to smile once again. It means that you have an older sister that announced to her friends, the school secretary, her sunday school teacher, the pastor of our church and the checkout lady at the store that you could smile. It means not only are you kissed daily by Dad and I, you are kissed daily by older siblings that can't get enough of you.

You crawled for the 1st time this week. Your siblings cheered you on. They got down on their hands and knees and put toys out in front of you so they could watch you crawl once more. And when you did, the cheering was loud. The smiles were big. Your siblings are so proud of you! The look on their faces as they cheered you on will forever be etched in my memory. And once again, your proud big sister has announced to the world that her baby sister can now crawl. Yes, you are loved by many.


I watch you with your older siblings and I melt. You love them, you are in awe of them and the look of pure happiness as you interact with them is priceless. Never did I imagine that one of the best things of having four children is watching you interact with one another. Sure, you have your moments. Moments of screaming, bickering and fighting, but at the end of the day, you have each others backs. You defend each other and most importantly, you do love each other.

Today on your 9 month birthday, you cut your 1st tooth. Another milestone, another reminder that my baby is quickly growing up. You went from not being very mobile to crawling, pulling up and getting into everything in a matter of 3 days this week. I was just starting to let it all sink in and then today, your 1st tooth.

9 months......it feels like it happened in a blink of an eye.

With much love my baby girl,

Mommy

Fiddlesticks!

Today we went to Fiddlesticks for Broedy's birthday! The original plan was to take Broedy and three of his friends. Two of his friends were sick, throwing up sick to be exact and so only one friend ended up being able to come. We still had a good time with Broedy and his friend, Seth.

Mini golfing...can you find Myles? Hint: He has a green shirt one!

Raelyn had fun golfing.

Myles & I on the flying dragons!

Raelyn on the flying dragon ride.

Raelyn on the rollar coaster!

Raelyn, Myles and I

Broedy & Seth on the go-carts!

Bumper Boats! The kids LOVED the squirt gun and got plenty wet.

Broedy's friend, Seth

Broedy getting Daddy and Raelyn wet!

The fun begins...

This little girl is into everything. Pulling toys out of baskets, "helping" me with laundry, playing in the tupperware and having fun with magazines! It's amazing how fast she went to not crawling, to crawling, pulling up and into everything in sight! Where did my baby go?

Broedy's Birthday Dinner!

Broedy's 8th Birthday is on Monday. Since I have to work until 6:00 that night and Chris has a basketball game we decided to do his birthday dinner tonight. Broedy decided he wanted chipolte's, so we went there tonight and had a wonderful dinner. Broedy knew just what he wanted and when the ladies that were getting our food ready heard that we were there celebrating Broedy's birthday they gave him a coupon for a free burrito, taco, bowl or salad to use at a later date!

Our almost 8 year old!

Eating Dinner....it was yummy!


Me and my two boys!


Chris, Broedy & Raelyn

My busy little girl!

She is into everything! She is officially crawling now. Plus she will crawl around and then push herself back into a sitting position like she is doing in this picture.


She thinks Mommy is funny!

Hmmm...what can I get into next?


Look, a shoe!


I love this little girl!

Tired!

He should be.....he didn't take a nap because he kept climbing out of his crib. He crashed on the couch right before dinner time.

My crazy kids!

This past weekend the kids decided they wanted to go swimming. The water was a chilly 60 degrees. I tried to convince them that the water was cold, but what do Mom's know? Nothing according to them. So I told them if they wanted to go, to go get their suits on and I would watch them. After about 15 mintues of putting their toes in the water, they decided mom was right and the water was cold.

They did actually get in up to their knees and stood on the seat in the pool.

It's pretty cold!

Realizing just how cold the water is!

They decided the water slide would be more fun!

Reminder!!!

Just a quick reminder that you can still help Broedy out by donating to the American Heart Association! I know at least one of you have donated and THANK YOU for that!!

Go here: www.americanheart.org/jump and type in Broedy's name and donate to a worthy cause!

Happy Valentine's Day!

The kids got a package in the mail today from my parents! In it was books, cards for each of the kids with money and of course, fruit snacks!

Thanks Grandpa & Grandma for the fun stuff!!!

Fun with Daddy's Hat!

Have I mentioned how much I love this little guy?!?

Picture Tag

I was tagged by my friend, Jaclyn - Here's the game: Post the seventh picture in your seventh folder and tell about it. Don't cheat, just post what is there - then tag 7 other people (or as many as you want)!

