I Could Do It Forever....

Lately I've been really stopping to cherish each moment with my kids. Peyton and Laila like to snuggle a little before they go to sleep, but they really like to go to sleep on their own. Mika, however, will get really fidgety before she goes to sleep and will calm down immediately when I hold her, falling fast asleep on my chest. So she has been falling asleep on me more and more this past week - and I love it! I could hold her like that forever!!! I know I should put her in her bed, but I just love holding her so much. Knowing that she is my last baby makes it worse. I think I have messaged Jared every day over the past week telling him how much I love holding our sleeping babies. And I do.... I just sit there with a huge smile on my face and kiss all over their heads, smell their baby smells, and love having them so close to me. It is one of the best gifts God gives parents - I pray that all of you who are parents take time to hold your babies while they sleep today. And for those of you who aren't parents yet, I pray that you will get your chance to hold your sleeping baby soon. 

Mother's Day

I love Mother's Day.

Jared and I have been talking about how, even though we are parents, we still feel like Mother's and Father's Days are for our parents! So we do our best to make them feel loved and special. 

Jared's family needed his help this weekend with all of the things that went on last week, so we decided that I would take the girls to my mom's for the weekend. Mom and Nanny were thrilled to have us and we were glad to be there - especially me, the car ride was rather difficult this time as a usually sweet baby decided to cry most of the trip. I could write a whole separate post about how I deal with all three girls in the car by myself!

Saturday their little town was having its annual festival, so we went up to the city park for the festivities after lunch and naps. The girls had a blast sliding and jumping in the jump house! 

Saturday night, the big girls were worn out (I can't imagine why!) so I took Mika Lynn and we went to visit my Mamaw. She's awfully lonely these days with my Pawpaw in the nursing home, so I try to see her as much as possible. The girls light up her eyes and I love being able to bring her a little joy :) So she got to hold baby Mika for a while and we visited and laughed and enjoyed our time together. 

Sunday morning we went to church with Nanny. She LOVED having all of us there. And I loved being there with her. In fact, a sweet man from her church thanked me on the way out for making this day special for her. After church and lunch, I loaded the girls up and we headed home so we could be with Jared and his family. They had a Mother's Day/Happy Birthday party and it was wonderful! 

My dad came into town Sunday night, so that was the perfect way to finish my weekend!

I love being a mother. But more than that, I love my children.... they are the most perfect gifts from God. 

Peyton Lou - You are the baby who made me a mother. You are strong-willed and very independent and continue to teach me about patience on a daily basis. You have such a big personality and you are absolutely hilarious! I know God has BIG plans for your life and your contagious personality and I cannot wait to watch you grow up and see where God takes you! I love you baby girl!

Laila Whitney - You made me a mother of two. It was you, baby girl, who showed me that I could love more than one baby with the same amount of love and I know I will never run out of love. You have a face of a thousand expressions and a smile that will melt any heart. I look forward to seeing how God works in your life and how He uses you in this world. You are a very special girl. I love you, my little bean!

Mika Lynn - My sweet, tiny, baby-est girl. You completed our family and filled up our hearts. You have the sweetest personality already and your gentle spirit has lifted many sad hearts in your short life. I love that I am able to cherish each and EVERY minute with you and that I haven't let one sweet moment pass without making a memory. Everyone comments on your beautiful smile and your happy spirit and I know God will use both of those in big ways in your life! I love you, my sweet baby. 

Thank you, Lord, for my precious children and for making me their mother. I take that responsibility very seriously and I love every minute of being a mother. 

Baby Names....

Kelly is doing Baby Names for Show Us Your Life Friday.... and since I love all things about baby naming, I decided to join in!

It was such a joy to name my three girls. I loved thinking of names from the minute I found out I was pregnant. It drove Jared crazy.... he constantly said "Let's wait until we know what the baby is before we talk about names." What is funny is that we seem to never agree on names. I honestly think the only names we have ever agreed on are the ones we ended up using. But we are both very much into using family names. So here we go...

