Stuck in the Muck

So what do you do on your way home from South Carolina when you get stuck in a snow storm? We decided to stop after nine hours in the car we were ready to get out. Although the idea of being stuck inside a hotel room with four kids did not seam that much easier. But we made the best of it, we have long been a two hotel room family, but finding a connecting room was harder at the last minute.

We wrote on the windows.

We did some good bed jumping, snuggling, and story telling.

And we took a shower/bath with random hotel room objects, and then we slept!!! It was a fun adventure, since everyone was stuck from the storm the hotel provided dinner and breakfast for everyone in it, and we met new friends and felt a strong since of togetherness.

August is One!!!

We are so blessed to be able to live near family, three months after we moved to the D.C area, Stephan's brother Caleb and his wife Ashley moved back to D.C. from New York. Moving to a new place was so much easier with them. Since then we have had three more kids, and they have had two. Our kids are extremely close in age and have not gone more than a week without being together for the last three years. This week their little boy August turned one and we are lucky enough to be able to celebrate with them. He is a very sweet, loving boy who loves to snuggle, has not seen food he does not like, thinks sleep is overrated, LOVES to talk and is very advanced in his vocal skills, and we know he will grow up to be an amazing man of God!!

Camera is very excited to be the big sister and celebrate!!

The cake, by Aunt Michelle:)

What happened to my cake?

All the cousins! Ashley's two brothers and their families also live in the area, so I tried to get a photo of all the cousins together, 8 kids under the age of 5. We know how to party!!

The First Snow

Oh boy, I love the snow!!! We could not wait to get out in it as soon as it started. I waited just long enough for Shepherd to take a nap and then I took the top three out in it. Lucy and River kept crawling around in it saying they were swimming. Miles and Lucy make snow angels and River tried to follow along but could no figure out how to get on her back so she made angels on her tummy.

God had really blessed us by putting us in the perfect neighborhood, it's amazing, we have so many friend. There are 16 young kids within walking distance, they all love to play together and went sledding and trying to make snowballs. I love it!!

Love the sleeping baby:)

It's getting better

Today when I got home from an awesome baby shower I took the kids for a walk and the love continued. River is really enjoying her siblings and they are still really enjoying her. I love it!!!

Today is a good day!

Today is a milestone for us, River is playing with Miles and Lucy and Miles and Lucy are playing with River. They have enjoyed each other for a long time but this is different. Miles and Lucy have long established a pretty solid relationship, they have solved how to play with each other, rarely do they take or argue, they mainly share and enjoy. In fact ,for a while I have noticed how sweetly they will play things that is not their first pick just for the sake of the relationship. Miles will play baby and tea party and Lucy will play with transformers(although she mainly mothers the transformers). And for the most part River just does her own thing, but all morning long they have been interacting, talking to her and sharing with her and enjoying her. This makes for one happy mommy!

Our birth story

Wow, it has been a while since I have posted, we have been busy! Our sweet new baby is a boy! He is amazing and we are enjoying every minute with him, even thought we have had some ups and downs. Shepherd arrived two weeks late!! The three days before he accutally arrived I was in and out of labor, I would have contractions every three to five minutes for four to five hours and then it would just stop, this was pretty frustrating to me because I was expecting a fast labor and I was not getting any sleep. The day I was in real labor I did not believe it, Stephan and I were out together and my contractions were getting pretty intense. By the time we had gotten home I convinced Stephan that I wanted to just go to the hospital, forgo all my birth plans and have them put me to sleep altogether. I could not take any more false alarms. So he called my midwife to tell her my desires and she say she would be right over since it sounded like I was in fact in transition.

I was still pretty skeptical but decided to wait for her, when she arrived I was 7cm so I decided to stay home and have the baby since it did seem like it was really happening. For the next two hours Stephan helped me labor and three pushes later Shepherd was born. I was so excited to meet him finally!!

Sweet baby shepherd was born with a cleft lip and palate which we knew about from an earlier ultrasound but to see it in person was very emotional for us. We are very thankful that he was otherwise born very healthy and with a sweet disposition. Shortly after he arrived we brought the kids up to meet him, they were very excited holding and kissing him. Even though we had told them about his lip, the first question they had was "why is he missing a piece of his lip?" They love his and are so very excited about him joining our family and we cannot stop thanking God for this great gift.