Hang On!

"My tenacious little Kirby managed to hang on and maintain suction throughout the entire episode, though he must have felt like he was nursing on the high seas. His little head bobbed up and down, and he briefly opened one eye to look around, but he never let that nipple go. The bad news is that my nipple is now half an inch longer. The good news is that if this keeps up I'll soon be able to leave Kirby on the sofa with my nipple and it will stretch far enough for me to reach all the rooms in the house." - Having Three Kids 

Now, replace "Kirby" with "Mia" and that's exactly how I feel...and probably exactly how Mia feels!!  My poor baby girl rarely gets to nurse in peace.  Throughout our hectic days, Mia and I have gotten really good at working together as a team.  I can go on my merry way of taking care of the other two kiddos and she can go on her merry way of filling her belly.  She may open her eyes briefly to check out what's going on, but there's not too much that's going to stop her from sucking.  I could probably do a work out routine  with jumping jacks and she'd still hang on. ...That's how good she is!  Thank goodness!

There is so much going on this week as I finish up my last week of maternity leave!  I, of course, had a huge long list of "Things To Get Done While On Maternity Leave".  Did I get any of it done?!  Eh, I think two things - Making a budget for 2013 and Updating Baby Books (and that one is only half way done).  Who was I kidding?  What made me think I was going to have time to accomplish the things on my list when I have three  kids, one being a newborn, to take care of every day all day long?  Ha!  I do work better under pressure, though - "nothing makes a person more productive than the last minute" - that's me!  So, I am going to be spending the next couple of days marking things off of my to-do list, preparing to head back to work, and trying to get into a new routine (Mia better get on board with me for this one).  When I come back, I'll have a lot to write about - birthday parties galore, why being a working mom works for me, and how we're adjusting to "real life" with mommy working and the kids going back to daycare.

Dedication

"Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; The fruit of the womb is a reward"  - Psalm 127:3

Mia was dedicated at church today!

We stood up as a family to let everyone know that we (Kevin and I) are committing ourselves to raise Mia, along with Makayla and Mason, to know and love Jesus.

The other day when we were in the car, we were on top of a hill and Makayla said "Wow!  We are up high! I love you God.  Did you hear that, God?  I love you!  I love you, too, Jesus!".  

...that makes me smile and makes me think that we're doing something right!

*Along with attending Sunday School, Makayla goes to preschool at our church, she goes to Kids Club once a week, and sings with the choir once a week.  She loves every bit of it! 

*Mason loves his little orange Bible and wants to take it everywhere with him - to church, to daycare, to Wal-Mart, even just to go on a car ride.  He is awesome at singing "Jesus Loves Me" and is so stinking cute when he sings it and attempts the sign language to go along with it.  

*Mia was held by our preacher today and prayed for - she was dedicated to God.

 I'm so thankful for the opportunity given to our kids and the wonderful influence on them while in our church.  

My children are beautiful blessings.  

I want to do the best I can while raising them. 

I want to teach them right from wrong. 

I want to teach them to have faith, hope, and love.  

"Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it." - Proverbs 22:6

We have been given these gifts - our beautiful children. We get to love them, care for them, teach them, guide them...and that's an amazing privilege!  

I Love Thee

I love thee,

I love thee with a love

that shall not die.

Till the sun grows

cold and the 

stars grow old.

-William Shakespeare

Makayla, Mason, and Mia -
I love you .

Makayla - You have a heart of gold and I love how you much you care for others.  I love that you are the one to make sure somebody isn't feeling left out.  When everybody in your class got a sticker and somebody's sticker ripped, you gave them yours.  I love that you are always (for the most part) taking your brothers hand, calling him 'buddy' and helping him - helping him to pour his drink or open his cheese, helping him to clean his room, helping him to 'criss cross applesauce' (learning to sit indian style).  I love how you get down into Mia's face and tell her that "Sissy loves you".  I love how much you tell me that you love me ...that you love me more than all of the houses put together (that's something new you've been saying and I'm pretty sure it means you love me A LOT). I love all the kisses and big hugs you pass out to us, your family and friends, every day...I love how good your heart is.

I love you Makayla, my first born, the one who brought me into mother hood - and I'm so blessed to have you as my daughter.

Mason - I love how sweet and sensitive you are.  I love how you make me feel - how you make me smile every single time I look at you and how you fill me with warm fuzzies.  I love how you say the words "upstairs" and "underwear".  I love that you love blowing your breath in my face after you brush your teeth.  I love that you obsessively smear root beer scented lip balm all over your mouth.  I love your passion for bowling - that you get to knock down the pins and that your favorite place to eat lunch is at the bowling alley.  I love your hugs and when you tell me that you love me.  Even though it breaks my heart, I love to see that your feelings get hurt sometimes or that you get embarrassed (I think those are important emotions for a boy to possess).  I love your big blue eyes and your amazing smile that I've always felt has been so special.  I love that you are so extremely ticklish and that your giggles and laughter are echoing through my ears constantly.  I love that sometimes you just want me to hold you - that you just want to sit on my lap and have me wrap my arms around you.  You are one of a kind, Mason and I couldn't be more blessed to have you as my son.

