As Time Goes On

Yesterday, Makayla was in her first Christmas program of the season at church -

It was an hour long program featuring over 100 singers and musicians.  Makayla's little cherub choir sang "Emmanuel" and "Go Tell It On The Mountain".  They had two performances yesterday - one in the afternoon and one in the evening.  We were lucky enough to bring the video camera to the afternoon performance to capture Makayla's wonderful stage presence.  During the entire first song, "Emmanuel", she held her dress above her head for all the audience to see her undies and sucked her thumb.  SUCKED HER THUMB!...Makayla doesn't suck her thumb!  Never!  Who was this girl?!

She claimed she held her dress up and sucked her thumb because she was nervous...hmmm.

Even though she made me laugh to the point of tears, it's still a little embarrassing when your child displays a behavior in public - on stage - that they don't ever display otherwise and after we talked to her and 'calmed her nerves', the evening performance was 100% better!

When we got home after the first show, we watched the video of Makayla singing on stage at church, showing off her underwear and sucking her thumb.  She thought she was the funniest thing in the whole world!  Of course, Makayla and Mason loved seeing Makayla on the TV and wanted to see more, so we hit the rewind button and watched a couple of months of home videos.  

The kids were sitting on the couch beaming as they watched themselves on TV!

...and that's when I couldn't hold back the tears!

We didn't even go back to when Makayla and Mason were babies.  We just went as far back as their birthdays - 3 months ago - and I still couldn't control myself!

...my little girl, on her 4th birthday, bouncing around in her little yellow dress!

I can remember that day like it was yesterday - we painted her nails gold for her "golden birthday", turning 4 on the 4th.  She decorated her own cake, opened a couple of presents, and smiled ALL day long!

...my little boy, on his 2nd birthday, having the time of his life!

As we sang "Happy Birthday" to him, his giggles filled the air!  He loved singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing his candles out.  In fact, he loved it so much, we did the whole thing TWICE!  We did it twice for him, as it made him so excited, he couldn't contain himself - clapping, laughing, and blowing out his two candles before we could even finish the song! 

The home videos made me so emotional because those days are gone, days that I want to hold onto forever...days that scare me to let go of because I can't imagine my babies growing up. And I know that's silly to say because they WILL grow up, but it's so hard to know that one day, they won't be little anymore.  Makayla and Mia won't be my little girls that I can hold in my arms and Mason won't be my little boy that will snuggle on my lap.  Time is fleeting!

Already, Mia is a month old! (Happy One Month Birthday, baby girl!)

As time goes on...

 I won't have a baby to lotion up after bath,

I won't have a little boy in his sweet, sweet voice say "Hi, mom!",

I won't have a little girl who can tell me the story of Mary and Jesus (though the mind of a 4 year old),

I won't have little monkeys jumping on the bed,

I won't have the magic of Christmas,

I won't have a messy, toy-filled home,

But I know one thing is for sure...we will always have JOY and happiness!

I'm so thankful for this blog, as it holds soooo many precious memories.  It holds so many moments, events, milestones...times that I am able to look back upon and not be sad that these days are gone, but be happy that they happened.  Be happy that I can call these days mine. I am so thankful that I can use this blog as a place that allows me to see all the blessings in my life.

Because my kids won't be little forever, I make it my number one priority to live each day for them and with them.  Each day is an opportunity to love them - to teach them - to hug them - to kiss them - to pray with them and for them - to enjoy them - to hold them - to make memories with them...a day to cherish and to use it to the fullest.  And that's just what I plan to do - from baby to adult hood.  There's so much that happens in my children's lives and there's SO much more to come and I'm not going to miss out on a single thing!

Boy

We've been working with Mason on knowing the difference between boys and girls. Well...I love it when I tell him that he's a good big brother and he 'corrects' me and says "no, me a boy"!

Catch Up

November Catch Up!!

So, now that it is December 1st and we're on a countdown to Christmas, I need to wrap up the very exciting month of November!

I hope as time goes on, I can get back in the swing of things and regularly stay updated instead of quickly throwing two weeks worth of life into one quick post.  There is so much stuff that goes on in our life and I don't want to keep anything out - especially the things that my kids will find funny, interesting, memorable, and worth the reading when they grow up.

