Day to Day

Time is flying - every day seems to take forever, yet at the end of the day it's hard to believe another one has passed and how quickly time is passing.

I am now roughly 5.5 months pregnant - which means that there will be another little Forman joining us in 15ish weeks give or take.  There's a part of having a baby that seems less real with each one.  I think because I have three other little people dependent on me daily that I don't have as much time to sit around and wonder what the new one will look like or even what the heck we are going to name him - I'm usually thinking more practically, like how will I run that errand with 4 kids or how will we arrange the rooms since Eli can scale any and everything and I'd prefer to not find him dangling from the ceiling fan in the kids room.  My latest dilemma that seems to consume me is what double stroller to get - why in the world are they so expensive!!  And why the heck do car seats expire??  Seriously, it's just one more thing I'm trying to figure out and keep up with these days.

At night I do try and sit and enjoy all the little kicks and wiggles I feel because I know they will be gone before I know it and I will miss them so much.I am thankful that once I survived the first 16 weeks of feeling disgusting, this has turned into possibly my best pregnancy so far.  I have been able to get back to running and have my midwifes blessing to build my miles back up as long as I don't push myself.  The fall is always my favorite for running - there are a lot of fun races around town that I'm hoping to get to run over the next few months.

Today we finish up week 2 of homeschooling with Brock.  My fears of completely messing him up for life have diminished some after he learned to sound out and read two words on his own this week - I don't know that I'm doing anything right but at least the book we are working through seems to be!  Every day is a challenge to be intentional and find time to sit down and work with him - but how I love that time with him.  Our personalities definitely butt and I'm pretty sure we speak a completely different language when it comes to some things - but how blessed I am daily to spend that time with him.  Sophie has also finished up her first 2 weeks of pre-k3.  I love listening to her repeat every single word her teacher said as we drive home after school - I feel like I was there with her!  Sophie has Ms. Penny who was Brock's teacher last year, so they are able to share stories and experiences when she gets home from school.  I love that they can share and bond over that.

Overall things are well.  We are settling into a routine and looking forward to the months ahead when it will all change again.  Time is only going to go faster I'm afraid.

Celebrating Aunt Darby's birthday with cake!

Sophie's first day of pre-k3

Brock's first day of Kindergarten at Circle Christian School

Breakfast with my littles - Eli needed to be in the middle of it all ;)

22 weeks

As of this week, I am 22 weeks along - time is flying on this side of 20 weeks.  Hard to believe we will be a family of 6 in four months or less.  We had our second ultrasound this morning - Frickle Pants is still a boy and still nameless for now.

Brock and Sophie have been in Texas all week with my grandparents.  I have managed to produce 6 trash bags full of stuff to get rid of along with multiple bags and boxes of trash.  Micah repainted Brock and Sophie's (and Eli's future) room.  Having only one child this week, I expected to have an easy and productive week.  While it's been productive, easy would not be how I'd describe it.  Eli is a fantastic third child, but I've found he is a horrible only child!  I have spent more time chasing him down, pulling him out of trashcans, rescuing him from table tops and resorting and organizing things I've just sorted and organized!  Despite all this, I wouldn't trade my week with him for anything!  He is talking up a storm - saying new words every day and keeping me on my toes every minute.  I'm looking forward to having my other littles home with me safely but I am very grateful for family who are willing to love on my children for a week!

 looking out the window on the flight to Texas

 Found out Eli can climb out of the pack n' play - Uncle Chuck was able to get both of them down for a nap

 Cooking breakfast with Mamaw

 LOOOOOONG 4 hour plane ride home just me and E

5 months!

What's in a name?

I think I dread naming our kids more than labor.  While labor is painful and not something I look forward to - in the grand scheme of everything it is short and by now, somewhat predictable in the respect that I know it will hurt but then it will be over and we will have a sweet baby to make me forget all the throwing up and pain from the last 9 months.  However, naming the kid is not short - it's for the rest of their life - no pressure there!  I told Micah I wish naming a kid was like getting a Cabbage Patch Doll as a kid - the baby just came with a name.  So much easier! 

