4 years of absolute sweetness to 5 years

At 4 years old our Addie Mae is growing into such a sweet little woman.  With the pregnancy and birth of her littlest sister has really made Addie jump into her little self, her little mama of a self. 

Well she is very proud of being 4 now, she is happy to tell everyone and is adamant that because she is now 4 yrs. old she is grown. 

But regardless of the fact that she is still small and she believes she is so grown, she really is a very BIG help around the house for Mommy and Daddy. Just the other day she babysat Baby Eva while I took a shower. There have been a number of times that I have had to call on her to take her, intermittingly potty training not so, little sister to the potty and she does wonderfully, even to the point that sometimes Cara will request that Addie take her to the potty instead of one of us.

It is evident that life as officially caught up with me! Whew, being a full time working mother of 3 under the age of 5, well it takes up just a bit of my time. And though I think about posting blogs a lot I can never seem to get around to doing it. That being said, I started the beginning of this blog, well, last year and now we are on the brink of Addie Mae's 5th birthday. This little girl is the most amazing little almost 5 year old that I have ever met. She comprehends so much more than that of a 4 year old and though that can be trying at times for the adults in the house, we are so thankful that she does. Because what we can teach her she will more than likely teach her immediate little sister and to say that we can use all the help we can get with that, well that would be a correct statement, all the help. Addie is and has always been a mother figure, she nurtures and cares, she takes into consideration most of a situation to make and educated decision. She remembers just about everything we tell her and some so we usually don't have to tell her something twice, unless it's to stop bossing her sister around that is. She even gets in that mode sometimes that she tries to take the reins on Chris and I. But she thinks logically enough that sometimes she is more onto something than we are. Lately she has been in the cleaning/doing housework mode, always available and willing to lend a hand around the house. Eva just absolutely adores her, Addie and Eva really are like mother and daughter. Addie told me not to long ago that she wanted to work at Church, Target, be a rock star and a mommy, well that should give you a little insight into our lives. How is my baby girl turning 5 already??? She is ALL girl, and wants to have an Aurora party (not sure where that came from bc we don't really do much with Aurora, nor have we ever seen sleeping beauty) She says that she likes that she wears a pink dress and has a rose. So we shall see how that turns out. She loves doing crafts and is quite the little artist a trait that had to have come from her Grandpa Porter, she just has a vision of stuff that she wants to create and then creates it. She amazes me, always. We have been talking and I think that we are going to homeschool. Ideally we would like to be able to send her to a private school, but just can't afford that, so homeschooling is the next best option for us. I am excited and scared at the same time, but I don't think that Addie will be too hard to homeschool she loves doing work in her workbooks and stuff, plus she already knows a lot of what she needs to for Kindergarten. She can read a few sight words, can add (using her fingers) and some subtraction. So please pray for us as we go into uncharted waters this upcoming year.

New Year uncertainties

Today I am sad, I really feel like I could cry at any given moment.  I have no clue why the day has started off wonderfully, Everyone was in a great waking mood this morning, I forgot nothing and work is going smoothly.  I started going over my calendar for the first of the year to ensure that I have everything scheduled properly I realized that in March Addie will be having her 5 year well visit, as well as her school check-up so that she can start school in the fall.

I am choking up just trying to type it out.  I am not prepared for this in fact I am quite the exact opposite of anything remotely prepared, to send my first born out into unknown territory. How do I express all of my concerns without sounding like a complete crazy person?  I don't know where to begin to do anything to prepare her or I, I don't even want to try.  I want my baby to stay with me so I can protect her and so that I can make sure that she learns what she needs to learn and not all of that extra stuff that other people teach their kids.  I want her to spend every day being cared for by someone that loves her more than life itself.  I don't want her to be bullied, I want to protect her sweet sweet soul from the destruction that the world is capable of.  I don't want to let her go, I never thought I would have THIS much agony and distress over this matter.

Due to Today being the day after a holiday, I have a shortened lunch so I only have 30 min, which is not quite enough time to go home and love on my girls and return back to work on time.  This really enhances my feelings of insecurity today, since those babies are my release, they take all of the bad in my life away, always. 

Money is super tight and then some(not that that is anyone’s problem but my own)therefore I cannot force myself to go and get something to eat from Bojangle's since that is not a necessary expense right now, so coffee will be my lunch and maybe whatever I can scrounge from my desk drawers.

I feel the weight of everyone else's pain on me,  I have many friends that are going through something right now I am very sad for them.  I take their concerns and feel them as they were my own concerns in my life and it really pulls me down further. 

I have spent a lot of time in prayer today and will probably spend a lot more, God is good and he bears my burdens, I am beyond thankful that I don't have to carry all of this alone.

Although I usually enjoy a good rainy dreary day, it could just be the weather.  There are just so many emotions going on right now.