Stuff like this:  

The other night I took Makayla to Wal-Mart and we were in the produce section.  She looked at me and asked if black people have parties.  I told her of course black people have parties.  She then sat down in the cart, giggled, and said "I'm so obsessed with black people".

Or this...

We were sitting in the car downtown the other night getting ready to walk out to the street for the Christmas parade. She asked "Are there going to be police...(putting her hand up) I mean COPS...in the parade?"  I told her that there were going to be cops in the parade and asked her why she called them cops instead of police.  She said "because that's their middle name!".

So...trying to put forth more effort in not getting so behind, let's get started on a quick November Catch Up!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving was an unusually warm day.  We ate lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Allen, Aunt Nina, Great Grandma Allen, and Uncle Gary.  After lunch, the big kids went outside to ride the 4-wheeler, fly kites, take wagon rides, play with chalk, play ball - run around in the fresh air!  How often can you do that at the end of November?!

...and while the big kids were outside playing, Mia and I stayed inside to enjoy each other's company.  We stared in each other's eyes, took pictures, and I told her how pretty she was! :)

...after lunch, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Curry's house for Thanksgiving dinner!  We definitely got our fill of all the Thanksgiving fixings!

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We had our annual "Black Friday/Thanksgiving" dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Allen and Aunt Nina at Osaka!...mommy's favorite place and I think Mason's favorite place, too!

Mason LOVES it when they throw that huge, hot fire on the grill!  After the heat simmers down a bit, he works really hard on blowing the fire out.  Of course, when the fire does burn out, we applaud him and he smiles so big because he thinks he blew the fire out.

...Makayla being silly with Grandma and Aunt Nina.

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November was also filled with some quality cousin time! -

We got to see and spend time with Tyler and Brennan and although the kids don't get to see each other very often, you would never guess that based up on watching them play and listening to them talk.

We spent a lot of time playing together at Grandma Curry's and then hit the bowling alley up for some bowling!

For months, Mason has been saying "Baby Out Bowl!"...meaning that when baby Mia came out, we would got bowling.  Well, Mason finally got to go bowling!  Not only did we get to bowl with Tyler and Brennan, but Shawn and Holly were there, too.  Makayla and Mason had a blast!  Even with Mason's "accident", he didn't let that stop him.

Before the game even started, Mason dropped his bowling ball.  As he bent down to get it, it bounced up and hit him in the mouth, causing his teeth to pierce all the way through his bottom lip!  Ugh.  Talk about my tummy turning.  There was blood everywhere and I knew for sure that he knocked his teeth out.  Thankfully, that wasn't the case and he just had a major boo-boo on his lip.  Poor baby. 

...but with a smile on his face and a mouthful of pretzel, he didn't let that bowling ball and busted lip stop him from having fun!

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Besides Thanksgiving, spending time with family and friends, having fun, going to the Christmas parade, and running around...we've just been enjoying and loving on our new baby girl!!

First 10 Days

The first 10 days of having Mia home has been a whirlwind!!!

...a fun, crazy, emotional, exciting, life-altering

.whirlwind.

It's been everything I expected and I can't stop counting my blessings and wondering what in the world I did to deserve the life I've been given.

Enjoy! - The faces of Mia during her first 10 days!

Enjoying a day out with the family as we joined big sister Makayla on her field trip to the Festivals of Trees.  We got to look at all of the beautiful Christmas trees, visit Santa, and enjoyed some yummy pizza at Godfathers.

...just laying around.  Born at 6lbs 3ozs, on day 10 you weighed in at 6lbs 6ozs.  

Listening to your mama talk to you...

Experiencing your first bath...

 I love catching you smile in your sleep!

...This is the face I get to stare at all day long!  Precious! 

...your first photo shoot - and my goodness - you are a doll!  I can't wait to see the rest of the pictures!

Yep! - your umbilical cord fell off.  Makes mommy gag!

I've already spent countless hours holding your tiny hands in mine...

Yawning or sneezing...

You sneeze a lot and when you do sneeze you always sneeze at least 4 times in a row! 

These first 10 days with you, Mia, have been absolutely amazing...

dream-like!

