Maga's Pearl

I tried to start this post all catchy, storybook style, but after too long sitting with an almost blank page, I decided I'm too sleep deprived to be witty. That's just the way things are these days.
Last week while in the hospital, Mom brought the bigger kids to visit their sister. While they are so in love with Sam, being in a small hospital room brings out the crazies. It was to the point in the visit that things were wrapping up and they were getting ready to be on their way to get some much needed supper. Mom was holding Logan, who somehow…yes somehow broke her necklace. The chain was no big deal, but there was a small pearl she had attached to the necklace that went missing.
They started searching the floor for the missing pearl, and didn't come up with anything. No one had heard anything drop, so Mom went into the bathroom and discovered it was lodged in her clothes…for a second. After the discovery, however, said pearl quickly fell into the drain, never to be seen again. An over-tired and overwhelmed Kaylee broke down. She was so absolutely devastated that her Maga lost her pearl…even though she had NOTHING to do with the loss. She cried…and cried…and cried. (Which made her tired, emotional Mom cry as well.)
Maga's reaction made me cry even more…a sweet picture of pure love and lesson of the non-importance of stuff. Maga pulled Kaylee close and explained to her that it was just a pearl and her true pearls were (mostly) in the room around her. She told her she loved her and the rest of us more than any pearl and that Jesus gives us pearls and blessings all the time.
It instantly reminded me of a friend whose daughter broke one of her mom's dishes. She quickly became afraid and devastated...fearing the consequences of not being careful enough. Instead of even a frown or a harsh word, this grandmother grabbed a plate and smashed it on the ground to show her granddaughter that her love for her far outweighed any plate or dish.
It is times like these that help remind me of what is really important. Far too often, I get so caught up in the day-to-day stuff that I forget to realize the bigger lessons at hand.

Meet Sweet Samantha Faith

I think my blogging time is going to be limited by needing to feed *someone*, but I wanted to post a quick picture to let everyone see our new dark-haired beauty. Finally, after two blonds, we got our dark-haired baby. :) (Not that we don't LOVE our blonds, of course.)

Samantha Faith, born 11/18 at 5:11 pm, 9lbs 1.6 oz and 20" long...

I'll write more later, but am so overjoyed to be holding Sam and getting to know her. Kaylee is head over heels in love with her, and Logan is starting to want to look at her more and is quite cute with her.

GLOW Fest

This year was the first year we took the kids to our church GLOW fest. They had a great time, and even though I was pretty worn out when we were done, it was admittedly worth the time. They played games, bounced in big bouncer things, got some candy, and enjoyed time with Mimi and some great friends. Unfortunately, Adam had to work...

Logan didn't really love the hood/face to his lion costume, but when we were in the van and looked back, it was so funny. He also, at some point, realized he had a "friend" beside him.

Pumpkin Patch

This year, we were late getting to the pumpkin patch. It started out being just too hot when they first opened, and I didn't want the pumpkins to rot. Then...I decided I just had to have my bale of straw before I could get my pumpkins, which took Adam a while to be able to get. So, finally, we got the straw and went out to the patch. Fortunately, there were still plenty of pumpkins, and we were the only people there, so no crowds to deal with.

If I don't post a few pictures now, it very likely won't happen, so here they are:

Say What?

Yes, it is quite possible the world just stopped rotating for a second...I'm actually going to post two days in a row. Maybe, just maybe, I'll get back into the swing of things because heaven knows I really do want to. I figured while I'm doing some transcription work, I'd upload a few recent pictures...just because I've seriously been lacking in the picture department, and that's a lot of the fun.

Kaylee and her best friend, Anna:


A few pictures from Logan's Second Birthday:

Almost Here

I have started to write several different blog posts in the past few days, only to be interrupted by multiple things and I've never finished one. Big surprise, huh? We're on the final countdown. Samantha will be here the 18th, unless she decides to come sooner. For the longest time, I wanted her to come earlier, but now I have everything pretty much planned, so I'm good with the 18th. (Which, of course, most likely means she'll come early…haha) We were so fortunate to have the same midwife deliver both the other kids, and if everything goes as planned, we'll have her for the last.
We have been busy with Kaylee's preschool, frequent doctor appointments, work, church activities and home group, trying to keep up with the house and the laundry and all, oh, and moving Logan to a big-boy bed. That's right, in the middle of all this, he decided he would start climbing out of bed during his nap the other day. Adam had just laid him down, when he went flying down the hall saying, "He's out!" Sure enough, he opened the door, and out walked Logan, pleased as punch. We were able to watch how he was getting out, and determined his method was less than safe...ahem. Most likely, we could have held off and kept him in the crib, but the risk wasn't worth it. We already had a bed waiting, thanks to one of Adam's coworkers whose youngest decided he didn't want his fire truck bed anymore, so it wasn't worth the potential injury to wait being as the bed was ready.
We had originally thought about waiting until Christmas to transition him…or after, really, but you would have thought it was Christmas. He turned into a human siren for the rest of the afternoon. Kaylee was thrilled to play in the bed with him, and also announced she'd sleep with him so he wouldn't be scared.
Funny boy…he is scared to get out of bed when it is dark, but not necessarily scared to be there. Also funny boy…he didn't even try to get out of the crib at my mom's house for his nap today. It's funny…really, really funny. It's such a relief that he is doing well at night (well, so far), but I'm a bit worried about naptimes here at home. I am so not ready to have a newborn and a 2-year-old who needs a nap, but won't. At least I'll have Adam here for the first while to help out.
Sunday, they had a small baby shower, and it was so much fun. We had some sweet friends and family gathered together for some yummy snacks and time together. I can't even say how incredibly blessed we were by the generous gifts we received. I know not everyone gets a shower for beyond the first or second child, but my mom and MIL didn't want to skip Sam, so they decided to put something together for a few close friends and family who lived really close. (We didn't invite family from far away because I didn't want anyone to feel any pressure to make the drive…not because I don't love them all!) Kaylee was excited to help open the presents for her sister, and it was fun to watch her and her best friend, Anna, help grab the bags and look at all the goodies.
We have some busy days in the next week, so as much as I'd like to think I'll post again, most likely the next post will include some cute pictures and a new baby!