This is going to be a great year, each new day is a blessing and I am thankful for the life I have been given.  I am thankful for Jesus and his sacrifice, I am thankful for the promise of forever with my Lord and Savior.

Pure Sweetness

Addie has been doing so great lately.  She has been listening and obeying wonderfully, you can tell that there has been a change, that she is trying to follow direction.  She even tries to help keep Cara in line, the other night as we were eating Cara kept turning around and playing Chris asked her to  turn around and like usual she didn’t even acknowledge him, until Addie tapped her on the shoulder and whispered into her ear ”please turn around and eat” to which she did. She has been doing wonderfully memorizing her Bible verses for Awana so last night after reciting her Bible verse for the night along with her previous ones and then putting on her shoes after only being asked once, she walked over to stand beside me while I was feeding Eva dinner.  I thought, she is really doing well I wonder what she would like if we were to reward her for doing so good lately; so I asked, “Addie, if you were to have something special, what would it be?” and without skipping a beat, she replied “you!” Wow could this little girl melt my heart any more than she already has?!  I love her so much!!

Life with 3 under 5

How is life with 3 under the age of five?  Absolutely wonderful!  I couldn’t be loving it more! The big girls are a great help they are both little mommies, and the baby is just the sweetest thing under the sun!  Now I am not saying that times don’t get tough, because they do but, hands down, the good outweighs the bad.  I really wouldn’t even consider those times bad, they are just times when Mommy gets a chance to talk to God more, and times that I can practice myself control. 

I am thankful that I have a Lord and Savior that listens to my every prayer.  I have always been in need of control,  it is just way too easy for me to “fly off the handle” but we have been working on this and I feel good!  I do still have my moments where I need to step away but I can definitely see an improvement.  I ran across a blog the other day about a mother that has gone 1 whole year, 365 days without raising her voice at her children.  I could only imagine what that would be like, right now, but I am surely going to work at it.  My Addie is such a sweet soul, I feel like I am destroying a bit of that every time I yell at her and it absolutely crushes me to see that in her eyes.  And God, being so forgiving and gracious sends her sweetness right back to my lap every time.  I am so thankful for second chances because the Lord knows that I need them over and over again.  Cara, she’s special, she’s strong, but she’s sweet.  I think that the reason she bucks at us so much is because we cut her down so quickly without hearing her out.  This new movement will hopefully cure this ailment in our household as well.

If you had asked me years and years ago I would have never thought that I would LOVE having 3 girls like I do, but yet again the Lord knows best and He has given me a gift not many can say they have.  I could not express to you enough how much I am loving having 3 girls, LOVE THEM!!  I don’t think I could have a boy, just knowing how different they are.  Did I mention that seeing my husband be so involved in these little girl’s lives just makes me fall in love with him even more?!!  HE is a real man.  He is so amazing,  I just can’t describe how amazing he really is!!  There is no way that I could put into words how thankful I am for him, he makes life so easy for us and I know that he secretly takes on more so that I am not overwhelmed.  I don’t deserve him.

I did go back to work at the beginning of the month and Chris has been staying at home with the girls,  it’s kinda great, for me, hopefully for him too.  The baby is up promptly at 5:30/6 every morning  which gives me time to get some stuff done, because after she eats she goes right back to sleep usually until after I am gone. Chris and the girls come see me periodically during the day so that I can nurse Eva and then I am home for lunch, which is usually prepared and waiting on me when I get there.  Then dinner when I get home, clothes are washed, house is clean and dishes are done.  He’s super daddy!  I know that it’s probably not what he was expecting life to be like, but it sorta seems like his calling, cause he’s sorta super great at being a daddy/house husband…

I knew that it would be easier with 3, not only that but it is just WAY more fun.  I am so full!  Blessed.

Eva's Birth Story

Our due date of April 5^th came and went, we even made a trip to the hospital thinking if maybe I was dilated enough they would keep me, but alas I was no more than 1.5cm, so walking we went….

And we walked and walked, you would not believe how swollen I was JUST from walking.

Sunday April 7^th rolled around and I started leaking some fluid, not knowing if it was my water or not since it wasn’t a steady stream and nothing had gushed out I called the Dr.  they advised me to head on to the hospital and they could test if it was amniotic  fluid.  It wasn’t, and I was only a 2, so home we went, again….

Took the girls to Mama and Dadyd’s just in case  and after having to see the pain in my little girl’s eyes as I left her behind, I was so heartbroken I couldn’t handle it!  So we went home and settled in with no labor in sight….

