On The Shorter Side.

Like Mother, Like Son? Well, I took Cade today for a doctor's checkup...he's a bit behind, we're caught up now though! And of course one of the first things they do is measure and weigh your child. Believe it or not, for the first time ever for us, one of our boys measured in under the 75% in height. Not only that, he measured in right underneath the 50% mark! I could hardly believe it when they told me! All of the boys have always been so tall. I really didn't think much of it, then the doctor came in and was talking to me and said he thought it was kinda odd that he has never measured under the 75% mark until now. He seems to think we caught him before a growth spurt and that by his 2 year appointment he will catch back up. I told him that I'm one of the only truly short people in our families...with a brother who's already 6'3" and a 14 year old sister who's 5'9". We'll see. But for now, I can actually say I'm not alone! I doubt that's gonna last! :-)

Changed Again!?

Well, the last heading...All-Purpose Mama...just didn't seem to fit. Why? I don't know, just a gut feeling I guess. Shabby Mama is a heading that I've been mulling over since I changed it last time but didn't use then. Once again why? Who knows. I just feel like it fits me better than the one before. Let me explain. First of all, for those of you who've been to my home, Shabby Chic probably comes to mind. The more beat up the better in my book! :-) I just love the history of unique and beautiful antique pieces! Some of you are now thinking "huh?". Well the other reason I picked this is because Shabby is the way I feel I am on this earth. Made in the image of Christ yet human. Tired, aging, flawed...well, kinda like a shabby chic antique if you ask me. Worn out and flawed (in some way or another, that looks different for each of us as well as all my antiques!) on the outside but yet there is still something beautiful about it/us! It's all in the eye of the beholder, you've heard/said that many a time I'm sure. For me, I LOVE shabby chic 'stuff' and quite frankly, think it's beautiful. I also pray that each one of us sees each other through God's eyes and looks past the shabbyness (is that really a word? I do like making them up sometimes.) straight to the heart which has been purified by Christ and is truly beautiful because He made it that way! You know what I mean! And then one day...I (along with each and every believer) will be rescued from this broken world and taken to live in a Glorious Heaven with my God and Savior, Jesus Christ, and will be given a New and Pefect 'Body' (not sure what that will be like). Can't hardly wait!!! But for now, it's just shabby old me (although I am thankful for how God created me and do believe that God "fearfully and wonderfully" makes each and every one of us)!

New Norm?

You've heard of that before, right? Finding your new norm after a big change has occured in your life. Well, having baby #4 was the biggest change I think I've experienced since getting married and having my first child! To be really honest, it actually felt like a crazy fast curve ball that I wasn't quite ready for. :-) I guess there really wasn't anything anybody could have said or done to really and truly prepare me for the changes that have occured in our family. Don't get me wrong, these are great changes, they can just get a bit overwhelming at times right now. My sweet and very wise mother keeps encouraging me that this is just one of many stages and that it is one of the busiest busiest and/or physically taxing ones for sure...since ALL 4 of them still need me to do so many things for them. I know one day when they are grown I'm going to look back on these days/years and wish for a few more cuddle moments and sweet kisses and hugs from little ones so I'm doing my best to cherish each moment I have with them! As far as the new norm? It's sinking in (actually the Holy Spirit so kindly reminds me) that I just need to accept the fact that I'm gonna wash at least 7 loads of laundry each week, cook and grocery shop for what feels like a small army, never have a quite home again until their grown (possibly out of the house and maybe not then either cause I'll start having grandchildren I pray), not be able to shop for extreme bargains as much as I used too (bummer! Lord's just gonna have to lead me to 'em!), clean house all the time and still have more to clean, and have to let go and let God do a whole lot of things that I would like to think I can do on my own but really can't! So here's to staying in God's Word daily, having a Girl's Night Out every once in a while, and many more dates with my hubby to help me keep sane, energized and excited about being the wife and mother God created me to be...in the midst of a Brand New Norm!

1 Passy, 4 Fingers...and a Thumb?

Well, we don't really know yet, it's still too early, but we may have a thumb sucker on our hands! I started noticing that he was trying to find his hands at about a month old and wondered if he would find his two fingers like Callen and Cade did (Corbin was attatched to a passy for 2 years). Problem he keeps running into is that he can't quite figure out how to get those sweet little fingers out of a fist in order to suck on them. Then it happened. Two times, only a couple of days apart, he found his thumb...and sucked the livin' fire out of that thing! And went to sleep I might add! So who knows? He doesn't seem to like the passy much still, but he isn't finding that thumb much consistantly yet either. So, I'll have to keep you posted. For now, enjoy the pics below showing how he worked so hard at finding it one day while his Great Grandmother (MiMi) heald him.

Trying so hard to find it!

There's a small taste...

but couldn't quite keep it in there!

GOT IT!!!

Almost asleep...it only took about a minute and a half after finding it. :-)

All Smiles...

That's right, we're ALL smiling more now that our sweet Cohen is smiling back at us! We can hardly believe it's for real but by 6 weeks old he was smiling at each one of us individually when we talked to him and smiled at him. At first we thought it had to be a fluke but when he kept on doing it more and more often and consistantly we realised he was begining to show us his precious little personality. Of course he loves us too! :-) My favorite time with him is in the morning after he eats...he just talks to me and smiles so big over and over again. It just melts my heart and I'm cherishing every second of my time with him! Those of you who've already seen him smile know what I'm talking about when I say that he is precious when he smiles...his whole little face just lights up! If you haven't gotten to see it yet I hope you enjoy the pics!

Brothers Callen and Cade are so excited he's smiling at them now!!!

Talking and smiling at Mamma!...and she's LOVING it! :-)

5 C's and a K...

So some of you are wondering and many have asked...what's with all the C names? Well, let's start back before we even had kids. You see, I'm the oldest of 6 kids, all with K names. Even my parents and our pets had K names. Chris is the oldest of 3 kids, the other two having K names as well. We thought we would cary on the tradition (for what reason? I don't know, I guess we just thought it would be fun). Here comes the catch. We thought it would be cool to name our boys with C names like Daddy and the girls with K names like Mommy. Well, you all now know what happened, right?! We had no girls! :-) So I am still the only K in the family and I even get my name spelled with a C by accident quite often by people who assume that with all the boys names mine must start with a C as well. I don't mind, I politely correct it and quickly tell the story when asked. And how about those two middle names we thought would be so unique!...little did we know we would have 4 C names and 8 middle names to pick, all for boys that is, in less than 5 years! I must say though I'm pleased with our choices! Lastly, if you could be a fly on our wall you would laugh at how we just can't seem to get the right name to come out when we need it too...sweet Corbin is always correcting us and Chris has even thought about just calling them 1, 2, 3 and 4! God does have a sense of humor, doesn't He!!

The Switch!

Ok, are you ready for this?! We're officially making the switch...Chris will no longer be writing/updating our blog, I will (that's Kara in case you're thinking it might have been one of the boys :-)!). Chris is usually swamped with work and not able to update much so I'm going to take a stab at it. I'm brand new to this so you will have to give me a little time to catch on and get used to this. I think I'm going to enjoy it though! The first change you may notice is that I will write a LOT more than Chris did I'm sure!...he loves to tell me that I pass my word limit by 10am. :-) Those of you who know me very well might just agree, who knows. I'm ok with that. I admit, I LOVE to talk and visit with people, especially close friends and family. So I'm excited to have yet another outlet of doing that. For those of you whom we don't see often or get to talk to much, hopefully this will help to keep you informed of how our family is doing. So here goes!