Happy 5th Birthday!

This little 5 pound 1 oz baby is turning 5 years old today! 

Here are a few of my thoughts and ramblings about our big girl!

We are so thankful for the gift that God gave us in Ruby.  She is funny, smart, curious, generous, loves her brother and sister and loves being with her friends.

We love watching her grow into a little girl.  She asks really inquisitive questions about pirates, God, animals and anything that happens to run through her mind.  She loves to sing, dance, and do gymnastics.  She says "Lou-vey-wille" and we have never corrected her because one day she will figure it out and it is just too cute right now.  It is sad that she isn't a baby anymore but we love this new phase of watching her grow cognitively by leaps and bounds.

At bedtime tonight she said that she loved the flashlight that Mamaw and Papaw gave her.  She said that she always wanted it forever.   We said goodnight and made sure that she new that she and her sister and brother were wonderful gifts to us from God and that we hope that He gave her the good gift of children one day.

3 Little Ones List

People are always asking how it is with 3 kids and whether the transition from 1 to 2 was harder or 2 to3.  I don't know...it is all hard but kind of a good hard.  Parenting is hard...harder than you would ever expect but when I say it is the "good" kind of hard I mean...in the end I know it is making me a person who is more dependent on God and less dependent on myself.  So, here is my list of things that I have learned/realized since having three little ones:

1.  I am one of those "late" people now.  You know, the ones you can always count on showing up 15-60 minutes late.  Yep, that is our family.  Kind of humbling

2.  I cannot do it on my own. 

3.  Planning the night before is no longer a "good idea" it is a necessity if we are going to leave the house before noon.

4.  Breastfeeding is easier with number 3...or maybe I am just wiser/more laid back with him.

5. It is impossible to have a completely clean house.  The dishes may get done but the floor will not be swept.  The laundry may get washed and dried but it won't get put away.  C'est La Vie

6.  I can go to the grocery with all three of them but it has to be the exact right time of day...a couple hours before naptime for Telia, right after a feeding for Caius, and before 5 for Ruby.  So, 10:15 a.m. is sort of doable if I have a short list.

7.  I can go about 3 nights on little sleep before I completely melt down

8.  I have had to change how I do things like cooking.  It is really hard to find the time to meal plan.  Right now I am doing good to get a meal on the table that is half way healthy.

9.  Nothing beats those 3 smiles, 6 arms for hugs, and all the giggles I hear throughout the day

10.  God has equipped me to parent these three children no matter how much I doubt that day in and day out.

11.  My husband is also a really good Daddy to our 2 girls and our boy

Buttons

I found these pictures tonight from Thanksgiving. Grandma Laffin pulling out her button collection for Ruby to play with. She knows what a 4 year old girl likes. Sweet memories for Ruby to have with her Grandma.

Thanksgiving in Kentucky

Our girl enjoying all of her Thanksgiving Meal

I actually told Ruby NOT to smile in this picture.  I think her Uncle John is teaching her bad picture taking habits :)

This is more like her normal pose when I take a picture

The table...yummy food made by Brian's Mom

Of course the girls started the day out with some swinging time.  

Ruby loves to push her sister on the swing.

This year Grandpa and Grandma Laffin bought Ruby her own big girl swing

A weekend away

I spent last weekend in Atlanta with my old friends Julie and Missy. We had a wonderful time together. It felt like no time had passed and yet we were all so different than we were 15 years ago. It was great to catch up with these lovely ladies!

We woke up every morning to this lovely view of Midtown.

We had fun at a local brewery tasting lots of types of beer.

My favorite Sweetwater Beer was the Sch'Wheat Beer

We enjoyed a lot of coffee

And a lot of good conversation

We ate well...really really well. This is eggs benedict with braised short ribs and hash browns at Serpas brunch

We got to enjoy lots of beautiful flowers thanks to the warmer weather in the south

I am super thankful for a husband who didn't complain about me being away for 3 nights and took great care of our girls.

