Kisses for Mom

I don't know what it is, but I love this picture. There is a special bond between a mother and her children. Maggie and I have grown very close. I hope it stays that way for forever. I know there will be a time when she'll probably "hate" mom (those teenage years), but I know everything comes full circle. So here's to what I hope it will be. I love you, Mags!

8 Years and Counting

Yesterday Marc and I celebrated our 8th anniversary! It seems like just yesterday I was walking down the aisle and we were getting ready to say our "I do's". These years have gone by so fast. So much has happened...moving into our first home; buying our first dog (who, by the way, is still around); celebrating our first anniversary at the state fair (I had never been to a state fair before -- it was quite fun); finding out I was pregnant with our first daughter on Christmas Day -- 4 months after our 1st anniv.; the birth of Emma; finding out I was pregnant with Lily when Emma was only 9 months old (I remember crying when I saw the positive on the pregnancy test -- I didn't think I was quite ready yet); Emma's hand surgery; the birth of Lily; two surgeries for me two months after Lily was born; finding out I was pregnant with Maggie when Lily was 6 months old; the birth of Maggie; and then moving into our new home. And this was all done within the first 5 years of our marriage. Things have since slowed down. We haven't had any more children, but have added to our pets. We now have 3 dogs - Herby, Daisy and Gracie and also have 3 cats - Smokey, Flower and Winston. We have a full house and Marc and I are still very much in love. Marc is such a good man - a wonderful husband (who is smokin' hot, by-the-way), a great dad and a great provider. I couldn't imagine my life without him. He completes me and we mesh together well. He puts up with my anxieties and stress and helps me when I need it. And when I just need him, he's there for me. The girls adore him and he loves them so much! They love to see their daddy. He plays with them and cares for them, teaches them and corrects them. As I stated before, he's a good man. I love you, Marc. And I'm looking forward to spending the next 50 years with you.

Happy Birthday, Maggie

I know it's a few weeks late, but Maggie just celebrated her 3rd birthday. This first picture is Maggie at age 2 and the second one was taken shortly after she turned 3. It's hard to believe how much they grow in a year, but it does happen. I know I used this picture in a previous post, but I couldn't find one that I liked better.

It's hard to believe that our baby is now 3. It seems like just yesterday we held her in our arms for the first time. She is such a joy. She seems so grown up for 3. She was the first one of our girls to be potty-trained before she turned 3. She loves palling around with her older sisters. And most of the time, they love playing with her, too. She has a great laugh. She has a stubborn streak, but she's also very lovable and loves to cuddle. I love to hear, "I love you mom". And she's so sincere. Not just said in haste, but really means it. I also love to hear, "I was so worried about you", when she hasn't seen me for about 10 minutes. She loves to sing and twirl and dance.

I hope you enjoy this short little video. Maggie loved it when we sang "Happy Birthday" to her. So she started to sing it to herself.

Happy Birthday, Maggie. We love you so much!!!

Picnic in the Park - Part 2

Here are the rest of our pictures from the park. I thought some of them turned out pretty well. As you all know, a picture is worth a thousand words. So, here you go!

Picnic in the Park - Part 1

This last weekend we took the kids to a splash park in South Bend. They had such a great time. Because of the way the prices on everything keep rising, we were looking for something fun and free to do. We packed a picnic and had a great time! The girls loved playing in the water. It was hot out and the water was so cold. But that didn't seem to bother them. They played and ran around for about 2 hours and then decided they were too cold to keep doing it. So, we dried them off and got them into some warmer clothes. Right next to the splash park is a Japanese rock garden. We took a few pictures of the girls there, went to East Race to eat our picnic supper and took some more pictures of the girls there. I'll put all of those in a later post. We had so much fun and are looking forward to doing it again soon. We also found out that there are two more splash parks not too far away from us. We may try one of those next.

In a Year...

... you can learn a lot of things. It was a year ago this month that Marc and I started trying for baby number 4. We have had a lot of obstacles. After Maggie was born, we decided that Marc should have a vasectomy. Actually, Marc really wanted it to be done because we had had three children in less than three years, and I was trying to be the obedient wife, even though I didn't feel like I was finished having children. He had the vasectomy and everything went well. Well, a year after the vasectomy, I still wanted more children. And it wasn't just a fleeting thought, but on my mind every day. So Marc decided to have the vasectomy reversed. I was thrilled with that thought and six months later, he went in for the surgery. The dr. then said that everything looked great and we shouldn't have any problems getting pregnant again. Little did we know the ride that God was going to take us on.

Month after month we would try and month after month I was so devastated that I wasn't getting pregnant. We decided to go in and have some tests done and found out that both Marc and I were having some medical issues. I was diagnosed with something called insulin resistance. Insulin resistance makes it very difficult for a woman to get pregnant. Marc had some issues, too. So I prayed and prayed that God would take away my desire to have more children. That didn't happen at all. In fact, my desire to have more children increased. So I prayed that God would show me areas that I needed to work on and also prayed that he would help me to be content with the children that I have. There were some areas in my life that needed immediate attention. And I've been trying to work on those one day at a time. But God has shown me how to love my children even more. Now, a year ago, I didn't think that I could love them any more than I did. But I started looking at the little things that made me happy. The biggest thing was involving Maggie. I loved her from day one, but the love seemed a little different than it did with Emma and Lily. Maggie had always been a daddy's girl and really never wanted to be with me. I started spending more time with her and purposely started taking her grocery shopping with me, had her go and run errands with me, etc. And I learned a lot about this little girl. I learned that she is so much like me (a very scary thought, especially when it comes down to the stubbornness). But she is also very compassionate, loving, and a little mommy in training. She is very careful with her baby dolls. If she accidentally drops one, she picks it up and lovingly gives it a hug and a kiss and tells the baby, "It's o.k. You're going to be o.k. I'm here to take care of you." And then there's a time every day that we can't go in her room because her baby is taking a nap. It's so cute and it makes me smile.

If I had gotten pregnant right away, there would have been some very valuable lessons that I would have never learned. And I would have never gotten to know Maggie the way I do now. I'm so thankful for this last year. Do I still want children? Oh yes. But it's so much easier handling not being pregnant when I know that God is with me every step of the way. I'm still praying for another child, but I now have a little more faith and know that it will happen. But it will happen in God's timing. And that's exactly when I want it to happen.

Summer-Reading Program

Emma was recently in the local paper. She has been involved in the summer reading program at the public library. I was so proud of her because she was only required to read 20 books because of her age. But she went over and above and ended up reading 70 books in a 3 1/2 week period. I never guessed that her reading would get so much better, but it has. She doesn't stumble over words anymore. She's very proud of herself. And, because she did so well, they have a big party at the end of the reading program that she was invited to. She's very excited to go to that. I'm sorry the picture is so blurry. It's the best we could do right now.