This is Broedy and My Grandpa (so Broedy's great grandpa) at Klackle Orchard, September of 2004. When we lived in Michigan, we went to this apple orchard every year in the fall and picked apples. They also had the BEST carmal apples in the world and I used to save my money in order to buy 20+ carmal apples when I was there and then I would eat them for breakfast and lunch until they were gone (which usually only took me a few days to devour).

How I miss my grandparents and fall in Michigan. Fall was always my favorite time of the year in Michigan. And I still crave carmal apples from Klackle Orchard....I even considered calling thie year to see if they could ship me some.

Now...I Tag:
1. Stephanie
2. Kristy S
3. Toni
4. Stacy Y (you really need to blog something!!)
5. Amanda
6. Shawna
7. Sally

Laveen B-B-Que

Sunday we went to the Laveen B-B-Que. We were bummed when we found out that because of the rain on Saturday night, the pit that they were cooking the meat in got flooded and it ruined all of the meat. So there was actually no food:-( We walked around and checked out all the booths and ended up coming home with lots of fun stuff. Balloons for the kids, pudding cups, new lunch boxes, crafts that the kids got to make and a host of other fun things.

Before we left, we helped with our church's booth for awhile and then ended up going out to eat. It was a fun afternoon with our kids!



Our church passed out otter pops, Myles liked his!


Raelyn and Gabby

Chris & Raelyn helping with the otter pops!

Nate and Nindi passing out otter pops.


The kids making a craft!

Reality Check

There are many days when I get frustrated with life.

Days when Myles is destroying the house faster than I can clean it, Adalyn is crying because she wants me to hold her and Raelyn is cutting up paper into tiny, tiny pieces that are scattered all over my floor and I look around my house and sigh..

I sigh at the dishes scattered all over the kitchen, the laundry that is spread from one side of the house to the other upstairs, the toys that lay amongst the floor that needs to be cleaned and I say to myself "Why does this house always look like it was hit by a tornado".

Days when I forget how blessed I really am.

I had a day like that yesterday. Nothing big, just normal everyday messes and life with four kids.....after dinner, Chris & I put the kids to bed and I sat down to browse the internet (while getting up every 3 minutes to put Myles back in bed...have I mentioned he can get out of his crib now?).

I have a bunch of blogs I keep up and one of the blogs I was reading last nigh had linked to this blog. And once again I was hit with a Reality Check. This family went in for a follow up appointment about a month ago for their baby's ear infection and were sent to the hospital where their 10 month old daughter, Cora was diagnoised with cancer. Today is Cora's funeral. I can't even begin to imagine the pain they must be going through. It's beyond my comprehension.

Today although my house is a mess and my kids are into everything, I am grateful. Grateful for every cry, scream, laugh, mess they make and clothes they get dirty that I get to clean. As I spend today praying for this family I have never met, I try to cherish every moment I have with my kids because so often I am hit with these reality checks that make me realize that life is so precious. If you have a moment, please say a prayer for the Mac family. I'm sure that they can use all the prayer they can get as they grieve loosing their precious baby girl.

Raelyn & her friend, Jenna

My two babies!

I took these a few days ago when I was upstairs playing with the two little ones!

Adalyn Grace

My sweet baby girl!


Myles Glen

He loves to play on the couch upstairs.

My Sleeping Girl!

When I went to bed the other night, this is what I saw when I checked on Adalyn in her crib!


So much for the bumper pad keeping her from sticking her leg out the side of the crib:-)

Jump Rope for Heart

As many of you know, Chris and I met through a jump rope for heart team. I jumped on a jump rope heart team for many years of my life and have great memories of it. Broedy's school is doing jump rope for heart this year and we are asking for your help. Here is a video Broedy did asking for your donations!



You can donate on-line by go to www.americanheart.org/jump
Scroll down to the bottom of the page where is says "sponsor a student". Click on that, enter Broedy Bedford and it should pull him up. Just click on his name and it will let you make a donation for Broedy. If you make a donation on-line, they require a $25 donation. Otherwise, you can make a check out to the American Heart Association and mail it to Broedy! He would LOVE getting donations in the mail!

Thanks in advance for helping Broedy raise money for this cause! I'll post pictures after the jump rope for heart takes place of Broedy jumping rope:-)