I can't stop 

holding you

kissing you

smelling you

rocking you

kissing you

snuggling you

staring at you

kissing you

holding your hand

admiring you

and kissing you...!

"There is no other closeness in human life like the closeness between a mother and her baby: chronologically, physically, and spiritually, they are just a few heartbeats away from being the same person."
-Susan Cheever

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving...

and I have so much to be thankful for.

Mia Grace - A Birth Story

Welcome to this world, Mia!

Mia Grace Curry

11/09/2012

6:06am

6lbs, 3ozs

17.5 inches

Mia,

Mommy and daddy went to the hospital on Thursday November 8th at 8pm to start the process of bringing you into this world.  By 9pm, paperwork was signed, machines were hooked up, and a tablet was placed to start softening my cervix.  Little did I know that when we arrived at the hospital, I was already having contractions 2-5 minutes apart and dilated to a two.

Throughout the night, the nurses started giving me pitocin (a liquid medication that causes uterine contractions).  I continued to have contractions throughout the night, but nothing that made me think you were about ready to come within the next few hours.

And then, BAM - around 3:30, I felt the pain.  A lot of pain.  While mommy was in the hospital bed breathing through the contractions, daddy was asleep - snoring - on the couch.  I must have been in a deep breathing pattern because as I would exhale, daddy (without even turning around on the couch or opening his eyes) would mumble "tell them to turn the heat up".  He must have thought I was shivering from being cold, when really I was shivering from the pain.  I threatened him and told him that he better get up and go take a walk!

The next couple of hours were a blur. 

 I was progressing very quickly and the doctor asked me if I wanted a shot to relieve the pain.  I was too far along to get an epidural pump, but they could still give me a quick shot in the back to numb some pain.  I thought really quick about passing on the pain shot since we had made it to the end and were ready to push, but I really didn't want to be in any pain whatsoever when you came into our life.  I wanted to be able to be relaxed and be able to enjoy every single second of birthing you.  Luckily, the shot worked just in time for me to push and I could deliver you calmly with my eyes open and a smile on my face.

We had many people in the room that were there to watch you be born.
Bringing life into this world is a miracle and there really isn't a better feeling than to be able to share this amazing process with the people we love.

...and then at 6am, it was time!

We got in position, and I pushed once.

Just one push and you were here.

...at 6:06am you were screaming.

You were placed in my arms and everything around me was gone.  It was just you and me.

You were beautiful.

You were perfect.
You took my breath away.

You were mine.
You were ours - mommy's, daddy's, sissy's, bubby's.

Your warm body, your newborn baby breath, your sweet cry - all of you - cradled in my arms.  Finally.

I love you, Mia!

Your first picture with mommy and daddy.

*I'm still in disbelief at the quickness of your arrival and the one simple push it took to get you here*

Makayla and Mason coming to meet you for the first time!

Mason instantly fell in love with you.

He just wants to kiss you, feed you his food, and kiss you...all the time!

Makayla couldn't be prouder!
She loves you with her whole being.  She can't hold you enough and says that she just can't stop kissing you.

Our first family picture!

My 3 beautiful babes!!

I thank God for three uneventful pregnancies, 3 easy deliveries, and 3 healthy babies.

For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful, 

I know that full well.

-Psalm 139:13-14

Welcome to our family, Mia!
You're everything we've ever dreamed of and we've waited our whole lives for you!

Love, Mommy

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween 

from the baby doctor (OB/GYN) and Spiderman!!

When...(Remembering To Embrace)

I don't think that feeling of wanting "just one more" baby will ever go away.  Already, still while pregnant with our 3rd, I have dreams about having a 4th...But, I know that won't happen.  We are done after 3.  In our minds and in our hearts, we are meant to be the parents of three...and that's just what we'll be.

And because we've made the decision that after this baby, we will be closing this chapter in our life, I am very aware that there won't be a next time to do or experience all that pregnancy has to offer.  I've said from the beginning, since I took that first belly picture (that I never did with the first two pregnancies), that I was going to embrace this third and last pregnancy.

