Sidenote before I post:
Ever since we told Logan we were having another baby he has been telling us that he is so excited to be a brother. We've tried to tell him that he is already a brother but now he'll be the BIG brother. He still doesn't quite get it and just says he's gonna be a brother. So here is the conversation I had with him in church yesterday while he was sitting on my lap:
ME: Logan, you are getting so heavy, my leg's are hurting!
LOGAN (very matter of factly): I know! That's because I'm growing into a brother!!!
I giggled out loud it was so funny and then of course started to cry at how cute it was- cause these days, I cry at EVERTHING!!!
Anyway, I've always been the type who LOVES to hold hands! As a teenager on a date with a boy I liked, my favorite thing, sometimes even more than a kiss, was when the guy would reach out and take my hand. None of this linking pinkies stuff but a confident, I like you and I know you like me, kind of move, on his part, to take my hand in his. As a 13 1/2 year married woman, I still love to hold hands with my hubby and sometimes, on occasion, even get little butterflies in my tummy when he takes my hand in his!
I think my love affair with hand holding started when I was a little girl. Whenever I would spend time with my Nana I loved holding her hand and tracing her wrinkled and frail hands with my fingers. I knew every bump and boney spot on her hands and when she died, the only thing I wanted to do was hold her hand again. When we attended the viewing I took her hand and traced it with my fingers. Oh how I loved those hands!
Now that I'm a mom, my love of holding hands has extended over with my kids. I love holding hands with them too. Whether we're walking down the street or snuggling on the couch, I love holding their hands. Each of their hands is so familiar to me. The chubby knuckles Logan has, Garett's dry spots when the whether is cold, Annie's petite feminine fingers and Spencer's strong, solid hands. I just love holding their hands.
I hadn't really given much thought to how much I love holding hands until a few weeks ago! Of course because of my current state of "Emotional Wreck" I've become a bit more contemplative and tender of late and holding hands has been something on my mind ever since Adam and I took the kids to the movies in early January. It was one of my few days in the past months where I felt human enough to leave the house -notice I said "felt" human and not "looked" human? A completely different matter altogether - anyway, after the movie was over we were all walking out of the theater chatting excitedly about our favorite parts of the show. As is habit with my little ones, I reached my hand down in hopes of finding a little hand to link fingers with. In no time at all Logan's little hand was in mine and that's when it struck me. I LOVE HOLDING HANDS!!! This little hand in mine was so familiar to me. It's chubby little knuckles, its dry skin and its comfortable little fit. I was so overwhelmed with how much I LOVED holding this little hand that I reached my other hand down beside me on the other side in hopes of finding another familiar hand that I loved just as much. Without hesitation, a hand, a little bit bigger than the one I held in my right, slid into mine.Garett's. I looked up, and down the hall, a little ways away, I saw my two oldest children chattering away with their dad. It was then that I remembered how much I ADORE holding hands with the people I love. And I wished, at that moment, that I had three more hands to reach out and hang on tight to these amazing people I've been blessed to have as mine; My four babies and the love of my life. I just wanted to take each of them by the hand and never let go of that moment!
As I've struggled through the past weeks of feeling sick, tired, cranky and down right terrible, I've thought a lot about that day and each of my families sweet hands. I've realized that it has been the little hands of my children and the strong, bold, loving hand of my husband that have helped to carry me through these long, sometimes extremely sickly, days. They have given me little hand squeezes as they walk past me, they have lifted their hands to do chores and work that they normally aren't asked to do, they have wrapped their arms around me and tenderly patted my back in sympathy and love, they have laid down on the bed next to me and slipped their hands in to mine and they have wiped the tears of frustration from my cheeks. I am so blessed. I am so grateful. I am so indebted to them for using their hands to hold mine when I have needed them most! Thank you my sweet children and amazing, incredible husband! I love you each so much! And I hope we'll always hold eachothers hands!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Christmas Morning
This year we spent our first Christmas all by ourselves. Last year we were kind of by ourselves, but Julie and TJ were in town with the Brinks for Christmas so we don't count it as being all alone since we got to see them quite a bit over the holidays, including on Christmas Day night. So, this year was officially our first Christmas with just us! I was a bit worried about being all alone for the whole Holiday but as it turned out, we all loved every minute of it. Christmas Eve was spent at our Friends, the Petry's, home where we had yummy homemade soups and dessert, sang Christmas Carols and exchanged family gifts. When we got home we were surprised by a traditional delivery of new jammies by two of Santa's elves. They come every year, figuring out some sneaky way of delivering the jams without us catching them. Hmmmmm, quite an exciting part of our Christmas Eve. After getting the kids settled and sleeping on the floor in our room (another tradition to all sleep in the same room on Christams Eve), Adam and I spent a few hours wrapping gifts and getting ready for Santa to come.
