Kadie and Daddy take a trip

Every year around Brad's birthday he takes a trip to Albuquerque to spend some one on one time with his mom. It is his gift to her but also a nice time for him to get away for a little bit. This year he decided to take Kadie with him. Boy was she excited. She cannot remember ever being on an airplane since the last time she flew she was under 2. It was fun helping her pack and she was full of love and affection for me as she new she was leaving me "all alone". (She forgets I still have Issie and Jack.) Brad is really enjoying having all the time alone with her. She is so funny and has such an incredible imagination and vocabulary. It is hard to have enough time which each kid by themselves to really see who they are and how God made them.

I am enjoying the quiet of my home. Jack is at school and Issie is not much of a talker so as an introvert I am really loving having a few days with no one I have to really talk to much. It is a blessing all around.

Beach Trip with the Girls

I am totally blessed with amazing girlfriends. I have 4 girlfriends that have stood beside me in thick and thin over the past 5 plus years. We get together every year for my birthday and several times throughout the year but more than that we live life together. We may be in different places or stages and we may not talk for a month but we can pick up like nothing has happened. We can get right to the heart of things and share all the deep dark things without fear of judgement. I cannot say how much I love these women. For the first time we all managed to get away for a weekend at the beach in Febuary. (minor miracle) It was wonderful. We had no agenda and no plans. Some of us scrapbooked, or did little crafty things, we watched old Friends reruns and walked to get icecream cones. We stayed up way way way too late and stayed in our sweats all day. It was relaxing and comfortable and we cannot wait to be able to do it again. Unfortunately we have few pictures because we just didn't think of it until the day we left when we all looked exhausted and hagered. I love you ladies.

Me and Marnee

Marnee with the babies, Hope and Amelia

Melody and Hope

The girls.... Mel, Hope, Me, Michelle, Amelia, Marnee and Kristi.

Time warp.

I am slowly coming back to the world of the living. I have not posted anything for over a month so I thought I would give a brief recap of what the family has been up to. So even though I have been in survival mode life goes on and we continue to be blessed by these funny little kids.

For Valentines Day we made our (my) favorite sugar cookies for Kadie's preschool class and Jack's school party. I have no idea when it became standard to give little packs of candy with valentines at school parties but apparently I am the only mom that did not do this, according to my son. I think the cookies are so much better but maybe not to a 10 year old.

Anyways, me and Kadie and fun baking and decorating so that was worth it.

Issie continues to make us laugh. Here hair is so funny in her spiky little piggies. I was trying to get a picture of this cute little sweater that we got with birthday money from Tutu but she would not put down the bottle so I have silly pictures of her dragging her bottle around in her teeth. I know she is a bit old for a bottle but my rationale has been that she has been underweight according to the doctor and I have been trying to fatten her up with anything she will eat which has included soy milk in the bottle. It won't be forever, eventually she will gain some weight.

Kadie and Issie love to play this game with the laundry basket on laundry days. Issie sits in the basket and Kadie drags her all over the house. Issie giggles like crazy which makes Kadie so happy. She loves being a big sister.

Girlie Girls with their high heels on. Issie can only manage one at a time but it is still super cute.

Slowly pulling out of the pit....

So I realize I have not posted anything for nearly a month. The fatigue of the pregnancy has made sleep my highest priority. I have many things to post, pictures from Valentines' Day, the girlfriends Beach Trip, new pictures of Issie and the funny things the kids are doing. Life is still good even if I am sleeping my days away. I feel like I am starting to ever so slowly turn a corner and feel a bit more alive and a bit less exhausted. I am at 11 weeks, my real turn around usually happens at 14 weeks but maybe it starts to get better sooner, I cannot really remember.

We did see the baby again last week, so cute. Little arms and legs and it had the hiccups. All continues to be healthy with the pregnancy. My hormone levels are good and the baby seems to be growing as expected. Praise God.

I hope to be back to normal or at least close to it soon. I will post the stuff I missed then. Love you all.