Growing up so fast!

There are times when I look at the kids and I think that they are growing up at super sonic speeds. This is a story about one of those times.

I've been cleaning out things and trying to make room for the new baby. Part of that cleaning  included repacking my wedding dress. I had it vacuumed sealed, but the seal had come undone. So I pulled it out to repack it. Eden saw it and was mesmerized! She loved it and wanted to put on the "princess dress." I'm keeping my dress in the hopes that one day she might want to wear it for her wedding. She could decide  that she wants one all of her very own. Either way, it’s been put away for her. So I thought about it for a minute, and made a decision that brought both of us great joy, I let her play dress-up in it.

Then I got all weepy as I thought of her 20 something years from now, getting married and having a family of her own. Yeah, all those pregnancy hormones kicked into overdrive! I saw her in my mind's eye all grown up and beautiful. She is such a wonderful, sweet and beautiful child. It was surreal to think of her as an adult. It was such a strange beautiful moment. I wanted to enjoy the thought of her grown up, but then quickly return to the present. Focusing on enjoying my little girl that God has blessed me with. Letting her play princess in Momma's wedding dress.

MOM!

Guess what?

  Enjoy me and this precious time.

 It will be time for me to walk down the aisle before you know it!  

Pregnancy Update

Sorry for the delay in blogging, but truth be told, this little fellow has kept his Momma very sick lately. The good news is he is doing great. We had a follow up apointment today and the doctor wanted to have another ultrasound to see if Momma's sickness has been effecting his growth.

Larry and I were very thankful to see him and as much as possible at this point be reassured that he is healthy. What amazing medical advances have been made over the years. The technology is a blessing! To be able to actually see him and know He is doing great was a huge blessing! He rolled around and gave us a show, had the hiccups and gave us a thumbs up and smile. The biggest relief is that he had enough amniotic fluid and all his organs and measurements were fine. In fact, he is measuring a week and a half larger than his gestational age. I grow big boys!

All that being said, The doctor and the nurse both told me that babies are amazing parasites. They take what they need from their host, ie, mommas, and it is us who have to adjust to the illness that results. Last week, I had to go in for a check up because I hadn't been able to keep any food or liquids down for six days. I was struggling with dehydration. All of my levels were low on the bloodwork. So I went on a liquid only diet for 2 days in the hopes of retraining my body to accept food. And I went on a lot of medication. For those of you who know me, I hate to take medication. But I had to do a reality check of what was best for the baby, the medication and the nutrients that he needed or the side effect of the medications. The hardest aspects of taking the medication is it makes me so sleepy. I still struggle with being sick but it's no where near the levels I was last week.

We went back today and the medication and liquid diet helped! Today I had gained back one of the four pounds I had lost which is great! I'm back down to my pre pregnancy weight, but know that I'll put on some weight in the next few weeks as baby continues to grow.

The good news is that Baby is doing great, the bad news is that I'm on a lot of medications and the doctor said I might continue to be sick for the rest of my pregnancy. He said I can wean myself down from the medications as I continue to feel better and increase the dose if I continue to be sick. I like the fact that I can have some control over that. I am also very blessed by my amazing husband who has stepped up to help take care of me and the kids. And my wonderful Mother in law has come for a visit. She is a great help with the kids and has allowed me to get some much needed rest. I'll be sad to have her leave :)

Starting our Garden

What would Gilbreath Garden Blog be without pictures of our latest garden???:) 

As warmer days have begun to peek through the nasty winter days we've had, the desire to get dirt under my nails and some home grown produce started has peeked. So I took the kids on a special trip to wal-mart to get a starter kit and some seeds. I hope that our kids will grow to love gardening and maybe eat some of the produce we grow.

 Eden took her job of wetting the soil very seriously. Each disk was given individual attention.

 The seeds we started. The kids picked them out :)

 Less than a week later we have sprouts!

Eden was so happy with the quick progress of her seeds.

I love seeing the little sprouts about to peek through the dirt.

Meal time fun

Meal time is always a little crazy our house. Most days I put 3 meals on the table, so being creative and  getting the kids to eat what I make is always a challenge. Teaching table manners is also a work in progress. We're trying to teach the kids how to ask for things nicely, ask to be excused when finished and to hold their hands in self control until we've said the blessing.Those skills are in addition to a few other important things like chewing with our mouths closed, using utinsils instead of fingers, and using napkins when needed.  And my personal favorite, if you don't like it, don't eat it but you may not throw it on the floor!!!

So as you can see, Larry and I have our work cut out for us during meal time. There are days I think I should feed the kids first and Larry and I wait to eat until after they go to bed.  But I must say, eating together is one of my favorite times of the day. We always laugh and have fun. We talk about our day and it's such a great time to be together as a family. One of my favorite parts is saying the blessing. It is so fun now that Eden knows it and Josiah is learning it. If Larry and I forget, Eden remembers, We should always thank God for our food. Josiah likes it too. He always says, "AMEN!" at the end. He waits patiently with a huge grin each blessing, just to say, 'AMEN!"

 Typical clean up afer meal time!

 Check out how icky Josiah's shirt is.... He really enjoyed dinner that night!

Smiling and happy.

Who wouldn't want to have dinner with this handsome little man :)

More stiches of love

Recently I read this post about pillowcase dresses and thought it was a cute idea. So I asked one of our sweet older ladies in church if she would help me and we would try to make a few for Eden. She agreed and we had a blast!

