Say a prayer.

I am sick. I am so sick, I cannot drive myself to the dr. I think I have the flu or pneumonia. I am terrified Mercedes is going to get it. I am wearing a mask, to try to avoid passing the germs, but I don't know if it's good enough. Please pray our tiny baby does not get this. At least the other children are older & can tolerate it. I'm not sure she can.

Thanks!

* I did have to go to the dr. because I thought I was dying. Literally. lol! I tested positive for the flu! What?!?! I don't think I've had the flu since I was in high school! Of course my main concern is the baby & we are just praying she does not catch this. Good thing is we have been doing everything "right" (like the mask wearing, etc.) so hopefully all will be ok. It's killing me though that I can't hold her. I just want to hold her & hug my other kids. This sucks! Thanks for the prayers!

My baby girl.

This baby is so adorable. She loves to be held. I love that. She is almost inconsolable unless I am holding her. When I first drove down to meet her, I held & rocked her for 2 or so hours. We bonded. :) I think she knew, then, that I would always hold her. And I will. :) It hurts my heart to know she had no family for 4 days - she had no one cuddle her & I do honestly believe that is why she loves to be held. She melts my heart. :)

I LOVE this photo below! :)

Mercedes had her 2 week pediatrician visit last week. She weighed 7 lbs. 4 oz.! What a chunk. :) I had turned into TurboMom - then I got sick. Now I'm ExhaustoMom. lol! I am very tired. She has her days & nights backwards & it is very difficult. Some nights are good, some nights are bad. Seems when husband is on duty, she sleeps great! What's up with that? She is sleeping between 5-6 hours (at night) though so my goodness, who can complain?

She is an angel. It's hard to believe she is already 3 weeks old. She is already changing so much. This Thursday she will be home 3 weeks. It seems like she's been with us forever. :)

She is so precious. We are so incredibly blessed! :)

I guess I don't get it.

We made it to church yesterday. All six of us. I just love the way that sounds. :)

As far as I'm concerned, my family is a walking testimony. We can't have biological children - we had rely on God to help us. He did. Four times. Regarding our growing family & our newest blessing - I guess I just don't understand comments such as these...

"This is your last one, right?" - said sarcastically from a girl who used to be in our previous SS class.

"Do you feel like the old woman who lived in a shoe?" - said a friend/SS teacher. (btw, I replied "No, I don't" as I looked at her dumbfounded.

"How many kids are y'all gonna get?" - said our previous SS class teacher.

None of these comments came from anyone in our current SS class. :)

My tolerance to tacky comments such as these has come to an end. I've just about had it with rude & insensitive comments & quite honestly, I can find absolutely no reason why I should just shut up & smile when people talk ignorantly to me. To us. No more. We are not a freak show because we have four children. We are BLESSED!

I'm so dang proud to have four children. So proud. So honored. I am in a place in my life that I never could have imagined. I'm a great mom. My husband is an amazing dad. Our children are healthy, happy, beautiful, well-mannered children. There must be a reason God keeps blessing us with them. From here on out I will politely yet matter-of-factly remind people that a "congratulations!" and/or "she's beautiful!" and/or "God's never failing!" are in order & appreciated - not unnecessary, inconsiderate comments. :)

Oops he did it again.

Yep, yep, yep. Sigh. :(

Kidbits.

Conversation in the car while driving today -

Me: "You know your dad's birthday is in about three weeks (Valentine's Day). That's our wedding anniversary too. Let's see...we'll then be married..."

Bentley: "12 years."

Me: "Bents, how'd you know that?"

Bentley: "Because last year it was 11."

LOL!

Alrighty then. :)

He grew!

This here is big stuff people! He grew! Yay! Let's compare. Last year, at his 3 year old well visit, Audi was 27 lbs. & 33 1/2 inches. Today at his 4 year well visit, he is now 29 lbs. & 36 3/4 inches! Yeehaw! I knew he was getting taller because last week, I was finally able to put him in 3T jeans! He still isn't on the chart for height (barely on the chart for weight) but at least he grew! Oh gosh we are so darn excited over here! And then he got 3 shots, 4 shots because she had to "restick" one, & that blew all the happiness. A root beer from Sonic made up for it though. :) Go Audi, keep on growing baby! You cutie patootie! :)

Side note - Cailyn now weighs 8 oz. more than Cason (I really thought she weighed way more than that compared to him!) & she is 1/2 inch taller. She looks about 3 inches taller though because of all that hair! You should have seen us trying to mash all that hair down to get an accurate height. :)

The tooth fairy.

I had phoned the tooth fairy last week, & asked her if Bentley worked & worked on getting his tooth out, & succeeded, would she bring him something extra special? She said yes. :)

Fast forward to Sunday night. We got Bent's two top teeth out at about 8:00 p.m.ish. I told Bentley that since it was after 8:00, & since I had not yet had the time to clean up his teeth, the tooth fairy just might not make it that night. But hey, who's to say? :)

Low & behold, Monday a.m. Bentley went into my bathroom (where we had left his teeth) for something & found that the tooth fairy did indeed come! For some reason, here at our home, the tooth fairy leaves her little surprises wherever we leave the teeth - & we don't ever leave them under his pillow. Bentley loves it when he finds her surprises & then we always giggle that she left the surprises right where we left the teeth! One night it was on the kitchen island, one night it was on the floor in front of the tv, & this time on mom's bathroom counter! This tooth fairy is one amazing fairy I'm telling you. I bet she's really cute too. LOL! :)

Anyway, he was very pleased to find she left him a $5 bill for each tooth & a new hotwheels car! After all the trauma we put him through, the tooth fairy knew he deserved a little extra. :) And of course, she left his two teeth, sitting on little cotton balls, as she always does. :)

Honestly, I didn't think my Bentley could get any cuter. I must say this child is so dadgum cute with those teeth out & to hear him talk is priceless! Such a cute, cute boy. :)

He loves having those teeth gone. I think they were really bothering/hurting him. If I had to do it over again, though, I'm not so sure I'd do it that way. I think we'd visit the dentist. :) Thank you all, again, for all your sweet comments! :)