Mia - I love that your little body fits perfectly in my arms...all day long (your babysitter's gonna love me).  I love how much you love kisses - kisses on your cheek...on your forehead...on your hands...on your neck...anywhere a kiss can be placed!  I love your beauty and your sweet, tiny voice.  I love how you kick your arms and legs and smile so brightly when you see something you love - whether it be me, your mobile, daddy, or your brother or sister.  I love listening to the sound of your deep breathing and little sounds you squeak out when you're sleeping.  I love looking into your eyes and dreaming of who you will become...I love you, Mia Grace, and I am so blessed to have you as my daughter.  

I am so thankful that I've been given this happiness to hold in my hands and this joy to fill my heart. 

Month Two

From one month...

...to two months! 

Oh my, little girl!
You are so beautiful!

...and because I still haven't returned back to work, I get to spend the majority of my days staring at you...and kissing you...and soaking in all of your beauty!

You've been very busy this past month growing and learning and becoming your own person.

You LOVE to kick your legs.  Your little legs go non-stop!  We got you a piano to put at your feet so when you are kicking, you can make music.  It's wonderful!...and although you don't know this, but while you're busy running and making music, you're learning cause and effect!

You smile at your mama all of the time!  I can make you smile whenever I want...and I love that!  Your smile makes me feel soooo good.

You are sleeping a little bit more through the night.  You've gotten on a pretty good routine with going to bed around 10ish, waking up to eat around 3ish, and then waking up again around 6ish.  You'll fall back asleep and wake for the day anywhere between 8-9.

Since Makayla has been singing "This Little Light Of Mine" to you since the day you were born, you've grown to love that song.  She's started singing a new song to you, which you seem to love just as much, a song that makes you smile every time you hear it - "Old MacDonald Had A Farm"!

You are pretty good at tummy time.  You're not very tolerant of it, but you're good at it.  You can lift your head up to look at whoever is playing on the floor with you and you can turn your head from side to side.  After about five minutes of exercising on your tummy, though, you are done.   

You are beginning to talk to us.  We go back and forth with us talking and asking you questions and you responding back with noises, coos, and cute little squeals.  Sometimes mommy imitates you with your sounds and daddy just looks at me like I'm crazy...! 

You have the most gorgeous eyes!!  - the shape of your eyes, your eyelashes, the color of your eyes - they are just so beautiful and full of emotion and expression.

Watching you grow over the past month has been a joy!  I am so lucky that you are mine - that I get to love you, hold you, take care of you, teach you...just be with you - every single day.  I love you, Mia Grace!

"If one feels the need of something grand, something infinite, something that makes one feel aware of God, one need not go far to find it.  I think that I see something deeper, more infinite, more eternal than the ocean in the expression of the eyes of a little baby when it wakes in the morning and coos or laughs because it sees the sun shining on its cradle." - Vincent van Gogh

Hoops

I (daddy) do not get the chance to write in the blog too often, so I am going to take the opportunity of taking Mason to his first big college basketball game to write. Mason got a basketball hoop for Christmas so he has been totally obsessed about shooting baskets, so I knew that he would LOVE to go.

On Thursday January 3rd Illinois State was playing host to Creighton.  I thought, what a great opportunity to take Mason to his first "big" college basketball game then to be able to see the #16 team in the nation play.  That afternoon mommy and I decided that it would be a great time to have a daddy/son outing.  I called my buddy Mike (assistant Athletic Director at ISU)  to see if there were any available tickets left knowing that it was a "big game".  I was lucky enough for him to tell me that he had 2 tickets in the 13th row of the lower bowl.  CHA CHING!  What great seats for your first basketball game.  Knowing that Mason would not need a seat I immediately called my best friend Mike to see if he wanted to join.  After I told Mason that we were going all he would talk about was going to "basketball hoop"  This kid was so pumped up...

When we were talking about going to the game before he went down for a nap for the day we talked about what all we would see and do at the game.  Mommy mentioned eating dinner and eating a hotdog.  Of course Mason is like his dad and really likes to eat hotdogs.  That is ALL that I heard about the whole way up to the game and when we got there.

After eating his whole hotdog, it was time for the game to start.  He loved the crowd and the cheering.  Mason sat on my lap or stood right in front of me the whole game.  When ISU made a big run at the end of the first half to pull within 3 points and the crowd was on their feet yelling and cheering, Mason was right in with them yelling and clapping his hands.  He figured out real quick what to do.  He had a smile on his face the whole time.  

