Trust

Do you ever have times in your life where you struggle with trust? Waiting on God, wanting to trust in Him, but are finding it difficult? That is me today. Today, this is my verse.

But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord,
I say, “You are my God.”
My times are in Your hand;
Psalm 31:14-15

Sick!

The dreaded sickness has descended upon the household. I have been hearing about all my friends getting sick for the past month and now our turn has come. Little miss came down with it first, then Baby, then W and me at the same time. B, the child who has been begging for two days to be sick like his siblings, has yet to come down with it, go figure. And of course, Hubby, the rock who never succumbs to illness, is here taking care of us. Throw up doesn't phase him, the wonderful man :)

Snow Days



The first real snow of the year has come!! This is view from my window this morning. There was a bit more but some has already melted. I expect that it will be all gone by tonight. First snows don't have much staying power. 

I love snow. Love it! Until about February. Then I get tired of it and want it to go away. There is just something special about that first snow. I love sitting on the couch with a hot cocoa or coffee (today I opted for a peppermint mocha) while I watch the excitement of my children as they squeal and watch the snow. Fun and relaxing! I also skip most housework the day of the first snow and just enjoy life.

My peppermint mocha. It got cold while writing this. While I like cold coffee (with ice), today is not a day for my coffee to be cold. Takes some of the magic out of the day.

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The three older children bundled up, ready to play in the wet, wet snow. Miss A kept sticking out her tongue. Silly girl! 

Mom, take note - I saved all the cards this year. You are proud of me, yes?

Fun in the snow! The person whose back you see is one of W's therapists. I let her go out in the cold and get wet while I stayed in, sipping my once again hot mocha. I stayed in because of the baby, of course. Tee hee.

More fun. They made a 'laying down' snowman. Somewhere. They came in happy and soaked. Well, happy until W got his fingers pinched in the screen door and then the fun ended. (He's ok now, but will probably end up with a bruise.) First snow injury of the year!

Baby J is here! A picture review of his first week

The latest Turnage model, J, was born June 8th @ 5:52PM. He weighed 9lbs 11oz and was 22in long. Not my biggest baby but he was close! It was my longest, hardest labor and delivery, both mentally and physically. The transition so far has been fairly smooth: My wonderful MIL and SIL stayed with us for the past week made the transition so much easier! I am so thankful to have amazing in-laws who are willing to jump right in and help out! They left Saturday morning and I am going to miss them dearly tomorrow when I have to go solo for the first time since Baby J was born. It will surely be interesting!

Baby J is a wonderful little man. He is doing so well! He eats and sleeps very well, is a peeing and pooping machine, and is gaining weight well. On Thursday he was up to 9lbs 14oz already! His jaundice levels were higher than the doctor liked so poor baby had to have several blood tests done but things are looking great now. He had three appointments this past week and one follow up appointment next week. I am hoping things will settle down into a nice routine now.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from this past week:

In labor! Last belly pic of this pregnancy, 40 weeks 2 days. J is my earliest baby.

One of my favorite pictures of J. He is about 12/13 hours old here. All the pictures from his first day didn't turn out well since the lighting was dim and we didn't want to use the flash. That and he cried the first three hours of his life.

The adoring big sister. She loves him so much! All of his siblings adore him. They love holding him, helping change and diaper him, getting his pacifier, giving tons of kisses, and just being near him.

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Very proud big brother!

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B is probably the most helpful with his brother. All the children are great with him but B is such a helper and enjoys doing everything he can to care for his little brother. He is the one I worried about the most since at first he didn't want another baby. He got over that quickly!!

I admit it, I make cute babies.

Daddy helping W read a book to his siblings. He is an amazing father!

The cute factor here is almost too much to take. Miss A gave him a hat and he wears it well, if I do say so myself. Coolest baby in town!

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B fell asleep watching a movie. Having a new sibling is tiring work.

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He begged and begged to help feed his baby brother and was so excited when I finally let him!

The Waiting Game (40 week pic included!) and Fun Times

 Part I

The Waiting Game

Today is my due date. I am now 40 weeks pregnant. As you can see by the picture, Squishy Bug is still on the inside. This is not at all surprising considering that I have never delivered before my EDD. I thought yesterday might be the day, but nope, he decided to stay put for awhile longer. If history repeats itself, I will probably give birth within the next week but have a chance of going two more. B was almost a 42 weeker but the other two came before 41 weeks (W @ 40w 3d, A @ 40w 6d). Now I just have to sit back and wait. Ok, there is probably not a whole lot of sitting in my future but you know what I mean.

