awakened

I woke up this morning with my little Simon. As I sat there feeding him, I was overwhelmed. The boys were already playing upstairs. Raelynn started fussing through the monitor. I have been trying really hard to get a shower in before the day begins (otherwise I don't get one until 2ish). I just wanted a shower before I had to face the chaos. My tank is empty. I mean, I feel like I have nothing left to give when my dear husband gets home. One more hug is just difficult after I've been climbed on, patted, yanked on, hugged, and talked to over a thousand times earlier. My love language is definitely not touch, so to be touched all day is difficult!

I sat there wondering how in the world God thought 4 kids was a good idea for me. Then, it hit me as I was asking God why He gave me 4. I've been so caught up in my kids and moving, that I've spent far less time reading and praying. I even stopped going to Bible study. No wonder my tank is completely empty. When I get all of them to sleep for naps, I'm so exhausted. I grab some lunch, pay some bills, turn on the tv for a little white noise...I should be spending that time filling up with some good reading and praying.

I put some worship music on, and decided the day will be fine. It's been chaos. It's been loud. I've corrected a lot of bad attitudes going on, broken up a bunch of fights between my kiddos (yes, they all 3 fight)....And it's not even 10:30. I'm looking forward to nap time for some quiet time with God. I'm really looking forward to it.

we have a ....

BOY

Simon Richard 

born November 1

at 10:58 pm

weighing 7 pounds 12 ounces

and 20.25 inches long

He's perfect

halloween

I adore these kiddos. 

The only thing missing is our little newborn in a pumpkin outfit. 

Apparently the baby wants to stay in my tummy.

Elias - Captain America

Isaiah - Spiderman

Raelynn - Tinker Bell

Raelynn was so proud of her bucket

 We went to the harvest party at Bethel, and the boys stocked up on candy and had a great time playing all sorts of games.

The cousins joined in on the fun. I love this picture of them!

Then we stopped in to see Aunt Cindy, Grams, and Gramps and scored on more candy

 An attempt to get a picture with all 6 kiddos.

We went treat or treating around the neighborhood, and these two hitched a ride. Too cute.

this little piggy

I painted Raelynn's toes for the first time. She absolutely loved them painted and kept saying, "pretty". So darn cute. I love having a girl!

12ish days

I have less than two weeks of being ginormous! I'm very excited to meet our new family member! We've been busy getting last minute stuff ready for the baby, packing, and homeschooling.

I just washed all the little newborn clothes last week!

I cannot even believe the emotions that flooded me as I was folding each little piece of clothing. Isaiah was helping me, and I just couldn't get over the smallness of the clothes and the largeness of my oldest child. Yes, I was on emotion overload. Such gifts I've been given.

Isaiah was so funny when he started helping. He looked at the clothes and asked me why we were folding boy clothes. He is completely convinced we're having a girl, yet he is adamant that if we have a boy, his name will be Simon. He has no opinion on the girl name. My funny little man.

I've been packing 2-3 boxes a day, trying to get ready for our move mid-November.

We have so many boxes stacked up in the master bedroom, but it also has piles of laundry to attend to. So, I will not be showing you all my work!

These are the little outfits we picked out for our new little one. So excited to meet our new boy or girl!

In the middle of all this, I decided we needed new bedding. Ours was very neutral, which was awesome for our red bedroom in Gladstone. Since renting, our room was soooo dull. So tan and white and boring! So, I updated it. It's a little girly (okay, a lot) for Bry's taste, but I love it! It makes me happy every time I walk into the room. After this baby is born and we move, I'll work on some throw pillows for it. So excited to love it even more.

I was thinking I am pretty much ready for this little one, but I realized today, I have no idea where our infant car seat is. I remember washing the cover, but no idea what happened from there. I'll have to have the hubs help me find it! I know that will keep me up tonight trying to figure it out.

Here's to less than two weeks! I think I'll celebrate by eating a caramel apple!

caramel apple on a stick

We finally made caramel apples! I love caramel, so I do believe this yumminess was more for me than anything! Oh well, my kiddos loved it as well. I think they had more fun decorating than eating - which is CRAZY to me. It was fun (other than the one time I wasn't paying attention and might have burned my middle child...maybe).

 I love that Raelynn always wants to be part of the action. We put her to bed after we unwrapped all the caramels, and we got to the decorating. (Hello baby belly)

 Raelynn might have figured out how to unwrap the caramel 

(yes, I only have 12 days left!)

 Elias made some great faces during this

 Whatcha got in your mouth, Rae? 

Sneaky little one

 Again with the faces 

I love Isaiah's REAL smile here even if he's not looking at me

 All done!!!

 My handsome, favorite men

Enjoying the fruits of their labor...kind of enjoying

They weren't huge fans of the stickiness

Silly boys

a visit from the shoes

Great Grandpa Ray, Great Grandma Dee, Papa and Grami came to visit.