Updates

Here are a few highlights of our life lately:

Pregnancy: I really haven't written anything about this. I am 18 weeks pregnant and added a ticker at the bottom of the page so you could follow along. I am feeling much better (most days) than I was in the first trimester. Actually, I am feeling better than I have in my 2 previous pregnancies and am very grateful for God's grace in this area. Things are going great but since Ruby was early the doctor's are watching me closely and I get to go to a specialist. We will find out the sex on Dec. 21st so stay tuned. What do you think? Boy or Girl?

The Girls: They are really starting to play together with blocks, chasing one another, or peek a boo and hide and seek. It is fun to hear Ruby telling Telia to come play with her.

Our 3 year old: She never ceases to amaze me...how fast she grows physically and cognitively. She is quite a talker...you have no idea. I have noticed lately that her coloring is getting better. She is really focused on coloring specific things instead of just scribbling. She loves to read books and will sit to hear stories for long periods of time. We are blessed with a very happy girl in Ruby. She is a great big sister and although she is very challenging these days as far as behavior goes (she may be our strong willed child), we know that God is refining us and her through the process. I started "homeschooling" Ruby this year...well, started and then when I got pregnant I stopped. So, recently I have tried to start again and have slowly added more structure to our day. She loves it and I am really enjoying it. We are also involved in a home school co-op with friends once a week from our church.

The 1 year old: Telia is a happy happy baby, just like her sister was. She is walking everywhere and gets very excited to see her sister after nap time and her Daddy after work. She is mimicking a lot of things that Ruby does such as coloring, dancing, and playing peek a boo. She gabs a lot but not too many understandable words yet (Dada, Mama, and Cracker (Caa-Caa). She is currently teething and in the last week about 4 or 5 have popped through.

Brian works hard all day and then comes home and works hard (helping clean and cook since I really haven't been cooking much b/c of food aversions) and plays hard with the girls. I am very thankful for a husband who serves our family so well. He just finished up teaching a class to men at our church on doctrine called "Foundations" and we just finished up another year of leading a community group.

Other random things: We have lots of friends who are pregnant right now and due April/May/June. We are slowly working on our house to get it ready to sell. We gave our dog to a wonderful family from our church...this was bittersweet. Our recent netflix indulgences have been what I like to call "The Duggers" (18 kids and counting, I think) and "Cake Boss"! Brian works right by the "Cake Boss" bakery when he is in NJ! Maybe one day he will bring me home a surprise!
We are actually taking a break from being community group leaders. We are looking forward to joining a new group in January and being active and supportive members of that group.

That is all for now...

Happy Birthday

I am 31 years old today! Happy Birthday to me! We had a pretty uneventful but great day today. We went to the New Albanian Brewing Company for lunch and had some pizza and brew; had a visit from my sister and fam; then ended the day with Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen. It really was a great day with just our small family...wouldn't trade this time in our life for anything.

Enjoying my beverage...I think it was called Tafelbier (don't quote me on that one)

Ruby loves wearing these glasses...I liked the art work in the background.
It is the logo for one of their beers called Elector.

Telia was snoozing the whole time we were eating

Brian and Ruby

Happy Thanksgiving

Thankfulness

I am so thankful that we have had some beautiful sunny days here in the past week. Ruby has been battling a virus so it has been a nice break to get out and at least go for a walk.

Thankful Thursdays

Thankful Thursdays are back...well, at least this week. I am so thankful for two of my dearest and oldest (Angela has been my friend for close to 29 years and Hollie has for close to 20 years) friends Angela and Hollie. We get together about once a month sometimes with kids sometimes without just to make sure that we continue to be involved in each others lives. I am so thankful for their sweet friendship and journeying through life together.

Thanksgiving 08

We spent our Thanksgiving with Brian's family this year. We had a nice time watching Ruby walking everywhere, taking walks with the dogs, playing some games and of course eating turkey.

Ruby with her Grandpa before our walk to the creek

Ruby and her Daddy walking to the creek...taking a moment for a picture

Brian and his brother John with the dogs (Abby and Luna)

Ruby...possibly a future in the medical field?