During the game he was OBSESSED with knowing where "Redbird" was.  That was Reggie the school mascot.  He wanted to know where Redbird was the ENTIRE game.  I am not sure that he would have liked him close up but he really did from far away.  

The game did not turn out quite the way that we wanted it to with ISU losing.  Although it was not the ending that we were hoping for it was a great game and a great time.  It is things like this that I love to do with my kids.  I know right now they probably do not know what it is all about, but I hope one day they will and they will do the same with their kids.  

After the game Mason got to go on the court and get his

picture taken.  He wanted to shoot a basketball so bad.  Next time we are going to have to take a little ball in with us so that he can dribble like the other kids.  

Mason had so much fun and talked about it so much the next day that now Makayla wants to go back with him.  So, it looks like there is going to be another ISU basketball game in our near future.  I just hope this time that mommy and everybody will join us.  

Auld Lang Syne - 2012

Every New Years Eve, and every day in between, when I hear the song "Auld Lang Syne", my eyes well with tears. 

Listening to it right now, as I write this post, I'm becoming filled with emotion.

Why?!

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 

and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

and days of auld lang syne?

Auld lang syne means times long past - the good old days...but, should old acquaintances be forgotten?

  Every time I sing or hear these words, it causes me to reflect on the days I'm leaving behind.   To reflect on my family, friends, and loved ones...to reflect on the good days gone by.

Pizza, Pool, and People we love -

That's how we said good-bye to 2012 and welcomed in 2013.  

2nd year in a row now we've celebrated New Years Eve with our kids.  Escaping to a hotel, spending the night swimming and laughing with people we love.  It's becoming a tradtion.

This year, Uncle Andy, Aunt Jenny, Kyleigh and Kole joined us in celebration.

We do the whole hotel thing for the kids, and I'm here to tell you, the kids had a blast!  

The kiddos "cheering" in the new year with sparkling grape juice!

Mia's first New Year's Eve!

Daddy and Mason

Smiling Kole!

Me and my baby boy!

Kyleigh and Aunt Jenny

The kids had so much fun being together - jumping on the bed, eating junk food, playing games (I Spy, Operation, Guess Who, Hide and Seek), eating junk food, giggling, eating junk food, wearing Stompies and party hats, eating junk food, swimming, eating junk food, being wild (maybe because of the junk food?), and just having a grand ol' time.  And while the kids had their New Years Eve fun, the adults tried to play a game...the keyword being "tried".  The kiddos over took the little hotel room, so the grown ups ended up just laying on the bed watching the kids have their New Years Eve fun.

 It's not that Kevin and I don't want to go out and party with the grown-ups, but for the past couple of years, it's just felt right to be with our kids.  Closing the old year and opening the new year with our kids is what we've wanted to do.  It feels good to be together as a family...to look back together on all that the year has brought us and look forward to what is still to come.

"Years end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on..." - Oprah Winfrey

Being thankful for this life and all that we've been given, I am looking forward to discovering and exploring all that lies ahead for us in 2013.

The Mom Stays In The Picture

I still have to write about our New Years Eve celebration and Mason's night out with daddy, but I'll work on those tomorrow.  Today, I want to share something that I ran across...something that I found to be very important - words that stung me with truth.

Taken from Allison Tate's "The Mom Stays In The Picture" - 

 I avoid photographic evidence of my existence these days. To be honest, I avoid even mirrors. When I see myself in pictures, it makes me wince. I know I am far from alone; I know that many of my friends also avoid the camera.

It seems logical. We're sporting mama bodies and we're not as young as we used to be. We don't always have time to blow dry our hair, apply make-up, perhaps even bathe (ducking). The kids are so much cuter than we are; better to just take their pictures, we think.

But we really need to make an effort to get in the picture. Our sons need to see how young and beautiful and human their mamas were. Our daughters need to see us vulnerable and open and just being ourselves -- women, mamas, people living lives. Avoiding the camera because we don't like to see our own pictures? How can that be okay?

Too much of a mama's life goes undocumented and unseen. People, including my children, don't see the way I make sure my kids' favorite stuffed animals are on their beds at night. They don't know how I walk the grocery store aisles looking for treats that will thrill them for a special day. They don't know that I saved their side-snap, paper-thin baby shirts from the hospital where they were born or their little hospital bracelets in keepsake boxes high on the top shelves of their closets. They don't see me tossing and turning in bed wondering if I am doing an okay job as a mother, if they are okay in their schools, where we should take them for a vacation, what we should do for their birthdays. I'm up long past the news on Christmas Eve wrapping presents and eating cookies and milk, and I spend hours hunting the Internet and the local Targets for specially-requested Halloween costumes and birthday presents. They don't see any of that.

