renewed

I just spent most of my weekend at the dotMom event here in Brentwood. I have been wanting to go for years & was so excited that I could actually do it this year! It definitely did not disappoint.

 

I am walking away from this event feeling like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. My spirit feels renewed & my mama heart feels refreshed. I so needed this time of worship & learning. Sometimes being the mama of 3 young kids feels a little bit like the movie Groundhog Day. Am I right? Sweep up crumbs. Refill milk in sippy cups. Wipe poopy bottoms. Sweep up more crumbs. Referee. Taxi the kids around to various activities. Sleep. Repeat.  Now, there are plenty of sweet moments. Please don't get me wrong. BUT, sometimes my not-so-great attitude makes it hard for me to find those sweet moments.

I know that God put me at this conference for a reason this weekend. Every single breakout session that I went to were areas that I feel inadequate. Areas where Satan creeps in & whispers to me that I am not doing a good job. Areas where at times I feel LOST (especially this whole raising boys thing. those creatures can be so strange!) Areas that cripple me with fear sometimes (raising godly children in a broken world?? making sure my beautiful girl knows where her beauty is from)

 

My journal has about 10 pages of notes from the weekend and I can't wait to just read over them this week & decompress. It was a breath of fresh air. I went in to dotMom feeling tired, inadequate, & stretched thin. I left remembering just how important my friendships with the girls around me are.  I left understanding that I need to give myself & my children more grace. I left with SO. MUCH. INFO on raising boys and girls. whew. My brain is still on overload...in a good way!

I am so thankful I got to spend the weekend with great friends & be surrounded by hundreds of other mamas with hearts for Jesus. There's just nothing else like it! It also helped that Melanie Shankle and Sophie Hudson were there....and that I hugged (!!!!) Melanie.

I could write a novel on every single think I took away from the weekend, but I think I will just share Karen Kingsbury's words on how to best live our life:

 

Love well, laugh often, look for the miraculous, & lift our children to Jesus. 

my baby is FIVE!

FIVE. A whole hand. I can hardly believe it!

 

I always get nostalgic when birthdays are approaching & look at baby pictures. I was looking at pictures of Grayson earlier this week and it is just so hard to remember him being SO LITTLE. 5 years seems to have flown by but at the same time it feels like forever ago!

Grayson has looked forward to this birthday for a LONG time. We have been talking about turning 5 for many months. 5 just seems old, doesn't it?!

Well, G, it is finally here. The day you turn 5. My first moments with you in the hospital were quite a blur (thanks Ambien) but I remember just staring at you all the time during our first few days at home. I was in such awe of you. You were perfect & you were my dream come true. The baby boy I had always wanted!

At this moment in your life, you LOVE baseball. You're really good at it. You are a natural born athlete & it is so fun watching you play! You also love playing soccer in our backyard, football with daddy, & basketball in the bonus room. Let's be honest....at age 5, you just love all things sports related! You also love superheroes, power rangers, & anything rough & tumble boy related.  You are super opinionated about your clothing & dress like a tiny teenager. All things neon, Nike, & Under Armour are your favorite. You are definitely confident in your style!

You are also the hardest little worker I have ever seen! Your Friday night routine is helping your daddy in the yard. You help him mow, weed eat, & rake up all the grass. You are a great helper & you love it! You also love to help with your brother & sister. You've been a HUGE help now that I am teaching! Cheney on the loose at school could be a nightmare, but you help me in the mornings and afternoons keeping her out of trouble!

Grayson, you are such a huge blessing to your daddy and I. You are tender-hearted, kind, funny, and inquisitive. You ask no less than 5,000 questions a day! You have a heart of gold and we adore you!!
Happy FIFTH birthday to our biggest boy!! 

Back to school!

Well, our summer is officially over and school is back in session! This year will be a little different since ALL the kids are actually at preschool and the mama is too!

 

I started a few weeks ago with pre-planning & this is our second week with kids. It has been great so far! It feels great to get out of the house & use that part of my brain again. 3 year olds are definitely different than 1st graders, but it has been so much fun! I am working with a great teacher (who actually taught G when he was 3!) and have 9 precious kids. I am trying to find my groove with balancing everything, but I know we will figure it out! I'm just super thankful that I get to work where my babies go to school!

