Strawberry Harvest...

It truly is the simple blessings that bring the most joy to life, like precious children, beautiful sunny mornings, and home grown strawberries.

Nine...

Today, our first born son turns nine years old!  Time truly is flying by.  To celebrate his birthday, he chose to go roller skating with his cousin, a fruity pebble rice crispy treat, and dinner at Famous Dave's.  I love this boy more than I can express and am so proud of the kind, sweet, helpful, thoughtful, young boy he has become.  Happy birthday, Owen!

Tucker let Owen try out his Heelys.  Owen and Silas now desperately want them.  Problem is, they are kind of a city toy.  Not very many places they would work out here in the sticks.


Enjoying some time playing with his new presents after school:

Mother's Tea...

Today, I had the special privilege of attending a Mother's Tea at school with Silas.  I LOVE getting to spend time with my boys one at a time.  Silas was a little hesitant when he realized he would be the only boy in attendance at the tea party, but he mustered up the courage (maybe because his teacher offered him a candy bar if he did a really good job) and was quite the little gentleman. He served me my juice and cookies, drew a picture of me for me, and made me a beautiful necklace.  I cried.  I love this sweet boy so much, and it was such a treat to spend such special time with him.  I often wish I had more opportunities to spend alone time with each of my kiddos.  But I also know that siblings are a huge blessing in life and am thankful that we will soon have four children.  Makes me cherish the alone time with them that much more!

Nice smile, huh?

There.  That's more like it.  Man, I love that kid!

Making our way back to normal...

Let me just say, it feels SO SO good to be able to do normal life again.  But I also have to say, it has been SO SO exhausting!  I mean, being pregnant with your fourth child and chasing around three little boys (including an oh-so-two-year-old) is pretty hard work on its own.  But add to that having spent nine weeks sitting still, and it is no simple task getting myself back into a somewhat normal mode.  To be honest, I feel exactly like I did when I was nine months pregnant with the others.  And I still have three really hot months to go!  Wish me luck.  Seriously, though.  I am incredibly thankful to even have the opportunity to live my life again while still pregnant with this precious baby.  So I will gladly endure three more hot, exhausting months if it means I get to hold my baby girl in my arms in the end.

In somewhat related news, Ezra is now officially in a big boy bed.  We are getting all of the kids' rooms switched around and the crib has made its way into the nursery.  So far, he has done pretty well with the adjustment. 

In other not so related news, our Iceberg rose hedge is in full bloom and it is unbelievable.  These photos truly don't do it justice.  These bushes are taller than C.J.'s truck and they are absolutely covered in blossoms.  Wish you could see them in person:

There are no words...

Ok, maybe there are words but none of them seem to do justice to the awe I am feeling right now at how good God is!  Today, I went in for my 24 week check up.  On Monday, I had an MRI done to look more closely at the placenta to see exactly how it is attached and how extensive the separation is.  I also had an ultrasound done yesterday to check baby's growth.  At my last ultrasound three weeks ago, she was measuring in the 14th percentile for overall size. The goal was to keep her from dropping below the 10th percentile, a situation which would have required weekly ultrasounds with new doctors at a high risk clinic.  Well this morning, my doctor went over the results of all of these tests with me.  And guess what?  Our baby truly is a miracle! She is now measuring in the 50th percentile for size.  Did that register?  She went from the 14th percentile to the 50th in just three short weeks!  As for the MRI results and the ultrasound, they no longer see any damage to the placenta.  In fact, I think the MRI report said something along the lines of "there is no evidence of any damage to the placenta."  Did that register?  No damage visible.  People, this does not happen.  After the devastating 15 week ultrasound, my doctor told me there was a 10% chance baby would survive.  The damage to the placenta would not heal.  The hope was that the new growth of the placenta would sustain baby's life, but the part that had separated would shrivel up and look calcified should she make it to full term.  Right now, the placenta looks perfectly normal.  I can't even begin to describe how amazed I am at God's protection of this little life.  And I can't really grasp how perfectly He designed our bodies.  To be able to recover from something so dire and to not only protect the baby inside of me, but to allow her to grow and thrive under such conditions is amazing.  I am truly in awe.   Do you know what this means?  NO MORE BED REST!!  As long as she continues to grow at a good rate and there is no more bleeding, my doctor thinks I can safely resume a normal life (within reason).  I still have to take it easy and can't do any strenuous exercise, but she thinks I can safely take care of my boys by myself!  Oh man.  You have NO idea how amazing that feels!  I think we all (including all of our family members who have been taking care of my entire life for me) need normal life back more than we realized.  It's hard to not want to tackle everything at once, though.  I am going to have to force myself to slowly ease back into things.  But even using the stairs on my way out of the doctor's office and coming home and doing a load of laundry and sweeping my house feels like a huge treat!  So now, we pray that she continues to grow and we don't have any further bleeding or complications.  But I am praising God for His incredible blessing and protection.  He has blown me away!

Here, take a peek at our beautiful daughter:

Also, take a peek at the growing (thankfully!)  baby bump:


P.S. Every time I look at that picture of myself, I can't help but think that the combination of the mirror and iPhone is a bit misleading.  I don't look nearly that tall or trim in real life.  You can always tell by the sideways fingers.  When they look extra short and stubby sideways, you know the image is being lengthened somehow.  But really, it's probably better that way.  No pregnant mama needs a mirror that makes her look shorter and wider than she is.  ;)  

Early Morning Blessings...