Someday, I want them to see me, documented, sitting right there beside them: me, the woman who gave birth to them, whom they can thank for their ample thighs and their pretty hair; me, the woman who nursed them all for the first years of their lives, enduring porn star-sized boobs and leaking through her shirts for months on end; me, who ran around gathering snacks to be the week's parent reader or planning the class Valentine's Day party; me, who cried when I dropped them off at preschool, breathed in the smell of their post-bath hair when I read them bedtime stories, and defied speeding laws when I had to rush them to the pediatric ER in the middle of the night for fill-in-the-blank (ear infections, croup, rotavirus).

I'm everywhere in their young lives, and yet I have very few pictures of me with them. Someday I won't be here -- and I don't know if that someday is tomorrow or thirty or forty or fifty years from now -- but I want them to have pictures of me. I want them to see the way I looked at them, see how much I loved them. I am not perfect to look at and I am not perfect to love, but I am perfectly their mother.

When I look at pictures of my own mother, I don't look at cellulite or hair debacles. I just see her -- her kind eyes, her open-mouthed, joyful smile, her familiar clothes. That's the mother I remember. My mother's body is the vessel that carries all the memories of my childhood. I always loved that her stomach was soft, her skin freckled, her fingers long. I didn't care that she didn't look like a model. She was my mama.

So when all is said and done, if I can't do it for myself, I want to do it for my kids. I want to be in the picture, to give them that visual memory of me. I want them to see how much I am here, how my body looks wrapped around them in a hug, how loved they are.

Obsessions And Ouchies

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but Makayla has an obsession with black people.  We have a friend who moved here from Haiti over the summer and I think he is the cause of her fascination with people of darker skin.  She randomly asks questions about them...she asks about their smell, asks if they have parties, asks if their poop is brown like ours...

Last night, we were at Cracker Barrel and their was a white family there that was from a different county and they were speaking a different language.  Of course, this makes Makayla stop dead in her tracks to stare and listen.  I pushed her along and when we were out in the parking lot, I asked her what they were saying.  Her response?..."I don't know.  They were like black people."  

I just don't know where she gets it or how she comes up with the things she does, but she makes me laugh.

*and as a side note, our family does not discriminate or judge based upon race *

Anyway...onto the ouchie!

Almost 2 weeks ago, Makayla and Mason went out to breakfast with daddy and as they were leaving the restaurant, Makayla slipped and fell on the ice.

When they got home, Makayla was crying and blood was dripping on her coat.  

I set her up on the counter to clean it up and I could see her little chin bone. 

Following her from breakfast were her cousins Tyler and Brennan.  They were coming over so we could give them their Christmas presents and as soon as the gifts were opened, I headed out to the emergency room with Makayla while daddy stayed home with Mason and Mia.

Sure enough, after 2.5 hours in the ER, little Miss had to have 4 stitches in her chin.  She thought it was really cool, though, that she got pink stitches (they were white stitches stained red from blood!)...

...and poor little girl, this happened on the same day as Grandma and Grandpa Curry's Christmas party with all of her cousins.  Makayla was in a lot of pain - she was tired, her chin was throbbing, her ear hurt, she had a headache, and her teeth hurt (preventing her from not eating much over the next day).  Needless to say, she just wasn't in the spirit at the Christmas party and wasn't in the mood to play with her cousins.  She just wasn't herself and it made mommy sad.  We made the most of the situation, though, and she cheered up a bit when Santa Claus showed up at Grandma and Grandpa's!

Almost 10 days later, the stitches still hadn't fallen out so we headed to the doctor to have them taken out. 

...and that night, the scab fell off. 

Stitches in her foot, surgery on her eye, and now stitches on her chin.

She's a trooper!...but I can't help but ask myself -

What's next?

2012 Top 8

With 75 blog entries for 2012, it's been fun going back and reading all that we did, all that we experienced, everywhere we went, and all that we learned.  We are blessed beyond measure!

 I thought it would be fun to share the top read entries - the entries that had over 100 visitors.  Simply click on the title for the story!

8.  Ray Of Sunshine

7.  13 Weeks, 4 Days

6.  The Cutest Thing Ever

5.  37 Weeks, 4 Days

4.  Chalazion Surgery

3.  5 Weeks Left

2.  I'm Not Worried

...and the Number One entry of the year (drum roll, please)...

1.  Mia Grace - A Birth Story 

 2012 was an amazing year for us and we are going to make sure that 2013 is just as amazing.  Eleanor Roosevelt said "Life is what you make it.  Always has been, always will be."  

Life is what you make it...