Thank you God! Day 1

Tara - today I am thankful for the husband that God has blessed me with and all of his support. I couldnt ask for a better person to walk through life with than him.

Waiting for the calm amidst stormy seas!

O<p>Life is absolutely amazing but at the same time totally crazy. I love having three girls but since Caroline has been born, we have had nonstop storms. Nothing big, thank God!!!!!! At three weeks, we all got sick. The house was a whirlwind. At 7 weeks, Caroline caught her sisters virus and got a fever, sending her to the er with mommy. She got poked and prodded (I wanted to punch the nurse, she was so upset!), for them to tell me, it is just a virus. If you have ever seen just how tiny a 7 week olds veins are, just imagine how difficult getting an iv in is. It was extremely upsetting to watch and more upsetting for Caroline.  Ugh!!! Then all got colds about two weeks later! Eleanor got an ear infection and had to use a nebulizer to help with breathing! Just as everyone was getting better, we got some sad family news. And then, two days later, tom rushed to the ER to have an emergency appendectomy (by far the biggest scare we had!). No picking up the kids for 4 weeks! Eeek! Poor guy is finally feeling better. We did our best to take care of him!!!! I thought we were done but that same day Caroline was diagnosed with rsv, a virus that can be very dangerous in infants. And now, a few weeks later, everyone has colds again. Elle was up all night so we went to the doc and she has a double ear infection. What is my point to all of this? We are in the middle of a storm, and I really feel like there are so many blessings to come from this!!!!!!! For one, I learned how to take all three girls places myself! I look like a madwoman, but now I have the confidence to do it! We have all gotten plenty of cuddly movie time, which is also so nice. I have needed help, so we have found a few good babysitters that are so needed. Eleanor has learned to walk everywhere and lillian helps when we are all out by holding eleanors hand and my hand!!!!! Our pastor and his wife are going to meet with us to help teach us to be good spiritual leaders to the girls! We have had so much sun our outdoor play has been incredible. I learned to cook enough one night to last the next night or two. I have had a friendship really blossom, and received much needed support from her! I buckled down with sleep training with lil, I had to!, and she is doing great with it. We have had more dance parties together in the last few weeks than I can count, more pizza and movie nights, more staying home and playing and less running around. We got our first smiles and giggles from sweet Caroline. Would any of these things happened if it hadn't stormed? I think not. Does God always have a plan and purpose? Of course. While we are in the middle of a storm it is incredibly hard to see the clearing in the sky. It is always there though, especially if you have faith. I learned how to really pray these last few weeks. Sometimes ridiculous prayers (please God, let lillian go back to sleep! It is 2am!), sometimes prayers of desperation, but also prayers of thanks. I also had numerous prayers answered, more than I can count. The point of this entry is to remember that God cares about you and what you're going through. You're never alone in a storm, in fact you're never alone period. It I'd also so humbling and so sad to think about how the things we went through really were little things. I pray for really sick babies and kids, little ones who have become angels all too soon, wives who are alone in raising their families while their husbands are fighting for our country, or wives who are alone because they have lost their husband.  I'm so thankful for the craziness we have had because it has made me stronger as a mom and wife. It makes me realize how precious each second is, and I'm trying to be better about appreciating each moment, holding toms hand a little tighter.and snuggling the girls a little more. My girls became stronger in their relationship with each other and more confident in their independence. Most importantly, my relationship with God even stronger. I wouldn't want to go through this storm again, but I do know more storms will come. I'm not afraid though, knowing God is by my side. Thank you God for these storms, to help me appreciate the calm, and to have even more faith in your love.

"For our present troubles are small and won't last very long.  yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever." 2 Corinthians 4-17

'Be strong and of good courage. Do not fear or be afraid of them. For the Lord your God, he is the one who goes with you.He will never leave you nor forsake you"  deuteronomy 31:6

Welcome Caroline Rose Bailey!

Well, the moment both girls and mommy and daddy had been waiting for finally came! Caroline rose Bailey was born July 30 at 610pm. She weighed 6 pounds 11 ounces and was 18 and 3/4 inches long (but 19 and 3/4 inches long the next day ha ha). It was a great delivery. Lillian and Eleanor are totally in love with their little dolly. Eleanor loves holding her and lil talks to her and helps mama a lot. Lillian calls her "my little sunshine" . We are incredibly blessed and are enjoying every second with this amazing little love bug and her sweet big sisters! Lillian still says her name is Hot Chocolate Starfish. Hee hee. We went on our first family outing today to the park. The big girls had a blast chasing daddy in the sunshine, and Caroline slept great in the nice weather. Looking forward to many many more fun memories to come as a family of five!

Gapa you visits, and cshell too!