 

The kids are adjusting just fine! I was most worried about Cheney but she has been great. Her school naps aren't spectacular, but her teachers say she is happy all day! She is in the monkey class (isn't that so fitting?!) and her teachers are Ms. Tracy & Ms. Christy.

 

Griffin is in the penguin class this year with Ms. Pat & Ms. Vicki. He was SUPER excited that they were penguins because he loves them. He waddles like a penguin now all the time...ha! He has a few friends from his class last year & a bunch of new faces. It took a week for him to adjust & not be sad, but he does tell me he likes seeing me in the hallway. He won't wave to me but at least he likes to see me!!

Grayson had his very last first day of preschool EVER last week! I can hardly believe my first baby is in pre-k! Grayson has been so excited about pre-k all summer. His teachers are Ms. Patti & Ms. Shari and he has a lot of friends from his old class! He is definitely a creature of habit & was so happy to see so many familiar faces at orientation! He's had a great start & always tells me that school was so fun and that he is really tired at the end of the day. They must keep those 4 & 5 year olds busy!

 

These 3 look way too grown up. My heart can't take it! Here's to a GREAT school year! 

a party for two

We celebrated Grayson & Griffin at the end of August with a joint birthday party in our backyard. With 3 birthdays within 6 weeks of each other, we thought a joint party for the boys would make our lives easier!

 

Our new house has a huge, flat backyard and I knew it would be perfect for an outdoor party.  We bought an inflatable water slide as a joint gift for the boys & we ended up just having an outdoor water party! It was the most laidback, least planned party I have ever thrown......and it was probably my favorite! ZERO STRESS & lots of fun!

 

 

We had the inflatable water slide out, water guns galore, water balloons, & our trampoline. August in the south is usually the hottest month, but of course it was unusually chilly on party day. Luckily, the kids didn't mind! I am so glad that we did the party this way...everyone had so much fun!

 

We had a great time celebrating our 3 year old & almost 5 year old!



celebrating Cheney

Our little Cheney girl had a great few days celebrating her 1st birthday! Her birthday was last Thursday. It was rainy most of the day & we had a really low-key day at home just playing! The boys were SO excited about her birthday. It was really sweet. Grayson doted on her all day long!

My friend, Alex, made Cheney the cutest watermelon shirt for her birthday. She looked so cute in her ruffle bloomers & birthday shirt!

 

I made blueberry pancakes for the birthday girl (she had pizza for lunch. both her favorites!) & then she got her very own tiny chocolate cupcake. The boys sang "Happy birthday Chocolate Face" over & over...aren't they sweet? Ha! Sister LOVES her sweets and thinks this birthday stuff is pretty awesome.

We opened presents after dinner. Look at that big girl walking towards her gifts! She's getting there! Cheney got the Little People Disney princess castle, a stroller, & a baby doll. She LOVES the castle and all the singing princesses!

I have decided that there is nothing cuter than a baby pushing a baby!!

It was a fun day celebrating our girl. I still can't believe my bitty newborn is a toddling little 1 year old!

 

Cheney's party was on Saturday and we had a watermelon theme because our girl LOVES her some watermelon!

 

I LOVED her invitations! I told Amy my theme and colors & she created the cutest invite!

This was pretty much the extent of all decorations. I kept it pretty simple!

I do love her chalkboard! Making these is kind of therapeutic. This one will hang in her room!

The birthday girl! She was way too busy all day to stop & pose for pictures!

Cheney's smash cake was a success! She ate pretty much only icing & really liked the pretend watermelon seeds. She is our cleanest smash cake eater!

Cheney opened her presents afterwards. She had lots of preschool-aged helpers! For the first time in a year we have lots of girly toys. It is funny seeing a sea of pink things among our superheroes and trucks!

It was a great day celebrating Cheney with our family & friends. Our little watermelon loving girl had a blast!