Christmas morning came with all the magic that comes with it. Honestly, it doesn't matter how old I get, I will ALWAYS love Christmas morning. The mystery of what presents Santa has left, the excitement of tearing the wrapping off an unknown, but sure to be loved gift, and the looks on the faces of the receivers and the givers of the gifts. It never gets old to me.
We spent some time looking at the Santa gifts and then started opening presents. Anyone who knows Adam knows how slow he can move and anyone who knows me knows how fast I can move. Let's just say that on Christmas Morning, Adam ALWAYS wins. He passes out the presents, in order of youngest to oldest, one at a time and then we each watch as the person opens their gift. This is a tradition that both of our families have always had and I love it. But, true to his style of moving slow, Adam takes it a step further. He wants all of us to not only watch the person open their gift, but then we all sit and watch and help as that person opens the box, takes out the toy or outfit or whatever is in it and we all spend about 5 to 10 minutes analyzing, examining, congratulating and playing with the new item. With only the 6 of us, we were opening presents from about 8:30 to 1:00 in the afternoon with a pause in the middle for breakfast, which took about an hour. By the end, I was laughing at how long it took our little group, but enjoying every single, long, drawn out moment of the morning. Nowhere to go, no rush, and everyone getting along and happy! It was all we had hoped for and more for our first Christmas alone.
Once the opening was over, Adam convinced me that we didn't need to clean it all up right away but to let it sit and be enjoyed. I'm not sure if it was my lack of energy and motivation due to feeling yucky, or that I simply didn't want to cause contention on Christmas, but I let him have his way and our Family Room stayed a DISASTER for the rest of the day. And guess what? Shockingly, it didn't bother me at all! (I know, GASP, right?) I think the reason is that we had received a Christmas Card this year with a quote on it that said:
One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don't clean it up too quickly."
~ Andy Rooney (1919-), American writer, producer, humorist.
Its funny how we followed that advice and I found it to be so true. It was a glorious mess and we all loved it.
That night, I made a Ham dinner with potatoes, jello, rolls, vegi's and pie for dessert. Again, though we were small in number, we ate everything in sight and had a wonderful day together!
The rest of the holidays we just spent together. We went to a few movies, bought and put together a 500 piece puzzle (starting small since we've never done that before), played new games and watched new movies we'd gotten for Christmas. For New Years we stayed up with the kids watching "Iron Man" and one day Adam took Annie and Spencer Snowboarding while Garett, Logan and I stayed home playing games, going to lunch and watching movies.
The thing I loved most about us all being together is that we learned that we really do LOVE being together. We always seem to have friends or family around and have started to think that we need other people around to have fun but this Christmas we all realized that we can have just as much fun being together with just us! Playing together, laughing together and loving together, this Christmas will go down as one of my favorites ever!
My Boys!
Poor Annie was such a trooper through the Holidays. She had her tonsils and adenoids taken out just 3 days before Christmas and was such a good sport. Despite her discomfort, pain and STINKY breath from the surgery, she didn't complain and smiled through it all!
G loved all of his presents including this bow and arrow set from Spencer and Dad.
Santa was good to Spence this year bringing him a bunch of his Boy Scout camping equipment. Pack, -15 degree sleeping bag, sleeping pad, etc. He's all set for the upcoming Klonderee winter campout!
Me with my new Coach shades. My best friend Mindy wrote a note with the gift that said "When you wear these, you'll feel hot and sexy no matter how terrible you feel". I couldn't imagine what could possibly make me feel hot in my current state of Morning Sickness that lasts all day long, until I opened the box and pulled out these babies! Yep, she was right, I DO feel hot when I put these on. Thanks for a much needed pick me up Min!!!! Love Ya!
Logan wrapped all snuggy in his new double fleece batman blankie. Gramma made each of the kids double fleece blankets. They are SOOOOOOO warm and perfect for cold winter nights when we hunker down and wathc movies!
This is a shot of my Favorite Gift this year! Adam bought me this painting called Take My Hand. Of course I cried when I opened it! I LOVE LDS artwork and someday plan to have my house filled with these beautiful paintings! Thanks babe! Love You!
Some of my little helpers setting the table for Christmas Dinner
Christmas morning came with all the magic that comes with it. Honestly, it doesn't matter how old I get, I will ALWAYS love Christmas morning. The mystery of what presents Santa has left, the excitement of tearing the wrapping off an unknown, but sure to be loved gift, and the looks on the faces of the receivers and the givers of the gifts. It never gets old to me.