We had a blast with gapa you (as lil calls him) and grammy c shell! We were so excited to spend time with them and finally show grandpa Lou our home. We did so many fun things and made some great memories!!!!!! Eleanor on her own decided that my mom was not "cshell" as lil named her. We would say to Elle, say c shell, and she would say "no, mimi". She refused to even try. Whenever she saw my mom she called her mimi. Lil thought that was hilarious since she knows mimi is my grandm
a and would crack up, saying "that's not mimi baby boots!".

The girls loved the time with my dad. They loved all the fun things we did, and loved just playing at home with him. We went to the harbor and had coffee and walked down the dock, went to Seattle on a rainy and cold day on the ferry, went to Seattle children's museum and had delicious lunch at paseo, went to chucky cheese, played on the beach and at the park, and just had a blast all being together. We can't wait for the next visit. So much fun!!!!!!!!

Hand!

Just a quick post on something so sweet. Lillian and Eleanor are usually best friends. Lately Eleanor has decided she can ask lillian for help and trusts her to help her. They were both up on our outdoor playset platform up high, and Elle has just realized just how high it really is. She usually wants mama or dada to help her walk to the slide. Well lillian was up there with her so I asked lillian to hold her hand to the slide. She did the first time, then every time after. She loved helping her! She even said "oh its ok baby, I coming, ill hold your hand. I'll help you" when Eleanor started asking for us when lil wasn't up there.

We were driving the other day and Eleanor was saying "I yant hand, I yant hand" over and over. I looked back and they were holding hands. So sweet.

Just today lillian was singing an awesome version of Jesus loves me up on our car platform and Eleanor wanted up. She asked lillian for her hand, lillian quickly stopped singing and didn't hesitate to help. They also decided the water play table was a fun pretend pool (no water in it). Lil can easily climb in and out but Elle is a tad too short. First I heard Eleanor ask lillian for help ("I yant help!"). Then lillian tried to pick up Eleanor to put her on the table (unsuccessfully). Lillian didn't give up. I could see her wheels spinning. She went into her playhouse, got out a kid sized chair, and put it right in front of the table. She then took eleanors hand and helped get her on the table (over and over too, since Elle thought that was fun!). I'm just amazed at their love and trust for each other at this age. They are so lucky to have each other as best friends, and baby three will be another life long best friend.

Hot chocolate starfish!

Well, we are excited to announce the name of baby girl three, and lillian picked it. It is hot chocolate starfish! Ha ha. Funny thing is back when we were in Tucson in march, she thought of it. We hadn't talked much about it, but just a few weeks ago I asked again what she wanted her name to be, and she's sticking with hot chocolate starfish! Love it!

The girls are so excited to meet baby sister, which is any day now. Eleanor wants to see my belly and then asks (in a fairly demanding tone!) "I yant mama baby out!" as she tugs at my belly. Ha ha. She loves to kiss and hug her new baby too and pretend to feed her and give her drinks through my belly button. She will be a great big sis. She sees any baby anywhere and gets so excited, saying "baby!" And then making pretend crying sounds.

Lillian is super excited too. She has big plans for hot chocolate starfish. Once she starts talking about them, she doesn't stop. Love it. I was setting up the baby bassinet in our room and lillian told me that she was going to hold new baby, mama and dada will go bye bye. She will put new baby in pack and play and new baby will cry. She then hopped into our bed (to show me her next move) and said "be a good baby new baby, go to sleep. I go to sleep too!" Hilarious. She loves to snuggle my belly, and give it tons of kisses. She always says "ahhhhh, I love you little baby. You're a good baby. New baby so nice!". She also wants to share toys with new baby. Lillian is already such a great big sis, I know she will be absolutely great with this little one. I also love how when Eleanor says "I yant new baby out!" Lil often replies with "no no no, Elle belle, baby too little. Baby need to stay mommy tummy."

We can't wait to see our beautiful little blessing in a week and a half (or less!).

Yo ho yo ho a pirates life for me!

We had another fun weekend with our sweet little family! We started off by going to gig harbors biggest festival of the year, the maritime festival, which is held in downtown gig on the waterfront. It is a two day festival, but most activities are the first day. There is a parade, and a super long one, to start it off. Two hours of dancers, music, floats, and such with people handing out tons of candy and necklaces is super fun for the girls!!!!! Over one hundred floats and Four nursing home shuttles later (I guess they are advertising our options for someday? Ha ha) and the parade was over. There are TONS of people here, no parking, but it is great. There were food vendors, live music and children's area. We didn't last long after the arade as lil calls it, but we enjoyed what we saw. So much fun. Lillian loved sparky the fire dog, and Eleanor loved the 4h dog group. We got to enjoy beautiful sunshine and warm weather while watching the girls Oooh and Ahhh at all the action! We love it here and all it has to offer for families and the community! So blessed!