Before I Was A Mom

Before I was a Mom
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn’t worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom –
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom
I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom
I never held a sleeping baby just because

I didn’t want to put him down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces

when I couldn’t stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small

could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom –
I didn’t know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn’t know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn’t know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn’t know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom –
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night

every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache,

the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn’t know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom.

Thanksgiving!

We made it through our first Thanksgiving as a family. It was great. Since the kids can't get out we spent the day at home. We cooked in the afternoon and ate at around 6:00pm. My sister and her husband from Kansas City, MO was home and they got to see the kids too. Little sis Jacie, Big sis Mandy, Little sis Katie

We had a good time cooking and goofing around. We decided we aren't going to keep our close family away for the holidays, so we broke the no kid rule for the weekend. Lee was so excited to get to see the kids. He hasn't seen them since before school started. That is him with me and Jacie below.

My grandma and pappaw came by and continued the tradition we have been doing forever. She got all the kids ornaments. It was so fun to see how they would react to the presents. They like them. Mostly, they wanted to eat the paper and bow.

Jenna decided to take an extra long nap that day and wasn't up when everyone else got to open their ornaments. We decided to wake her up so gram and pap could see her open her gift. These pictures give you a glimpse of the funny goofy faces she makes all the time. She is so funny to watch. Jenna is always making faces and being dramatic.

More Pictures!

It was so Cute! Peyton had his arm around Ethan today. I couldn't resist. Hopefully they will always feel that way about each other. Ethan was a ham as usual too today. Landon was his usual sad self. Two more days! He doesn't know what it is to be without pain. The poor little guy!

Daddy Time!

A week ago Saturday we had to keep the kids up an extra hour because of the time change. Rob had the kids on the floor and was playing with them. This was the first time they all were laughing. All except for Jenna. She was minding her business in the blue exersaucer you see in the background. This is a funny video. Sydney couldn't take it with all her brothers playing too. She was the party pooper.

Landon Is Crawling!

Well, we knew it was going to happen soon. Landon has realized that he can move on his knees. It was so cute. the video below was on Saturday. He wanted the toy Rob had and was trying to get to it. He sometimes forgets to move his arms and does a face plant as you will see. He is so cute!

Milestones

Well, things have been getting crazy around here. God is certainly taking care of us. I left yesterday with Landon and my mom to take him to St. Louis to a plastic surgeon. We were there for one hour and we were on our way home. Everything went smooth. Rob and I will be going to take him back on Wednesday for surgery. The surgeon said we can have it taken off no problem. He said it won't hurt nearly as bad right after the surgery as it does right now. Landon will finally not hurt anymore. Jenna woke up yesterday in a funny mood. She was making this face like a turtle. It was so cute. This is a picture similar to what she was doing. Ethan and Syd love their baby food still. They do so good most of the time. Landon has officially crawled. He can't sit up because his butt hurts too much. So, he gets up on his knees and is crawling somewhat. He sometimes forgets to move his hands and falls on his face. It is so cute. Ethan has started to purposefully say Ga Ga Ga. Peyton knows how to play Pat-A-Cake. He is stubborn and won't do it very often. He usually will do it when Veggie Tales is on. They are changing so much. Everyday they are doing something new.

Big Blue Eyes!

Bath Time!

We gave baths the other day. The kids like getting baths. They are usually really tired after their baths. It is close to nap time when we give them. Everyone is doing fine. Landon is still having a very hard time with his hemangioma. I am still looking for a way to help him. We are trying everything to help ease the pain. It is terrible that he has to live with this unending pain everyday. It is really hard to deal with day-in and day-out. If he would get better I don't know what we would do. We could have all five kids happy and healthy. As soon as we knew Jenna was out of the woods we have to deal with Landon. If it's not one thing it is another. Everyone gets RSV shots tomorrow. They have to get them every month. Ethan has to get two because he weighs so much. A nurse came and weighed them yesterday. Ethan weighed 19lbs 4oz. Peyton came in second at 15lbs 4oz. Landon was next at 14lbs 10oz. Syd was 14lbs 2oz, and Jenna brought up the rear at 11lbs 14oz. They are getting big. Everyone is sitting up but Landon. He can't do much right now. Jenna is still being stubborn and won't roll over. She is so bull headed. I don't know where she got that from. We all go back to the doctor on Monday. We will get weighed again and get a general check up and flu shots. I will try to update you sooner this time. The kids are taking naps now and hopefully I can get everything done so I can do more with the blog. By the way, who made the comment about getting Rob's digits? Just wondering.

Family Pictures

So Busy!

