Happy 39th Birthday to Me!!

Today I'm 39 years old, I only have one year left in my 30's and I'm sooo excited! It's funny really, when I was 29 the thought of turning 30 was not a pleasant one for me. I was all in turmoil, we had 4 of our kids, but our relationship was strained. I was trying to figure out what I wanted, was I going to go to school and if so what for?? I was a little overwhelmed to say the least...



In the ten years between then and now I went to school, graduated, worked on my career, went into management (hated it), spent too many hours at work and missed WAY to much at home, with my babies AND my hubby.



Now, I'm 39, and I'm excited about 40. Life is still crazy, don't misunderstand me. We have 6 children now, 21 years old down to 7 months. I'm again wondering about school, maybe, maybe not. Undecided really. But life is GOOD! And I know it, I think that's the difference. Life was good then, I just didn't know HOW good. I had to spend a few years finding something, only to find out.....wait a minute I already have it.

The most important thing that has changed is that I've put God first in my life, once I did that then everything fell into place around me.


Come on 40, and 50, and 60........you get the picture!

Christmas

Christmas was great! Fun memory making time with our friends the McFalls on Christmas Eve then home to find Santa had been here already, our house must have been one of his first stops! Michael & Brit, Meggie & Brandon, Mike, myself, Missy, Kadie, Maddi and Melanie, fun! Sis was so excited over her vanity set that wasn't wrapped that she started flinging (literally) the rest of her presents out of the way to get to it. Christmas is awesome with 2year olds. Every gift she opened she said " OH, this was JUST what me wanted!!!" The rest of the kids really enjoyed watching her and everyone was happy with their own gifts as well.

Here are a few pics!

Happy Birthday Missy Moo!

14 years ago last night at around 11:34 Melissa Marie Smith was born. 6lbs 4 oz and 18 tiny inches of her. She was by far the smallest of my babies, but she began to show us very early on that big things (personalities) come in small packages. Her big brother fell in love with her the minute he saw her and she is still very much a "bubby's girl". He went in the bathroom with me and cried and cried when we made it home safely that day.



I shared this pregnancy with my sister Lish, and it still stands out in my mind, and that makes the pregnancy itself extra special.

She seemed so tiny at first, everything but those big eyes.

Missy was all BIG brown eyes and fluffy hair, little bitty girl that wanted her mama! It was with Missy that I first discovered "wearing" my babies, because she wanted to be held all the time. It was with Missy that I learned about "high needs" babies and toddlers. High needs as in "I highly need all your attention right now mom!". Sometimes when she was a toddler she would storm off to her room for "by myself time". She was sweet and sassy and so much fun! So determined, this little bitty baby walked at 8 months, she looked like a baby doll walking.

Now, at 14, she's still all big brown eyes in a little bitty package. She's a funny, happy girl. I very rarely see her in a bad mood ever. She's still loud and loves to sing! She's in love with her little sisters and best friends with her sister Kadie. She was in the room with me when Melanie was born, I hope that moment was as special to her as it was to me, I know it will be special for their relationship. She has a very strong opinion on what's right and what's wrong and stands firmly in her convictions. She is very much a social butterfly, loves to hang out with her friends, but does NOT follow the crowd and is not afraid to tell her friends if they are making a mistake. Even though our little house drives her crazy she loves our big family and wants to have 10 or more children herself someday. She's very mature for her age, responsible, but she's not afraid to still act like a kid, I LOVE that.
Out of all my girls she is the most like me, good and not as good alike. She says that she's a daddys girl, but for a daddys girl she loves to snuggle her mom...She could read all day....She really appreciates all we do for her...There are so many things about our Missy Moo, my mini-me that I love and appreciate and admire. I look so forward to watching her grow into womanhood and pray that the closeness we have now continues to strengthen over time. Oh, and did I mention that besides being this amazing and wonderful young woman that she is also gorgeous?

I REALLY love this girl, so glad God gave her to us.

Christmas Pictures

Well, I've been really trying to get some fantastic pics of at least the little girls together under/by/near the tree. The other day I dressed them up in adorable matching Santa dresses and clicked away...........I believe the above pictue says it all, check out her expression, she had ABSOLUTELY had it with our photo session.

6 months with Melanie

Wow, last Thursday marked six months with Melanie, our little smooshie, happy lovey little bean, Melanie. She's happy, and squishy, and mellow. She loves her daddy and gets sooooo excited when he gets home. She thinks Maddi is HILARIOUS!! Her feet are yummy, to me and to her. She won't touch a bottle, not to drink from, but she doesn't quite love nummies as much as Sis did, they're for eating and mommy is for snuggling. Oh, does she love to snuggle with mommy and her lovey and her binker! She doesn't really want to crawl yet, she wants to WALK! She makes the funniest little face and goes "ooooohhh". Recently she's started to pucker up and have a little fit when she can't reach something, she might crawl, if daddy (or Meg or Missy or Kadie or Sis or even Logan) would stop giving her the toy when she makes that face....

I'm so loving every minute with this little girl.

Melanie Faith

Minutes Old

Melanie Faith

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

(photo by Lish)

6 months

Maybe something new

Nope, not a new baby this time. So, I have an appointment Wednesday, after Mel's six month check up...an appointment with admissions. Someone might be going back to school again, at almost 39. YIKES. She just might be an RN by the time she's 42. We will see...........

Thanksgiving etc

Thanksgiving was really nice, this was my 4th year fixing dinner myself and it's funny the changes in our family since then. We've added two little girls, a boyfriend and a girlfriend, or. Maddi, Mellie, Britney and Brandon. We love all of them. Four years ago the four kids we had were here all day, 4 years later 2 of the six kids were in and out and they didn't get to see each other the whole day.Still it was nice.
Michael came to babysit on Wednesday so Mike and I could go grocery shopping, Sis had a blast with him, Logan too.
Here are a few pics of the last couple weeks