This was an easy project that even a beginner like me could accomplish. The only hard part was the arm holes. Which is why I was so happy to have Ms. Hazel to help :)

 Measure your child's shoulder to the length you would like the dress. Cut off the top (the closed end) of the pillowcase to the desired length. 

 Then take a paper towel (or piece of paper) and cut out a J shape to fit your child's underarm. Use the paper towel to get an idea of the shape and depth you want your dress. I wanted Eden's short enough that she didn't have to wear an undershirt. Cut out each side of the dress.

 Sew in a simple hem, then thread through a 6 inch piece of elastic. Ms. Hazel taught me to attach a safety pin to help pull the elastic through. She's so smart! Sew down each side of the elastic.

 

 Then you sew a piece of ribbon around the bottom seam to cover the seam of the pillowcase. The arms took a little more work because we didn't have any binding tape. So we cut out some leftover material from the top of the pillowcase. Sewing it into the armholes and then stitching the ribbon into it. That way it folded over nicely and looked more smooth.

I made Eden's dress differently than the pattern. I decided that I was just going to sew in the ribbon to go over Eden's shoulder instead of making it tie. Eden doesn't know how to tie her shoes yet and I didn't want to have to do it multiple times each day. So I cut a piece and sewed it in.

 The happy girl in her new dress!

 Doing what girls do best.... twirling!

Eden making her funny face in her second dress.

My sweet little monkey, I hope you enjoy your dresses!

He gets it from me

We often tease and call Josiah Linus (from Charlie Brown). He always seems to have "Blue" his blanket in his hand. We have a constant battle at the door because Blue is supposed to stay home and wait for Josiah to return. Often it is put on a chair and it's the first thing Josiah looks for upon returning home. He loves his blanket and rubs it against his face each night as he goes to sleep.

So when I saw this photo, I loved my son a little deeper because I can see his blanket love comes from his Momma. I loved my blankie and it appears I tried to take it everywhere with me as well. 

Like Momma, like son :)

Pictures from the past

I don't know if it's pregnancy, missing family or just reflecting on how quickly time seems to be flying by with my own children, but I've been thinking back and reflecting on my own childhood. Looking through old photos has been a nice way to bring back memories. I thought I would post a few of the pictures I've been looking through over the few day.

Some of these pictures have aged through the years. And some of these were saved after Hurricane Dennis swept them away. We went through the wet albums and layed the pictures out to dry out. I thought about editing them, but decided against it because it was part of our families story and the age, spots and wrinkles are all part of life and makes these captured memories even more special. 

 1977

This is my Granny and Grandaddy Kinsey. My cousin Kelly is on the right, I'm on the left. We're three months apart in age, our little girls are three months apart,and she is due three months before me with both of our third babies. There is just something about us and threes!

I've thought about my grandparents so often lately. They have been married for 65 years. My Grandfather is struggling with Alzheimer’s disease and has been for years. My granny just came up to celebrate Josiah's second birthday. I am so proud of her for traveling the distance to come be with us. It was a huge undertaking on her part and it is was blessing to be able to spend time with her. It was awesome to watch her with my children.

I think that Car is still sitting in Granny's Back yard :)

When I look at this picture, I see Josiah's face looking back at me and Eden's love for baby dolls :)

This picture just makes me laugh! Momma used to cut our hair and apparently she gave us the same hair cut with the same bowl, only she gave me shorter bangs than Shannon! :)

Shannon, when Eden saw this picture she asked who it was with Shay. I knew she wouldn't recognize me, heck I barely recognize me! But I thought it was neat she saw your son in you :)

He's a Boy!

 One of the highlights of this past week was getting to see our newest son. Baby #3 is a boy :) We had an appointment for our ultrasound Friday. You would think with this being our third we would be old pros at this, but I still felt butterflies. We were both excited and eager to see our newest baby.

The nurse who did the ultrasound was great as we teased and talked through the first few minutes. I looked over at the screen and I could see that he was defiantly a boy! She didn't need to explain it, the proof was on the screen :)

 Larry and I are thrilled! We would have been thrilled with a girl too. What we were most excited about was that from all appearances he appears to be healthy. She even went into 4D to look at his heart after we told her about Eden's heart condition. His little heart is about the size of a dime right now. And looking for the problems in his heart is like looking at the nose on Franklin D. Roosevelt's face on a dime.  Wow, that's tiny! Everything looked great. 

This is 18 weeks.

We didn't get a profile picture this time.

This is his head with his hand resting on his check.

This was at 9 weeks.

Look how much he's grown in just 9 weeks!!

It is amazing to me how fast growth takes place, how intricately he is being woven together.

It is a Miracle! He measured a little big, but when I explained that Josiah was 8lb 12.5 oz we all teased that I just grow big boys.

More good news, I had gained 1lb. They Doctor is still concerned about my all day morning sickness, and have given me a few more suggestions and medications to see if they would help. It's funny how all the differnt doctors have different thinking on causes and cures for morning sickness. I'll try just about anything at this point, But realize that I could be sick the rest of the pregnancy. I was sick the whole nine months with Josiah and he came out nice and healthy, Praying the same is true for this baby as well.

I try to keep in mind this is a very short season and a healthy son is worth every bit of moring sickness. In my mind, complaining about it is the opposite of the worship I desired to give God for blessing me with another child. Especially when I always thought I would be a barren woman.

Praise God for this new son and the moring sickness that comes with him! :)

For You formed my inward parts;You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them. Psalm 139:13-16