It has been unbelievably busy lately. I haven't had any time to update the blog. Lots has been going on. Jenna is doing better as of Saturday. She seems to be eating more. We go to the doctor tomorrow and will see how she is doing. We didn't do the feeding tube yet. I postponed it. Tomorrow will tell us a lot. Everyone is rolling around and talking like crazy. We now have a nap-time everyday. They all go down for a nap around 11:30-12:00. They sleep from 30min. to 4 hours. We never know how much time we will have. I got some laundry done today. It is nice to have a little time to try to catch up on everything. About two weeks ago Rob and I got really sick. Thanks to everyone who stepped in and helped us out. The kids are getting so big. We took a trip to Eldorado last Friday. My great grandpa, the kids great great grandpa, was there and moving up north. We went and got our five generation picture. I'm so glad we got to do that before he left. The kids did great. We went a week and a half ago and got family pictures taken at Sears. As you can see, the kids did great. I can't wait to pick them up. We bought the CD so we can make copies.

Peyton with grandpa's hat on

Grandpa, Peyton, and Ethan

Top: My mom with Sydney and Peyton

Left: Grandma Bette with Jenna

Grandpa Brown with Landon

Me with Ethan

Baby Food

The doctor has put everyone but Jenna on baby food. We started this morning. I gave them sweet potatoes. I couldn't get it to Ethan fast enough. He was throwing a fit once he decided that he liked it. Landon did good in the beginning. He got frustrated and was pretty fussy after a while. Sydney loved it in the beginning. She was fussy after a while too. Peyton couldn't decide if he liked it or not. He wouldn't open his mouth or swallow. He just made a mess. All in all we had fun. It will take a little while for them to get the hang of it. We put their table up last night. They are a little small for it, but it worked great. Landon loved it when we sat him in there. He was all smiles. Those who know Landon know that is huge.

Doctor's Visit

We took the kids to the doctor yesterday. Everything went okay. We got to the doctor's office and went to get the stroller out and found the Rob had taken the triple stroller out of the van. He was in trouble. Not really, we carried three of them up and put the big boys in the double stroller. Ethan passed with flying colors. He is right on schedule with a 4 mo. old baby. He weighed 16lbs. Landon was next weighing in at 13lbs 1oz. He had no problems except that he doesn't eat as much as she would like. She said that about all of them but Ethan. Peyton weighed 12lbs 5oz, and Syd weighed 11lbs 6oz. Landon, Peyton, and Syd all measured 24 1/2 in in length. Ethan is short. He is 25 1/2 in. I think he is going to take after me in height. Jenna kind of flunked all around. She weighed 9lbs 9oz and is 22 1/2in. The doc. said that we need to start the process of looking into a feeding tube for her. She only eats about 2 oz per feeding. Sometimes she eats more. She said it would take about a month and a half before we would do it. Maybe by then she will start doing better. We will see. Pray that she starts to grow. All the kids got shots again. They are doing better this time than they did last time. Landon had a pretty high fever last night, but he is the only one who is having much trouble. Other than Jenna, everyone did great.

Ear Piercing

On Tuesday I remembered late that Jenna had two appointments in Evansville. I didn't have any help lined up so I had to take an extra kid with me. I decided to leave the boys at home and took the girls with me. We made it through the appointments and visited the pastor in the hospital. He had surgery that morning and it worked out perfect that we got to visit between her appointments. After all the doctor stuff we made our way over to the mall. I parked at the back right by Claire's. We went in and were done in about 15min. The girls did great. Sydney went first. She cried for a minute and was okay after that. Jenna did better than she did. She cried for maybe 5 sec. They look so adorable. I got one picture of Sydney. I haven't gotten a picture of Jenna yet with hers. They are little pink flowers. I will try to get a better picture of both of them. This one is hard to see. I'm so glad I got it done now and not waited until they were too big.

The kids have really taken a liking to Veggie Tales. We play that nonstop in the mornings. They sit content and watch it for a while. They are growing so fast I can even notice it. Sydney has finally figured out that she can move. She is still working on how everything works together. Today she was trying to push herself with her feet. She did a lot of hollering and grunting, but not a lot of moving. She did get to the toy she wanted but it took about 15min. She knows she wants something and will work until she gets it. In this picture she has rolled over to Ethan and has a toy. Ethan wanted it also. They decided to share. Aren't they cute? I can't believe she is so close to moving around. Pretty soon I will look up and she will be gone. The others aren't far behind. I'm glad they aren't so bad at eating (except Jenna) but sad it is going so fast now. They go for their 6mo shots on Monday. I will let you all know their new weights and how everything is going. They will be 7mo old on the 15th. Hard to believe isn't it?

More French Lick Pictures!

Parking lot of the Dome
Us in the Dome
The center of the Dome looking up

West Baden Springs Hotel
Rob in the Dome
The Casino boat that isn't really a boat
French Lick Resort