Being 38.5 weeks pregnant, I am reminding myself several times a day to embrace!  Every once in awhile, I feel really really good and I feel like I could carry this baby for a couple more months.  On the flip side, every once in awhile, I feel like I could lay down and birth this baby out - no matter where I am, what I'm doing, or who is there.  I'm so ready to have this baby, but when I start feeling that way, I try to stop.  relax.  enjoy.  soak it in.  for this is the last time I will be pregnant.  This is the last time I will ever create another human being.  

So...

When I get out of the shower and choose to air dry because I can't bend down to dry my legs, I'll stand there with a smile on my face.  I can't bend down because there's a human being curled up in my belly.

When I cuss myself every night struggling to shave my legs and making sure "everything" looks good because  'tonight could be the night', I'll just have to smile.  Tonight could be the night that I meet my baby girl and my goodness, I am going to look good!

When somebody tells me one more time "you're going to have your hands full" and I get the urge to punch them in the teeth, I am going take in a deep breath, smile, and thank God that I am given the opportunity to have my hands full.   Obviously I am going to have my hands full.  Makayla just turned 4, Mason just turned 2, and I am going to have a newborn.  Duh.  I chose this, though.  It's exactly what I want.  There's nothing that I love more in this world than being a mother.  It's true - there are days that I wonder how I'll make it with 3 little ones - but just thinking about our family of five fills me with butterflies and makes me want to burst with joy.

When I get home from work and feel guilty because I don't have the energy that I wish I had to be able to spend on my family, I will smile and be thankful that I have a job and that I am blessed with uncomplicated pregnancies that allow me to work up to this point.  With my first pregnancy, I can remember coming home from work and dropping on the couch.  I wouldn't get up for the entiiiire evening.  With my second pregnancy, I can remember coming home from work and being able to sneak in a 20 minute nap sometime throughout the evening.  This time around, there's no such thing as coming home from a long exhausting day at work and resting with my feet up on the couch.  Ha.  Every once in awhile, I'll get lucky when daddy takes the kids to run errands, but even then, I find it impossible to sit down and rest.  I spend those moments alone picking up, cleaning up, wiping up, hanging up (clothes), putting up...the work of a mother is never done!  Those days/evenings/nights of just laying around on the couch feeling re-energized and refreshed are long gone...

When I am having my 10,000th conversation about vasectomies, I'll smile and be tickled on the inside of how 'concerned' people are about our sexual health.  It's funny to me the way conversations evolve over the number of pregnancies.  While pregnant with Makayla, most conversations were all about the joys of becoming a parent for the first time.  While pregnant with Mason, most conversations were all about double strollers.  And while pregnant with this last baby, most conversations are all about vasectomies and how Kevin and I plan to prevent another pregnancy.

I've tried to enjoy every minute of this pregnancy andI know it's unrealistic not to moan and groan a little at all of the discomforts of pregnancy - especially the third time around for me.  It's been a challenge on my body!  I don't know if it's because of my old age or because of the non-stop-on-the-go way of life with already having two little ones.  Show me a woman who enjoys every minute of her pregnancy and give me her doctor's number.  I clearly need their secret or some of whatever she's taking.  Since this is our last pregnancy, I am making an effort to balance the complaining with gratitude and appreciation.  I'm growing a person inside of me.  I'm creating a life! - and while I may not seem all happy and glowing for the entire 40 weeks, I don't want to regret later that I wasted all of my pregnant energy on complaining or wishing for time to speed through to the end.

"Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy and complaining about the shadow over my feet, I'd have cherished every minute of it and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was to be my only chance in life to assist God in a miracle" - Erma Bombeck

Dress Up

Makayla came upstairs just a gigglin'...

because she was wearing mommy's clothes.

 We asked her if she had a baby in her belly (since she pretends so often that she has a baby in her belly)...

 ...and she said "NO!", and through her giggles said "I have big boobies!".

(bra and all)

37 Weeks, 4 Days

You know when you jump into a pool of water and your hair floats and waves through the water as you swim?...well, that's what your baby's hair looks like on an ultrasound.  You can see in the picture below that the arrow is pointing to baby's hair.  I know in this picture it kind of looks like blades of grass, but as baby moves, her hair waves through the amniotic fluid.  It's very cool.

When Makayla was born, she was born with a full head of hair with natural blonde highlighted tips.

