Patient and Productive

I did not have the greatest start to this day. Sofia woke up hungry at 4:45. I drug myself out of bed and nursed her. She nursed well for about 30 minutes or so. Afterward, she was sleeping in my arms (or so I thought) so I put her back in her crib. Then the trouble began! I was already back in bed with the blankets pulled up over me. And just in the moment I was able to get into that comfortable "ahhhh!!!" position... Sofia started fussing. I let her fuss for a minute or two because I couldn't bring myself to get out of bed again, but I finally got up. I didn't want her to wake up Joshua. I went into her room and she had her eyes wide open. Immediately I thought, "Great! There goes the rest of my sleep." I changed her diaper. She doesn't like being poopy. I rocked her. Burped her. Tried nursing her a little more. Held her in every position possible. But she just was not happy. So I figured, if I'm going to be awake with her I might as well be comfortable. So, we climbed in my bed, which made her MAD!!! By this point she is crying pretty hard. Jaime tried holding her, bouncing her, giving her gas drops, etc. Nothing worked!

At 6:15 she was still crying and now Joshua was up. So I went to the kitchen to make coffee. This was definately a lets-make-twice-as-much-coffee-as-normal kind of morning. By this time I needed to get Megan up to start getting ready for kindergarten. So, I put Sofia in her bouncy chair, which she generally hates being in, but I had to help Megan and take care of Joshua too. Now she is all out screaming! But, while Megan and Joshua were eating breakfast, she FINALLY fell asleep. From the pure, total exhaustion of the previous 2 hours she fell asleep. Ahhhh! The house was more or less quiet!

A while later Jaime and Megan were out the door on their way to work and school. Joshua was playing with cars and I was drinking some coffee. Sofia was still sleeping. Around 9:00 Joshua went down for his morning nap and Sofia was still sleeping! Now, the house was really quiet.

While all of this was going on I kept thinking, I'm tired and frustrated. I just want to be lazy and do nothing today. Normally on a day like today that's what I would do... nothing but the minimal to survive! But that still small voice in my head told me that's not the best use of my time. So, my prayer for this day is to be patient and productive. "Lord, help me make this day the best it can be. Despite the fact that I'm as tired and frustrate as can be, I have a job to do. Help me do it well!"

Cars

Apparently, Joshua thought Sofia needed to play with some cars while she was taking a nap in the swing this morning.

First Day of Kindergarten

Today was Megan's first day of Kindergarten. We loaded the whole family up in the minivan to take her this morning. She was a little nervous but also very excited.

We helped her find her classroom and when she saw her teacher, Mrs. Conner, Megan gave her a big hug. (Megan met her teacher at a "meet and greet" event the previous Thursday.)

She found her name on the table and sat down to play with blocks. She seemed completely comfortable being there and hardly noticed when we left.

When I picked her up in the afternoon, I was excited to hear what she did all day. She told me she learned how to walk in a straight line and drink out of the water fountain. Exciting stuff!!! My prayer for her as she begins this new part of her life is that she will develope a lifelong love of learning that never goes away.

Demolition Derby

Jaime and Joshua went to a demolition derby on Saturday with our friends David and Ryan. It looks like they all had a great time!

Megan is Five!!!

It's hard to image that Megan is 5! How has that many years gone by already? Jaime and I were talking about our first moments and days with her. Wasn't that just yesterday? It sure feels like it!

She has been a joy to have in our lives. She is a sweet little girl. She loves her little brother and sister so much. She's really into dance and music. I'm hoping to enroll her in ballet this fall. She loves playing with friends too! Her first day of kindergarten is on Monday, August 18th.

We had her birthday party at JumpZone in Bentonville, AR on August 8th. She invited several friends to celebrate with her. Lita (Jaime's mom) and Chichi (my sister Lisa) were able to make it from out of town. Here are some pictures from her special day!

Bye-bye Lita

Some of you may not have known that my mother-in-law was here visiting and helping out with the kids after Sofia was born. She was here for a whole month!!! It was wonderful to have her here with us. I can't thank her enough for all her hard work with the kids and house. I was definately spoiled!

It was such a sacrifice by so many people for her to make the trip from Siguatepeque, Honduras to Rogers, AR. She left many responsibilities in the hands of others to come help me with my three kids. What a blessing she was to me during that time. Thank you everyone who made this possible. We love you all!!!

It was also great for her and the kids to have some time together. It had been over a year since we last went down to Honduras. Megan remembers Lita and all the family. Joshua was only 6 months old, though. It took him a little bit to warm up to having her around, but he came around. I'm so glad she got to see Joshua at this time. He's at such a cute age.

What great memories we all have from this past month!

Oh, How time flies!

Here are some pictures of Sofia at one month old. She is 5 weeks old today and I hate that I'm just getting around to posting these pictures. Oh well. Such is life with three kids. We are all enjoying Sofia. She is a sweet and beautiful baby. God has blessed us abundantly through the lives of each of our three kids.






This quilt was made for Sofia by Mary Gatto (my sister's mother-in-law).
Thank you, Mary. We love it!

Living the Vida Loca

Life is pretty crazy around our house right now. There's not much of a schedule to anything. We eat when we can. We get showers/baths when we can. We attempt to get as much sleep as we can. We try to stay on top of making sure Joshua gets a consistent nap each day. Etc, etc, etc... Some days we are successful. Some days not so much...




This day I was in the kitchen doing something. Megan was playing on the computer and Joshua was near her playing with his cars. After a while I noticed it was really quiet in the other room. So I asked Megan, "What is Joshua doing?" She replied, "He's sleeping on the floor!" So I ran to get the camera. He's never done this before. He must have been so exhausted! Poor little boy! He never even woke up while I picked him up from the floor and carried him to his bed.

Cousins!!!

I know it's been a month since Sofia was born and I haven't yet shared with many of you an interesting piece of info. My cousin, who lives in Siloam Springs, AR, was pregnant the same time as I was. Our due dates were three days apart. It was fun to share this pregnancy experience with her. When the end was drawing near we were continuously talking and guessing as to who would go into labor first. Officially I was in labor first but it's irrelavant now because our babies were born the SAME DAY!!!

Here is a picture of me with both Sofia and Bekah.