With our first baby, we had two boys names picked out that we both agreed on right away - weeks before we ever found out what we were having.  Fortunate for us we found out we were indeed having a boy so I told Micah to pick between the two names we'd agreed on and that was it - super easy.  We knew he'd be Brock Thomas within a day of finding out he was a boy.  The second baby was almost as easy.  We already had a boys name left over from round one and waited to find out what we were having before debating a girls name.  Turns out we were expecting a girl, but it didn't take long to agree on Sophia and call her Sophie.  The middle name took a little longer.  We finally agreed on Ashlynn shortly before she was born but failed to discuss how to spell it until I was filling out the birth certificate and realized I didn't know how to spell my kid's name.  I just sort of wrote letters till it looked right and that was that - Sophia Ashlynn was official.

Baby #3 was our hardest since we decided to not find out what we were having and we had to come up with a boy and girl name.  Again, we had a boys name on retainer and spent the next 8 months debating girls names.  We had it narrowed down to about 4 names and had our oldest child say each of them - whichever he said the cutest was going to be her name - real meaningful I know.  About two weeks before I had the baby, Micah and I were in Washington D.C. and somehow again ended up on the topic of baby names.  We had agreed on the name Eli Michael if it was a boy - Michael being my dad's first name.  We had even told my father we'd be naming the baby after him if it was a boy.  Well, Micah drops the bomb that it would really mean a lot to him to name the baby after him if it happened to be a boy.  While I agreed, I made the point that we'd already told everyone, including the namesake, the name we'd chosen.  He agreed to leave it as Eli Michael and nothing more was said about it.  Two days before I went into labor I had a dream about the baby and woke up with a gut feeling we were having another boy - I knew what I had to do.  At the risk of being disowned, though more likely I'd just never hear the end of it, I told my husband that we were changing the name.  It was going to be Micah Elias and we'd call him Eli.  Sure enough, two days labor Micah Elias was born and my father made sure to point out we'd gypped him a name.

For some reason, this time around we feel the need to be all intentional and choose either a name with significant meaning, such as a family name, or a biblical name.  I have a very long list of boys names I've researched with their origins and meanings.  We didn't think through any of this with the other kids.  I never looked up what their names meant or Bible verses to go along with them.  Heck, I found out years later when my grandmother asked me what my children's names meant that Brock means 'badger' - not exactly deep and meaningful or what I hope he grows up to be like!  Brock named him Frickle Pants before we knew if it was a boy or girl and that has stuck.  Micah and I did decide on a name for about a week then both decided we were undecided and back to square one. 

So hear we are again, 5 months pregnant with our third boy and at a complete loss for a name.  Until we do, he will just have to be content with Frickle Pants.

The Answer

Now that I am showing with baby #4 I am starting to hear more and more comments when I am out with the kids - things like, "wow! you have your hands full!" or "you know how this happens, right?"  While our timing may not always be as we intended, every child was intentional and is a blessing that has forever changed our lives for the better. 

I've been asked the question a few times lately, "why do you keep having children?"  It's pretty amazing how blunt people can be.  For some reason, when you are pregnant, the boundaries that normally apply for personal space and personal information seem to disappear and people feel free to rub your bump and ask whatever they please.  I stumbled onto a passage in Psalms recently that I think best describes our family's reason for having 'all these kids.'

"Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.  Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth.  Blessed is the man whose quiver if full of them.  They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court."  Psalm 127:3-5

Children are a blessing from God!  I'm honored to be so blessed!  So here are a few pictures of my blessings ...

 Brock - the cool one

 Sophie - the fashionable one

 Eli - the silly one

Frickle Pants - the one on the way!

Bow!

Sophie LOVES her hair bows. She usually wakes up and requests 'bow' to be put in her hair. It has gotten long enough we put it in a pony tail for the first time. She looks like such a big girls with it pulled back!

Shave!

Granddad bought Brock his first shaving kit - a plastic foam razor and 'shave' as we call it. He now shaves up to twice a day and any time Daddy shaves too. It's pretty stinkin' cute!

Soccer Practice

Brock had his first soccer practice on Friday - interesting does not do it justice. He was not a fan of it being a team sport - he got really upset when they chose his ball to be the one they scrimmaged with. Any time he ran, he stuck his arms out and ran like he was an airplane. Finally he just had enough and sat down in the grass and played the last 15 minutes of practice. Can't wait for games - going to be a very long 24 minutes!

He's done - we found him sitting in the grass with 15 minutes of practice left

Future soccer star?

No, no - kick the ball through the cones NOT wear them on your head!

Goalie practice - fingers in his ears squealing the whole time

All done - hanging out in his pink stroller with his sippy cup

Soccer Stud