 And I remember wondering if Mason would have hair like Makayla (kind of hoping he wouldn't because it was really girly) and sure enough, he didn't.  He was born with just a "normal" head of hair (not too much and not too little).

...and I can't help but wonder how much hair this new little one will have, along with wondering what else this little life will carry with her and bring to us. 

But - besides seeing her hair this morning at our appointment, we got to see many other things!

Her head is low, low, low (the reason behind all of the pressure)...but not low enough to not be able to get a glimpse of her face.  She spent a lot of her time this morning sucking away on her thumb, so you can see in this picture that her fist is up by her mouth.  

I exceeded my goal weight!  Woo Hoo!  Although the doctor didn't ask me to reach a certain weight (and in fact told me not to worry about it) and told me that I was doing just fine on weight gain, I still wanted to reach a "goal".  

*i like working towards a goal*

So - as of 37 weeks and 4 days, I have gained 26 pounds and exceeded my 140 pound mark on the scale.
It made me smile...

And  - as of 37 weeks and 4 days, baby is measuring in at around 6 pounds.  

With Makayla weighing 5lbs, 7ozs and
Mason weighing 6lbs, 8ozs,

this baby may fall right in between the two.

Here's a close up of her nose and lips.

We got to see her practice her breathing and watch her diaphragm move up and down.

We watched her heart beating and recorded a heart rate in the 140s.

We saw her eyes open and close, open and close, and watched her manipulate her thumb around into her mouth more than several times.

While the ultrasound tech did all of her measurements and recordings, we watched our little girl on the screen - in awe.

There is such a special sweetness in being able to participate in creation.

-Pamela S. Nadav

We had a great doctor's appointment this morning and now we just wait until next week when we see the doctor again :)
Getting closer by the day!

In the meantime, I can't wait to write about another "first experience" for our family.

Makayla and Mason were in their first wedding - being a flower girl and ring bearer for Uncle Mike and Nicole!  Daddy was also in the wedding, so unfortunately, mommy was too busy to take any pictures of my little beauty and handsome man *gasp*!  I didn't even get a picture of the Bride and Groom!  Totally unlike me!

Here's a preview of pictures taken from others - 

...and as soon as I get some pictures from the photographer, I will write about the beautiful day!

Four Funnies

Makayla has been into dressing up in my clothes.  Last night she came downstairs wearing my maternity jeans, one of my tshirts, and a baby in her belly.  She walked into the living room as if nothing was wrong with her pregnant self in over-sized maternity clothes, carrying on with her usual business.  Tonight, I caught her in front of my mirror in my bedroom trying to put on one of my bras.  When I asked her what she was doing, she said that she was "putting on her big magic boobies".

Mason is going through a stage right now that whenever he sees somebody in a wheelchair, he'll say "UUUH OOOH" 2 or 3, sometimes 4, 5, or 6 times, with fear in his eyes, point, and then say "niiiiice".  

The other day while Makayla was at school, Mason and I went to garage sales.  I bought a lot of nice clothes for the kids and as soon as we picked Makayla up from school, Mason and I showed her all of the clothes we got her.  She was really excited and wanted to hold them on the way home.  I told her "no" and that I wanted to wash them first because they were stinky and dirty.  Not that they were necessarily stinky and dirty, but not knowing where and who they came from, I just feel better getting them washed before the kids handle them.  She looked at me with confidence and asked while nodding "did they come from a black person?".  I told her that they didn't so she then asked "then why do they stink?".  I couldn't help but giggle to myself at her thought process and can't figure out for the life of me where she would have come up with something like this.  While it made me laugh (to myself, of course), it also made me sad because that's the first time she has ever shown discrimination or made a comment about someone because they were different than her.  I didn't think that would happen so quickly.  Life.

It's a known fact that when I was pregnant with Mason, Makyala developed an obsession of being pregnant herself.  That obsession has followed her throughout the years and has strengthened once again with this pregnancy (as in walking around the house with a baby in her belly, can't pick up her toys because it hurts her belly to bend down so much, talking about the milk in her boobies...).  There have been moments that Makayla's obsession has worried me because it has been so real for her at times, but now I think I have something else to worry about - Mason now thinks he's pregnant.  He will walk around patting his belly saying "baby".  Poor kid! - his sister (and mama) are warping him :)