Safe or Not Safe?

Madalyn asked me today, “If we stand on something that is not safe, is it safe?”

Too Cool

At 9pm Madalyn wandered into my room wearing nothing but her princess pull-up. I told her to get back into bed. She responded, “But, Mama, I’m too cool to sleep!”

At first I thought she meant that she was too cool, as in the modern definition of the word. But then I wondered if she meant that she was cool in temperature; she was mostly naked after all. 

Now We’re Having Sextuplets??

I was snuggling with Maddie tonight before bed. She nestled under my arm and I asked her how she felt about our new baby coming. Without even a pause Madalyn popped up from my embrace, threw her arms up in excitement, and cried, “I think there are SIX babies so we can all hold one and no one will cry!”

Uh, huh….

New Name

I really need a new subtitle on my blog. I plan to keep My Life… With a Smile, but the four kids under five thing is 6 months outdated now. As much as I hate to admit it, my sweet Brenna girl is actually closer to being six than she is to being five! (But just barely! )

I know I have a have a few returning readers. I really need your suggestions on a new subtitle. I’d like to keep the same pattern- “Life with…. is always worth smiling about.” But I need it to reflect the kids current ages. I would also love to acknowledge our sweet blessing #5. I just can’t come up with anything catchy though.

Any ideas??

My Miracle

After 18 long months of waiting and 14 months of actively trying, after being told I might not get pregnant again and might need a hysterectomy, after lots of “conception help” wive’s tales and 1 month of fertility drugs, and after many, many fervant prayers, I am finally PREGNANT! I took a very positive pregnancy test today! It has been an extremely emotional year, I have cried, I have prayed, I have gained faith. And only a few hours after my positive test, I can already say with certainty THIS was worth the wait!

When I showed Rick the test, he grabbed me in a giant hug and we both started to cry. Madalyn, standing next to me and looking up at us with wide brown eyes, asked what was wrong. I told her that there was finally a baby in my tummy. She grinned and said, “Yeah, there is TENS!” She held up two fingers and we realized she was saying TWINS. She wants to name them Cutie Pie (a girl) and Rock (a boy).

I have to wonder though, if she might be right about twins. Just this morning, before I took a test, Maddie crawled into bed with me and asked if she could kiss my baby. Then she gently kissed my tummy several times. She did this a few times during the day, insisting sweetly that there was a baby in my tummy. Obviously she was right about that. So maybe she is right about Cutie Pie and Rock as well… though something tells me she’s not right about their names!

When I told Joshua that another baby was coming to our family, he grinned at me and asked how long it would take before the baby could come out of my tummy. Always my logical little guy.

Brenna saw my pregnancy test sitting on the bathroom counter and asked what it was. I explained that it was a test that told me I have a baby in my tummy now. Brenna got tears in her eyes and threw herself into my arms, squeezing me so tightly that I gasped. I held her close, my sweet first baby. I was so intensely grateful for her. I was so grateful for Joshy, Madalyn, and Braden. And I was so very grateful for my sweet baby #5. I held Brenna in my arms and loved knowing that I was holding my oldest baby and my youngest baby at the same time.

Five beautiful children! Miracles really do happen and Heavenly Father does answer our prayers. I feel His love for me so strongly. He gave me a trial in mercy because he knew that it would help me grow. And now, in His love and mercy, He is giving me a beautiful blessing after this trial.

I love just sitting here knowing that there is life growing inside of me. I love that I am craving an avacado at midnight. I love that next summer I will hold another sweet miracle in my arms. I love what the future holds, I love the place I am in now. I love my two blue lines!

I am so full of gratitude! I am so full of love! I am so full of joy!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving with Rick’s side of the family. Nearly everyone was there. It was great to catch up with everyone and I got warm fuzzies watching my kids play with their cousins. On the day after Thanksgiving we did a little shopping, then drove another 2 hours to my parents’ house. They weren’t expecting us at all so it was fun to surprise them. We had a short, but fun visit and then came home so that Rick could work tonight. We had a wonderful weekend and we have so many things to be thankful for.

Brown Eyes

Several times a week Madalyn comes to me, holds my cheeks in her small hands, and asks, “Do you have brown eyes?” She peers closely at my eyes, smiles with satisfaction and announces happily, “Yup, you do have brown eyes! I love your brown eyes, Mama!” Then she always adds, “My eyes are brown too. Wanna see my brown eyes?” She leans in closer so that her brown eye is an inch away from my brown eye. “See? See my brown eye?”

 Oh, how I love my brown eyed girl.

Penny Rich

During our visit, Papa gave each of the older kids a ziploc bag full of pennies. He warned the kids to be careful and not to lose their money. Holding all those pennies, Joshua excitedly told Brenna, “If we don’t lose these, we will be rich!”

A Giant Cup O’ Urine!

Brenna had choir today. It’s only a half an hour and I know her choir director so I usually just wait in the van with the other kids. Today I let Josh and Maddie unbuckle from their carseats while we waited, figuring that the engine wasn’t even running anyway.

I heard a chirpy little voice behind me: “Mama, I gotta go potteeee.”

Of course! Maddie always has to go potty at the most difficult times. There was no place for me to take her so I told her to just wait a bit longer because Brenna was almost done. She leaned forward between the front seats of the van, grabbed a big (empty) McDonald’s cup from the little trash can and brightly suggested, “Or I could just go potty in this cup!”

I laughed out loud at this and told her that we don’t go potty in cups. (This was one of those weird things that- 5 years ago- I never would have imagined I’d say!)

“Okay!” Maddie chirped. I smiled, thinking how cute she was and how much I adored her. And then there was her voice again, right next to me ear, “Here Mommy. Here’s some potty for you.”

Huh?

I turned abruptly in my seat and found my nose directly above a cup full of pungent urine. Maddie was standing behind my seat with her pants around her ankles, a cup full of potty in her hands, and- luckily!- no potty anywhere else.

I looked at my half naked daughter and then looked back to the cup of potty being shoved proudly in my face. And I just burst out laughing. It really was rather comical. I was quite impressed with her aim, especially considering that she’s still somewhat uncoordinated. With those pants tethering her legs together, and with her “klutzy” ability to trip on absolutely nothing, I’m really surprised that she didn’t tip over backwards mid-stream. Wouldn’t that have been fun?

But she did give me a great laugh!

What Are Pillows For?

Joshy was lounging today, sprawled out on the ground with a pillow under his head.

“Josh, move over,” Brenna requested. Referring to the pillow, she added, “That’s not what that’s for.”

Joshua obliged and moved over as if her logic made perfect sense. Brenna then somersaulted quickly, landing on the soft pillow. Ah, evidently that is what a pillow is for.