In fact, today started out quite busy. Here is what I had accomplished by 7AM:

Got up

Dressed two toddlers

Fed one toddler

Dealt with a toddler tantrum (toddler wanted to sit in daddy's chair, daddy said no)

Tried to feed toddler, failed

Dealt with toddler tantrum, take two (toddler didn't want to wear bib)

Attempted to again feed toddler, failed

Dealt with toddler tantrum, take three (toddler wanted mommy to cart her around, mommy said no)

Got dressed

Toddler finally ate breakfast

Made bed

Made some much needed coffee

Checked Facebook for any baby news

Took belly pic

Kept one toddler from killing the other over a book

Got last child out of bed

Fed child

Kept toddlers from maiming each other over what kind of tower to build with blocks

Started to strain yogurt

Started to write blog post

If this is any indication of how this day is going to go, I am going to need more coffee!!

Part II

Fun Times

Speaking of not sitting down much, I took the kiddos to the McDonald's Playland the other day. I realized it had been probably about a year since they had gone and I thought it would be a nice for them to have a special day before the baby came.

The boys had a blast! Last time we came, B was too scared to play. This time he took to it like a fish to water.

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This is what Little Miss did - eat. She had very little interest in playing. She did try the toddler area but quickly lost interest and came back to eat.

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Random pic of the boys sleeping. Why I bother having a full size bed for them is beyond me. They don't need it. A twin would suffice for all three since they love squishing together all night anyway. Most nights they don't even take up half the bed!

Contentment

Yesterday I was sitting in my backyard, sipping iced coffee and reading a book while watching my little ones play in the sunshine. In that moment I realized something: I was perfectly content with life. I needed nothing, I wanted nothing. I was content. It was an awesome feeling! One which I plan on encouraging and continuing in my life. Sure, my life isn't perfect, my house isn't the biggest or the best, I don't have the latest and the greatest gadgets on the market, my clothes are all technically 'out of fashion' but I have what really matters - Christ the Lord and a family who loves me. With that, I am content.

Now a few pictures from our week:

With all the rain, the puddle at the end of the driveway has been rather large lately. The kiddos love playing in it!

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It's a good thing children and their clothing are washable.

A with daddy, singing songs. She loves singing with daddy! When he walks in the door after work she runs up to him and begs him to play Signing Time songs for her, lol. Signing Time and 'Wawwy' (translation, Larry).

The boys are really into superheros. Spiderman is B's favorite, Superman and Batman are W's favorites. They even have superhero sandals. The other day the boys were playing and W was Superman, B was Donkey Superman (not really sure what that was all about but he was having a great time) and A was designated as Spiderman. Boys are fun :)

Quick baby update:

I am now past the 39 week point. All things considered, I am quite comfortable. While I would love to meet my little man, I am ok with being pregnant. I have actually been enjoying this pregnancy, a new concept for me.

38 weeks (pic included) and some other stuff

 

It has been a good week in the Turnage household. The lilacs are blooming (B calls them 'li-li' for some reason), the grass is very green and was very long due to all the rain we have had, and the sun is finally out again. Of course, it was 34 degrees out when I woke up this morning but the sun is shining and the sky is blue! It has been a productive week for me since we stayed inside a lot due to the rain. I had been letting the housework lapse a bit because it had been so nice outside but now my house is once again clean and (mostly) organized.

In other news, W finished 1st grade math! He has been working really hard to get it done because he wants to start his new math book. I am hoping his enthusiasm lasts a long while.

 W has been enjoying the 'Betsy' books, this one is no exception. Great book!

A and B getting creative. A is constructing a tower and B is building a dinosaur barn. With a silo. He likes silos.

And here I am! 38 weeks huge now. According to my pregnancy app, there are 12 days left until my due date. Whoohoo! Now if only Baby T would come close to his due date, we will be all set. I feel ready: my house is clean, all his clothes are organized, washed, and put in his dresser, I have a few freezer meals ready to go, and my bag is packed. Just waiting on little man to be ready, which should be sometime in the next 2-4 weeks.

Another view. More belly to see here. Not that you could miss it, lol.

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She is just too cute. Don't let that cuteness fool you though, she can throw quite the tantrum when she doesn't get her way!