I started having Braxton Hicks contractions around 10 and decided just to go to bed, I wasn’t in the mood to sit up anyway since my whole family wasn’t at home together, so I left Chris watching TV and I went to bed.  I had had Braxton Hicks contractions for the last 5 months of the pregnancy so it wasn’t like I was dealing with any new symptoms or anything.  Just to be on the safe side though I got out my contraction counter and started timing them.  I went to sleep fast and woke up just long enough with each contraction to start and stop the timer.  Eventually they got strong, really strong, but they weren’t consistent to I stayed put, no more false alarms for this Mama. Some where around midnight I just couldn’t stay put any longer and my husband was NOT in bed yet, for a laboring Mama this was pretty frustrating and I started getting peeved.  I contemplated getting up and going down the hall to inform him of my unhappiness and then the contraction subsided.  So I let myself rest during the downtime.  Also during said downtime and into the incline of another he showed up… I did speak some of my displeasure during this contraction but allowed him to lay beside me.  I might add that I should have made him wait until I was out of the contraction before he laid down though… I think I made it another 20 min or so of, still inconsistent, every minute or so contractions before I just got up and started walking to the door.  Not saying a word I just let Chris follow me.  He tried to talk to me to make sure I was ok, but I just couldn’t get anything out of my mouth.  As he ran around the house to make sure everything was in order I went straight to the car to wait for him.  Luckily the car was already packed as it had been for the week prior…

On to the hospital, NO WORDS were spoken… As we got there he let me out at the door, unlike our previous labors, I allowed this and quietly got out and walked to the mother’s ward to be admitted while he parked.  I made it in and managed to get a seat before the next contraction, I was just going to wait for him, but she said that she could go ahead and check me in, so I quietly yet carefully made it through that process alone.  Again I was going to wait but she insisted that I go on up and she would send Chris up when he got there, so up I went.  Just as my next contraction hit, the elevator lifted and I thought I was going to hit the floor, I now know the purpose of those handles along the sides of the elevators.  I made it into triage and they checked me, I still wasn’t past a 3.5 and my contractions still weren’t consistent they kept me anyway because she could see on the monitor the intensity of the contractions and like I said some were 5 min apart and then some were 1 min apart.  But they were strong by this point!  Chris finally made it to triage as the nurse was getting me settled in.

I may have been in there 30 min or so before they got me into a room,  the nurse asked me if I was going to have an epidural I responded yes and she called anesthesia without even asking if I was ready for it yet,  I guess she didn’t need to ask…

The anesthesiologist showed up shortly thereafter, however I was unaware until after the epidural was in that he was just a resident( a big difference).  Needless to say my epidural didn’t go as smoothly as the first two.  After a VERY long time of trial and error (not what you want during full on labor) he was able to get my epidural sort of right.  I just couldn’t take him reinserting it anymore, it was enough to get some rest so I let it be,  I still felt most of my labor on my right side.  Chris said that he basically used my back as a human pin cushion.  I felt so bad for Chris bc he had to sit there uncomfortably in front of me this whole time holding his arms in the air in order to reach my hands.  I know it took at least 30 min for him to get my line placed where in the past maybe 10-15 min tops!  After all of that fun was over we laid down to get some rest.

When morning came around Chris went downstairs to get some breakfast and he wasn’t gone for 5 min before I felt like I needed to push so I called the nurse and then I called him.  Then while waiting for the nurse I felt some fluid come out, it felt like it was just a little bit so I wasn’t alarmed (I couldn’t feel anything anyway) bc I thought it was urine.  When the nurse came in I told her about that and that I thought that it may have just been urine so she checked me and I was at an 8.  So she said let me call the Dr and see if he is ready.  After she left I called Chris and told him that he better get up there right then, I was really about to have that baby before he got back, before I got off the phone with him I had the urge to push so strong that I had to call the nurse back.  She came in and Chris was right behind her,  She said that Dr. Thompson was in surgery doing a C-section, ironically enough we have heard those exact same words before, she told me that she wanted me to do a practice push, so I did and her head came down!  She said that my water had broken (must’ve been what I felt earlier) so she went and called him back.  Dr. Thompson came in not long after that, and good thing too bc I really needed to push!  He walked in said his hellos and said I am just gonna stand back and watch you do a few practice pushes, ok so I Chris and the nurse held my legs and I pushed….Immediately Dr. Thompson jumped up and told me to hold off, DO NOT PUSH, her head came out on that practice push and he didn’t even have his table unwrapped!  They quickly started running around getting everything together, put me in the stirrups, didn’t even lay me back, 3 pushes later…We had baby number 3!

Evangeline(with a long I) Gray Hughes, 8lbs 3oz, 19 ¾ in long born at 8:31am.  A perfect little miracle!

Just found this, that I typed up 03/01/13

Well we made it!  Two years of many blessings having our sweet baby Cara in our lives!  Although she hasn't been a baby for a while now, she will always be baby Cara to us!  We had a quiet birthday celebration just the 4 of us on her birthday (hopefully if I can manage to get it all done we will be having a joint party eventually), went out for ice cream, got balloons and opened gifts, it was nice. 

