Warning: Cuteness Overload

Thanks for all the prayers and kind thoughts. As a whole, we are doing much better. We are still waiting on test results, though, so until we get those, sweet Hosanna has to keep taking the bottle while I pump. So not fun.

Meanwhile, I realized that I had 172 pictures on my phone - apparently I use it a lot more than our actual camera to capture moments around the house, especially of our new addition. Here's a few (okay, more than a few!) pics of little miss Hosanna Joy to show how much she's grown over the past month:

*waiting at the hospital in January to have an ultrasound to test for hip dysplasia*

*first smile at just a month old*

*love this face*

*getting ready for church at one month old*

*playing with Daddy - of course she adores him*

*another church photo (and the lock screen on my phone, I love it so much)*

*she is definitely not a leave-her-in-the-swing-or-bouncy-seat baby - she wants to be with me. all the time. so here she is in the laundry basket...*

*found these antennae at the store on clearance and couldn't resist*

*trying on her piggy hat*

*hooray for the bumbo - she loves to be upright due to her stomach issues so the bumbo works wonders for us*

*just last night, after she screamed for an hour and I couldn't get her to calm down. We finally put her in a warm bath, and this was the instant result.*

I promise not to make every post about the baby; in fact, I'm working on some "interviews" with the other three kids, and maybe I'll worm in something about the Nerd too. Still, these pictures are just too cute to not share with the world, am I right?

Precious Moments

Now that school is out for the Drama Queen, we have settled into a different and much more relaxed morning routine. I still get up before the kids do and try to get in some quiet time before the ruckus starts. When the kids come bouncing out of their rooms at 7:30 am or so, I make them breakfast and listen to their childish prattle. I then usually have the kids pick a show to watch on Netflix so I can check email, Facebook, and bloggy endeavors in peace for a half hour.

This morning, after a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes and cow juice, I told the Beast it was his turn to pick the morning television fare. He pressed up against my leg and said, "Momma, I just want to snuggle with you. Can we watch something on the computer with you?" Oh, sweet mercy, my heart melted and I hoisted all 45 pounds of beastliness onto my lap as we perused the Disney Junior site for something fun to watch. Not wanting to be left out, the Spud began climbing on the side of the chair, begging for a space to snuggle too. With the Beast occupying one knee and the Spud the other, we cuddled and watched an episode of Little Einsteins together. My right leg fell asleep (can you guess which kid was sitting there?!) and I had to keep adjusting so that little Sprout would not get smooshed, but I savored every uncomfortable second. The requests to snuggle and the spur-of-the-moment hugs and kisses are not as frequent as they were before. Often it is me asking for the cuddle time; so when my little guys initiate it, it is pure bliss. I am reminded to cherish these times as I am all too well aware that the scarcity of such precious moments will only increase over time.

Felling nostalgic, I brought up some photos of the kids exactly one year ago and studied their chubby faces and lopsided grins. How much change one year brings! Just look at their sweet sweet selves:

Oh, I miss those days already! But, I don't want to dwell on past memories and miss the cuteness, the charm, the mischief, and the fun that is my life right now. I will have plenty of time later to cherish the MEMORIES; right now I want to cherish the MOMENTS!

Family

I finally got the family picture wall all set up in the living room. I picked my favorite candid shots of the kiddies for their own portraits in the center, around the word "Family." On the far ends of this picture, the collage frames hold shots of the little rascals at the playground and at the beach. I chose to put the long frame with pictures of all the far-away relatives on the bottom, where the little ones can reach it and point to their Grammy and Pop and Uncle Andy and so on. And see those small bright paintings at the top?

After getting all the photos up, i still felt something was missing. After reading my Bible that morning, I was reminded again of some verses that have really meant a lot to me lately. And now those verses grace our wall as well, as a daily gentle reminder to TRUST HIM and

NEED HIM.

I love having all my pictures up - our living room finally feels like a family room. And that is a great feeling!