Peyton Lou

Peyton is named after my grandmother and Jared's mom. My Nanny's name is Peytina Lou and Jared's mom is Linda Lou. Nanny was named after a close friend of her father's, Peyton. However, since she was a girl they decided to name her Peytina to make it more feminine. We decided to go with the original, Peyton, and use Lou as the middle name since it was both Nanny's and Jared's mom's name. I don't really remember us "discussing" Peyton's name.... it seems like it was agreed upon immediately. It is the perfect name for her! And my Nanny LOVES telling people about how her first great-grandbaby was named after her. Its very special!

Laila Whitney

When we found out we were having another girl, we decided that I would make a list of names I liked and Jared would go through it and narrow it down. We had tossed around ideas but hadn't really seriously discussed names. I do remember saying that I would not name my child Laila when my sister suggested it. The one name we both loved is Whitney, which is my sister's name. However, we didn't want to use it for a first name because we thought it would be confusing. 

So I went through the giant baby name book and made my list. When I saw the name Laila in the book it jumped out at me. I gave my list to Jared that night and we narrowed it down to two first names, Addison and Laila. Then we started trying to put middle names with them and we came up with Addison Mary (Mary is my mother's name) and Laila Whitney. We looked at the names and both felt like Laila Whitney was the right name for our baby girl. And it was.... and the funny thing is that she is SO MUCH like my sister Whitney! 

Mika Lynn

When we found out we were expecting again, I tried to talk about names and got the standard response from J - wait until we know. So I made another list this time around.... and surprisingly, it was almost completely different from the previous list of names. Jared took the list and quickly marked off all but two names. He looked at Mika and said "I've always liked that name" and that pretty much decided it for us. 

Then to give her a middle name.... we knew we wanted to use a family name so we made our list of names. We had a family name from Jared's side and from my side. Lynn is my middle name, as well as both of my parents' middle names and my sister's. And since we were having our last baby and she was a girl, then I kind of wanted her to be named after me in some way. So we went with Lynn. And I actually find myself calling her Mika Lynn more than I call her Mika. I love using the first and middle name together. 

We never really got serious about any boy names.... every name I like, Jared doesn't like and vice versa. I'm sure we will never have to seriously discuss boy names either. I love hearing about how babies are named and I love slightly different but not crazy-weird names. It is such an honor and a joy to name my children - one of my favorite parts of planning for the baby!

Now I could write a completely separate post on the nicknames my kids have..... maybe someday soon I will!

Playing Catch Up

Ok.... how long has it been since I've posted? Last week was crazy. My sweet S-I-L and her family were here so we had a week full of kids and playing outside...

I know God has a sense of humor and has had quite a laugh this past week... you see, I'm not an outside person. AT. ALL. However, my children LOVE to play outside. Last week I got to experience squashed caterpillers on pants, topsoil and dirt poured over Peyton's head (which was difficult to get out of her hair!) and a number of other outdoorsy things. My kids had a great week! 

This little cutie had to watch from inside the house because her allergies were out of control! We did borrow an air purifier to see if it helps and I do believe it is helping! Laila's allergies have completely cleared up and Mika is sleeping much better!

How sweet is that face?!

Mika Lynn got to try out her Bumbo chair this past week also.... it was a hit!

Sunday we had a little birthday party for my B-I-L so we had a house full! I'm so glad we were able to celebrate with everyone! It makes me so much more excited to have Whitney and Brent back closer to home! The girls had a great time playing with their Whit Whit, UB, Nanny, Mimi, Hannah, and Pappy! 

Mimi and her girls!

And we also survived some pretty bad storms at the end of last week. Tornado warnings, sirens, thunder, lightening, high winds, pounding rain.... I love storms but we discovered that Miss Laila Whitney does not. Bless her heart, I went to check on her and she was sitting up in her bed, pointing at the window with a look of terror on her face. I got that sweet baby up and we kept her with us the rest of the night. She kept her blanket right up to her face the entire time.

So there's a little run-down of my past week. This week we are dealing with the unexpected passing of Jared's grandfather. Our plans have changed so that we may be here for our family to love and support each other. Please keep our family in your prayers, especially Jared's grandmother and mother.

Have a great Tuesday!