Welcome to the World .... Jonathan Robert Long

Friday August 8th at 12:13pm, our HUGE surprise was born ... Jonathan Robert Long.  He was 9lbs 7oz and 21 in.  Once again, I was blessed with incredible care, fantastic L&D nurse, and an INCREDIBLE physician!  I am so thankful for God's protection over our lives during my three deliveries!  I am also thankful for the extra grace He provided to deliver a 3rd child ... something I never thought I would do!

Funny story you see ... Nate and I swore up and down that we were done having children!  Our family of FOUR was perfect in our eyes.  However, God knew in advance that our family would be perfect at FIVE!  2 days before our 8th anniversary, on a very cold wintry December morning, we found out we were pregnant.  The pregnancy was extremely hard the first 27 weeks.  Tons of nausea, no energy, lots of puking, you know ... the fun stuff!  During January and February, I was so sick, it was hard to care for Sophia and Jackson.  Friends and family stepped up to the plate and really helped us out with meals, childcare, and prayer support.  Alas, we made it through, and gave birth to a healthy baby boy!

Picking a name was an extremely hard challenge.  We wanted something that would describe our journey of faith through this SHOCKER of a time!

Jonathan, means given of God, and we felt like that was the perfect description!  He truly was a gift to us, something we did not plan for nor ask for, but am thankful that we walked in His will in obedience!

Robert was the middle name of my late maternal grandfather, Kenneth Robert Lewis.  He was an incredible man of God, one that I wish could have met my amazing husband and our children.  We were thrilled to be able to use a family name!

So there you have it ... some of the reasons behind my lack of blogging and "presence" in addition to being a VERY busy mother to two other little children!

Enjoy these awesome pictures from Captured Beginnings!  Sabrena did an awesome job capturing our new beginning!  So thankful for this wonderful Christmas present from my parents!  Birth photography ... something I never would have asked for, but something that I am so thankful I have!  Memories to last a lifetime!

Kisses, kisses, kisses 

Sharing Jonathan's name with my mom ... 

This is how he really felt ...

Yes, he was born with a FULL HEAD OF AMAZING HAIR!
The other two were bald for 2 years ... thankful for this guys hair!  

Finally, here is a snapshot of the "bigs" meeting their little brother!  They were so excited!  They have been awesome with him!  I LOVE having 3 years age difference b/w each kids!  Such a huge help for this mama!

My heart melts ...

Hopefully more pictures to come!

Singing, dancing, and twirling ...

Here are a few pictures from Sophia's Spring Program at school as well as Mother's Day!!

Can you find Sophia's face?  Her teacher's are on the watering can!
  Oh how we LOVE Miss Heather and Miss Pam!

Yes, she is "cheesing"! 

"Thank you Lord"

"Rrrr"

Aligators saying Thank you Lord!

Sweet Girl!

 Mother's Day with my BLESSINGS!!

Love this girl so much even tho some days she drives me crazy!

Best one of all three of us!  One day there will be a great picture ... until then ...

Love her!

 

You can tell these three kids were THRILLED to have their picture taken!
  Sophia is the only one we can bribe with dessert for a smile!  The other two could care less!

Happy Mother's Day to a WORLD CLASS MOTHER!

Mimi and her grand kids!  

I hope you had a wonderful time celebrating the blessings and "Mothers" in your life!

A Special Day with Mama!

My parents offered to take Jackson for 2 nights, so I could spend 100% of my time and energy with this sweet girl!  I have tried to pack full our schedule with fun special events that will create lasting memories!  I have learned that it isn't the $ spent, rather the effort I put forth to figuring out what makes this girl smile the most!!

Today we dropped Jackson off around noon and headed to Subway for a girl's lunch!  I love that Sophia will eat the turkey sub JUST AS I LOVED IT: loaded with veggies, spinach, black pepper, and oregano!  That girl doesn't complain and loves every bite like her mama!

We came home and read tons of stories and she took a nice long nap!!

After her nap I surprised her with an afternoon of fun!  First we went to Shear Fun to have her nails painted! (Best $6 I have spent in awhile!).  The girl that did her nails took lots of time and even added a top coat of silver sparkles!  Sophia LOVED every minute of this!!  Can you tell by the pictures?

Pretty nails!

Just before this picture, she leaned over, kissed me, and said, "I love you mommy!"
(Insert HEART MELT!)

After we left Shear Fun, we headed across the street to our new Goodwill!  We love looking for treasures, plus I can't pass up the 50% off clothes rack for kids clothes!!  She told me she would find a really good treasure and she sure did ... a handheld Barbie computer, batteries and all ... $2.99!  Oh yeah!  It has some great learning games and challenges for her age!  

After leaving the Goodwill, we headed to our favorite frozen yogurt spot in Avon, Orange Leaf!!  I LOVE Orange Leaf so much b/c they have 15-20 different flavors of frozen yogurt that is self-serve.  You pay by the ounce.  Good thing for us is that we have excellent self-control and only get about 2-3 oz each.  Plus I had a $3 off coupon, so I was able to purchase our "treat" for $1.04!  She enjoyed EVERY SINGLE BITE!  Believe me, I did too!!

Of course this is a STOCK photo ... not our dessert!  

When we got home, we had a yummy dinner followed by her favorite ... A POPCORN PARTY!  We watched the first half of Monsters, Inc together while eating homemade popcorn!!

I think this little girl is having fun, what do you think??  All for a grand total spent for the day $17.06!  Not too shabby huh?

Tomorrow we are headed to the Children's Museum with my sister and cousin Hannah along with the library in the evening.  Thursday morning we have a play date with a good friend and then we are headed to Trader Joes and Whole Foods to stock up on our yummy treats and "clean" food!!

I forgot how easy it is with just a preschooler ... wow!  Such a nice break!! :)

If you give a mom a muffin ...

* Updated to the correct author!

Most of you know and LOVE the famous kid book titled, "If you give a mouse a cookie ..."  We must read that book at least once a week in our house!  Yesterday on Facebook, a friend posted this ...


IF YOU GIVE A MOM A MUFFIN


"If you give a mom a muffin, she'll want a cup of coffee to go with it. She'll pour herself some. Her three-year-old will spill the coffee. She'll wipe it up. Wiping the floor, she will find dirty socks. She'll remember she has to do laundry. When she puts the laundry in the washer, she'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer. Bumping into the freezer... will remin...d her... she has to plan supper. She will get out a pound of hamburger. She'll look for her cookbook. (101 Things To Make With A Pound Of Hamburger.) The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail. She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow. She will look for her checkbook. The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old. She'll smell something funny. She'll change the two-year-old. While she is changing the two-year-old the phone will ring. Her five-year-old will answer and hang up. She'll remember that she wants to phone a friend to come for coffee. Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup. She will pour herself some. And chances are, if she has a cup of coffee, her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it." by Beth Brubaker


Ok, so for all of you mom's out there (or even just anal, task driven busy bodies like myself), doesn't this describe your life perfectly?  Start one task, see another that needs done, then see another, and another, and before you know it, you have forgotten about the first task you started and NEVER finished.  This is my life EVERY day it seems like ... with laundry, washing diapers, changing diapers, hanging clothes, cleaning out this closet or this drawer, eating, emailing, etc!  


So glad someone thought of a cute, accurate way to describe my life and probably hundred's of other mom's out there!!


Do you have this problem?  If not, how do you keep yourself on track so that you are not derailed?