We spent some time looking at the Santa gifts and then started opening presents. Anyone who knows Adam knows how slow he can move and anyone who knows me knows how fast I can move. Let's just say that on Christmas Morning, Adam ALWAYS wins. He passes out the presents, in order of youngest to oldest, one at a time and then we each watch as the person opens their gift. This is a tradition that both of our families have always had and I love it. But, true to his style of moving slow, Adam takes it a step further. He wants all of us to not only watch the person open their gift, but then we all sit and watch and help as that person opens the box, takes out the toy or outfit or whatever is in it and we all spend about 5 to 10 minutes analyzing, examining, congratulating and playing with the new item. With only the 6 of us, we were opening presents from about 8:30 to 1:00 in the afternoon with a pause in the middle for breakfast, which took about an hour. By the end, I was laughing at how long it took our little group, but enjoying every single, long, drawn out moment of the morning. Nowhere to go, no rush, and everyone getting along and happy! It was all we had hoped for and more for our first Christmas alone.
Once the opening was over, Adam convinced me that we didn't need to clean it all up right away but to let it sit and be enjoyed. I'm not sure if it was my lack of energy and motivation due to feeling yucky, or that I simply didn't want to cause contention on Christmas, but I let him have his way and our Family Room stayed a DISASTER for the rest of the day. And guess what? Shockingly, it didn't bother me at all! (I know, GASP, right?) I think the reason is that we had received a Christmas Card this year with a quote on it that said:
One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don't clean it up too quickly."
~ Andy Rooney (1919-), American writer, producer, humorist.
Its funny how we followed that advice and I found it to be so true. It was a glorious mess and we all loved it.
That night, I made a Ham dinner with potatoes, jello, rolls, vegi's and pie for dessert. Again, though we were small in number, we ate everything in sight and had a wonderful day together!
The rest of the holidays we just spent together. We went to a few movies, bought and put together a 500 piece puzzle (starting small since we've never done that before), played new games and watched new movies we'd gotten for Christmas. For New Years we stayed up with the kids watching "Iron Man" and one day Adam took Annie and Spencer Snowboarding while Garett, Logan and I stayed home playing games, going to lunch and watching movies.
The thing I loved most about us all being together is that we learned that we really do LOVE being together. We always seem to have friends or family around and have started to think that we need other people around to have fun but this Christmas we all realized that we can have just as much fun being together with just us! Playing together, laughing together and loving together, this Christmas will go down as one of my favorites ever!
My Boys!
Poor Annie was such a trooper through the Holidays. She had her tonsils and adenoids taken out just 3 days before Christmas and was such a good sport. Despite her discomfort, pain and STINKY breath from the surgery, she didn't complain and smiled through it all!
G loved all of his presents including this bow and arrow set from Spencer and Dad.
Santa was good to Spence this year bringing him a bunch of his Boy Scout camping equipment. Pack, -15 degree sleeping bag, sleeping pad, etc. He's all set for the upcoming Klonderee winter campout!
Me with my new Coach shades. My best friend Mindy wrote a note with the gift that said "When you wear these, you'll feel hot and sexy no matter how terrible you feel". I couldn't imagine what could possibly make me feel hot in my current state of Morning Sickness that lasts all day long, until I opened the box and pulled out these babies! Yep, she was right, I DO feel hot when I put these on. Thanks for a much needed pick me up Min!!!! Love Ya!
Logan wrapped all snuggy in his new double fleece batman blankie. Gramma made each of the kids double fleece blankets. They are SOOOOOOO warm and perfect for cold winter nights when we hunker down and wathc movies!
This is a shot of my Favorite Gift this year! Adam bought me this painting called Take My Hand. Of course I cried when I opened it! I LOVE LDS artwork and someday plan to have my house filled with these beautiful paintings! Thanks babe! Love You!
Friday, January 09, 2009
Big Announcement
Most of you have probably already heard but for those who haven't here is a look at our Christmas/New Years Card with the our big news!!!
To answer many of the questions that we've already gotten and some of you may be wondering, yes this was planned, yes we are all excited, yes we will be finding out if its a boy or a girl, and though we are all hoping for a girl, we are preparing the kids (and me :-) for how fun a boy will be too. And the answer to the final question we often get is " YES, this is our last child. We are DONE!!!" I've been sooooo sick with this pregnancy, to the point that one day I got so dehydrated I ended up in the hospital. Thankfully the past couple of days I've had moments of feeling better so I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully just a few more weeks! Until then....blah!!!
To answer many of the questions that we've already gotten and some of you may be wondering, yes this was planned, yes we are all excited, yes we will be finding out if its a boy or a girl, and though we are all hoping for a girl, we are preparing the kids (and me :-) for how fun a boy will be too. And the answer to the final question we often get is " YES, this is our last child. We are DONE!!!" I've been sooooo sick with this pregnancy, to the point that one day I got so dehydrated I ended up in the hospital. Thankfully the past couple of days I've had moments of feeling better so I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully just a few more weeks! Until then....blah!!!
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