At her well visit she got another perfect report, because it was rainy and gross it was just her and I for this visit and that was nice to just be one on one with her.  She is a TOTALLY different child when it's just the two of us!  She weighed 23.2 lbs (9th %) she is tall (69th %) and her head is cm (23%) and don't let that 23% fool you cause this child is sharp as a tack!

As far as milestones she is hitting them completely different from Addie, but then moving faster past them than Addie as well.  She throws a ball overhand like a champ(we may be in for t-ball or something, which I know nothing about), she can do a split (and it is so cute, those tiny little legs,even cuter that she knows what a split is), she can do a somersault also(which Addie still can't do, of course I don't think I could either if I tried), and loves to stand on her head (gymnast? quite possibly).  What an active little thing she is, and that's probably why she is so stinking tiny!  Dr. Wiley is not concerned about her weight because she is healthy and growing(anyway what woman wouldn't want to be tall and slender) but it looks like we are going to stick with whole milk for a little longer just to get that extra fat in her...  Dr. Wiley even stated that she was marking off 5yr milestones for her.  She didn't have to get shots this time, but she did get a finger prick and we all know that that is usually worse than the shot because they have to stand there and keep mushing your finger to get all that blood in the vile, so I, being prepared for her reaction because I do know her well after all, braced myself and her(holding one arm and leg) for the prick.  One...Two...Three...nothing.  Absolutely, I thought I might pass out,  she didn't flinch, didn't breathe in deeply, frown, nothing.  Just sat there as pretty as you please and let nurse Susan prick then squeeze her finger until her heart was content.  She let her put the band-aid on (which Addie wouldn't have, she hates band-aids) and then quietly asked me after she left to "take sticker off, please".

She asks for nothing without please following shortly behind the request.  Thank you or thanks (whatever mood she is in) is always right after receiving whatever it was that she was asking for.  Yes Ma'am, No Ma'am, Yes Sir, No Sir all follow suit.  Seriously she has picked up manners quicker than we would have EVER expected and she remembers, we still have to prompt the big one every now and then!  Her vocabulary is through the roof and her words are enunciated SO clearly!  She has mastered 6 word sentences already and can have a complete (back and forth) conversation with you like it is nothing.  It amazes me the stuff that she understands, in other words we DO NOT break down our adult language for her (and didn't for her sister as well) and they both seem to roll with it so well understanding without skipping a beat.  The other day she was asking my mom to hold something and Mama repeated her saying "hold that" and Cara responded with "hold that...this." My mom and I stopped dead in our tracks and looked at each other, she knew enough to correct herself.  It really floored both of us, I mean Addie has always been proper in the way she spoke and corrected herself often with out prompting, but this was the first time we had witnessed Cara do it.  She will promptly reply to something being doe like “that’s better” or “there we go” which I just think is adorable.  Today my Mom called me and said that after telling Cara that she was gonna fall off the chair she repositioned herself and then said “perfect.”  Needless to say I can’t wait to get home and hear that one out of her mouth.  She follows directions well, even multiple directions in one request.  The fact that she comprehends certain words and can use them in the correct context just amazes me,  she uses “also and too” a lot and always correctly, she will tell me “right now!” or “later”, she had one grape in her bowl and walked up to Addie and said “want last one, Addie?” then she proceeded to put the grape in Addie’s bowl and told her to “finish, that one.”  She recognized that it was the “last” one and then told her to finish and I don’t recall ever hearing her use the word finish before.

She can count to, well around 15 but kinda bounces after 10.  5 we get flawless, 10 gets better each time and we are still learning up to 15.  She doesn't yet know her ABC's fully, even though the other day I was wearing an Old Navy hoodie and she climbed up in my lap pointed to the "A" in Navy and said "A for Addie".  She is getting really good at puzzles and puts the alphabet one together well and when we sing some and stop she will fill in the blanks, but we still can't get her to recite the whole thing.  We think that she knows her colors because she will pick up something and say "want purple one" or something along those lines and then pick up something purple.  We can ask her to give us something "pink" and she will, but when asked to tell us what color something is she won't verbalize it.  But I am pretty sure that orange is her favorite color right now because she will always ask for the orange item when given a choice.

She loves to sing, she likes the head, shoulders, knees and toes song it is so cute because she does the motions with it, but sometimes I will catch her singing it to one of her stuffed animals or baby dolls and she points to their  body parts as well.  She sings happy birthday to Dalton just about every night, she just adores Dalton. Most of the time though she just hums tunes and makes up her own songs.  She, like her sister, loves to dance and perform for us and sometimes even the camera.  She prefers to call Addie, Addie-line.  It is so cute, she just started calling her that one day, and we don’t even call her Adeline that much.  But whenever she is referring to her or speaking to her she will tack on Addie-line and she will refer to her as such 97% of the time.