Cheney: 12 months old

Cheney baby! YOU ARE A ONE YEAR OLD!!

The final stats:

Weight: 17.7lbs at the cardiologist!

Height: 29in

Clothing: all 12 month

Diaper: size 3

Shoe: size 4

Eating:

Sister, you LOVE to eat. This month we finally started sitting at our new kitchen table and you sit in your booster at the table like a big kid! You've been eating off of plates & doing really well. You will still eat just about everything. Your favorite foods right now are watermelon, blueberries, anything with cheese, yogurt, cereal bars, any kind of rice, & goldfish. You are DONE with bottles & formula...hallelujah! You love whole milk.  You are easily going through a gallon a week! You had absolutely no problem giving up bottles & happily drink milk out of your sippy cup. I am so happy to never have bottles in this house again!

Sleep:

You are still a great sleeper! You dropped your morning a few weeks ago. You have been a trooper about that! You wake up EARLY but can usually hang until about 12:45-1:00 for your nap. You sleep until around 3:30 in the afternoon. Your bed is full of lovies and animals, but you have had to really become attached to one. You also sleep with a gazillion pacis. They are all thrown on the floor immediately when you wake up in the morning!

Happenings this month:

-you are SO CLOSE to getting a third tooth on the top. Your little gums are so swollen!

-you can take 5-6 steps when you want to. You are a lazy walker; you have a big brother who literally carries you all over the house so you have no need to walk! We practice a lot & you will walk if really want to.

-you are such a climber. It makes me crazy. You will climb on anything & I can't take my eyes off of you for even a second! We got a big inflatable water slide & you can crawl right up the big slide! All by yourself! You have absolutely no fear.

-you went on another really long road trip to Louisiana this month! You did pretty good in the car & had so much fun exploring new places!

-You are starting to really enjoy the pool/water. Well, unless it is really cold. You have let me put you under several times and it does not bother you. You love the inflatable slide & crawling all over it!

-doing big girl things like taking only one nap & drinking only out of a sippy cup!

-you really enjoy story time at the library & are finally sitting still for us to read to you!

-your THIRD tooth popped through this morning!!

Oh, Cheney baby, how can you already be 1?! I remember the day you were born so vividly. You had the squishiest baby cheeks and I just stared at you for hours. I still kiss those baby cheeks a thousand times a day! You are such a happy baby girl & your silly squeals and laughter make each day brighter. You have stolen the hearts of everyone in this house, little girl! We love you so very much & are so thankful you are ours. Happy FIRST birthday, Cheney!

 

 



on the day before your birthday

My darling baby girl,

I blinked and a whole year passed me by. Tomorrow you will be a 1 year old! I have said the same thing about your brothers, but I do think your first year went by the quickest.  I have tried so hard to savor each stage of you since I know you are the last baby.  I have clung to your baby-ness because I know by now that it will be gone in an instant. My favorite times with you have been in our glider when you will actually let me rock you to sleep. That is really the only time you are still & I love just snuggling you!

 

I have dreamed of having a little girl for my entire life.  In my head I pictured a quiet and dainty little girl...and well, that you are not. You are even better! Cheney, your personality is so much fun. You are LOUD, adventurous, sweet, fearless, & full of sass. You may have 2 big brothers but you can certainly hold your own. You are one tough, petite little lady! You definitely keep us on our toes more than your brothers ever did!

Everywhere we go people notice you & compliment your pretty smile & blue eyes. Smiling is something you do often! You are such a happy girl & find joy in the smallest things. You love your brothers & think they are they greatest. Grayson is your biggest protector & Griffin is like your personal comedian. They have been smitten by you since day 1 & it has been so fun watching y'all interact! You completed this family, baby girl, and I am pretty sure you will be their "Cheney baby" forever!

 

You have completed my heart in the most perfect way. I am forever grateful that God chose me to be your mama. You have taught me to be more patient, enjoy the small moments, & just slow down.  I can't wait to watch you grow up! Thank you for adding so much joy to our lives. We love you SO MUCH, baby girl!

 

Love,

Mama