4 years old!?

How did my baby get to be 4 years old already!? What a sweet girl Sapphira is!  When people get hurt or are sad, she is quick to offer a hug and her la-lee to cheer them up.  She's a tough little cookie...she rarely cries when she gets hurt and is quick to issue a matching offense if Brother is responsible of her discomfort.  While she is terrified of most dogs (especially medium and large dogs), she is getting to be a bit of a daredevil and will try most things once.  In this last year alone, she rode a horse, helped Papa clean some fish and learned to crack eggs with Grandma...all things she would not have done just a year ago.  Her legs are finally long enough to ride her trike and she loves being able to keep up with Malachi.  Daddy is also teaching her a little bit about soccer and she loves kicking the ball with Daddy.  She is also a girly girl who loves pink, purple and Rapunzel.  Dress up is a favorite activity.  Sapphira can write her name with spelling help, knows all her letters and can count to nearly 20.  She sings constantly and ballet class has added many new moves to her dancing repertoire.  Malachi and Sapphira fight like any pair of siblings, but play together well fair more often then they bicker.  She comes up with new "games" for them to play everyday, but they play her "mommy" game everyday (she is the mom and Malachi is the child of some sort) and alternate between being a human and cat family. She is nearly finished with her first year of Cubbies at church and loves to go to club to see Cubbie bear and his friends.  She doesn't like learning the verses from her Cubbies book, but listens intently when Malachi is memorizing his Sparkies verses and tries to learn them herself.  She knows about a quarter of the books of the New Testament by heart.  I think she is close to asking Jesus to come into her heart.  She knows about Jesus and all He did for us and often asks questions about this or the lesson she heard in Sunday School class.  She was so proud when we bought her a big girl Bible this year (it's pink of course!!!) and likes to carry it around and sleep with it if we let her.  She continues to be a Daddy's girl and always goes to him for loves or help over anyone else if he is around.  Her favorite day of the week is Saturday and Sunday because they are "family days" meaning Daddy is home from work and we get to be together all day long.

Every year, we let the birthday kid pick their dinner supper.  Sapphira had a Red Robin supper planned out for a very long time.  Sapphira woke up feeling very sick and feverish on her birthday, so we couldn't go out to eat, but Daddy picked up Red Robin take out for us on his way home from work.  After supper, Sapphira got to open a couple presents from Mommy and Daddy...she was so excited!

 Rapunzel!!!!!

 A Rapunzel CD for her new...

CD player!!!  Her best friend has a CD/radio player in his room and when she goes to his house they are often found in his room with a worship CD playing, dancing and singing to the music.  I knew she'd be over the moon to have her own!!  Funny story...we listened to Sapphira' new CD a couple times before bed and after being in bed for a little while, Malachi gets out of bed to tell us "I was thinking about Sapphira's new song in my head and its too loud."  Samuel said "well just think about it quieter."  "Ok" and he went back to bed...goober.

I just can't imagine life without my girl.  Happy Birthday Sapphira!!!  We love you!

Bath time!

Malachi and Sapphira were so excited to help give Amira her first bath and our nurse was so sweet to let them help.  We waited until they came back to the hospital after lunch to get her cleaned up.

She was calm and peaceful and only wiggled a bit. 

Sapphira got to help wash her body. 

Malachi got to help the nurse wash her hair.

Our nurses were so friendly and good about including the big kids in the things that were going on.  When they would come in to take our vitals, the nurse would explain everything that was going on and let them watch.  Such an exciting day for us all!

Meeting our Newest Sister!

Since Amira was born so early in the morning, we didn't have the kids come to the hospital right away.  Once we were settled in our hospital room, we got a bit of rest and Samuel went home to get the kids ready for Malachi's last basketball game on Saturday morning.  I was so bummed I missed it, but Daddy made sure to send me text message updates and pictures and video of his game.  Once the game was over, the family came to the hospital to welcome Amira.  We had the kids come in with Daddy so they could have some special time with their baby first.

 He was so excited to be able to kiss her little head!

 She is such a good big sister and was so happy to finally meet her baby.

 Holding Amira and getting a good look.

Sapphira really wanted to see her toes. 

 Makes my heart happy!

Sapphira held Amira when we told the grandparents and Bobo they could come in.  She was so proud to be the one introducing her to them.

More baby snuggles.  Amira was so good and didn't fuss once with all the passing around and kisses she was getting.

Sister snuggles

Thumb sucker??  Time will tell!

Happy Birth Day, Amira!

Ready for picture overload? :)  I'd like to share the details of Amira's birth before I forget them all!

During the afternoon on March 1st, I started getting a headache.  This isn't uncommon for me while I'm pregnant so I didn't think much of it and was going to wait a bit to take anything for it so I could take my prescription medication after the kids went to bed and fall to sleep myself.  As the minutes ticked by, the pain intensified and by 7:00, I had a migraine and decided to take some Tylenol to take the edge off since Samuel wasn't quite home yet.  The Tylenol didn't help to manage the headache and it continued to build.  Samuel was home by now and took my blood pressure which turned out to be high.  This combined with the headache made us panic as these are symptoms of pre-eclampsia which I had at the end of both Natalie and Malachi's pregnancies.  We called the on-call doctor and she told us to go to the ER.  After shoving the last couple things we needed into the hospital bag and a quick trip to my parents to drop off Malachi and Sapphira, we headed out.  After losing Natalie, we have a hard time not letting our minds wonder to the worst case scenarios when it comes to our children so this 15 minute drive was torture.  We were quickly ushered to a triage room where they confirmed by blood pressure was still high and hooked me up to the monitors.  My headache continued and I needed the room to be as dark and quiet as possible in order to be even semi-comfortable.  After a couple hours of monitoring, my blood pressure dropped back into the normal range, but my continued headache made the on call OB nervous, so she said that delivering ASAP was the best things to do.  After a quick ultrasound that revealed Amira was still transverse, I was prepared for a c-section.  Things started moving quickly and I got very nervous.  So nervous that I started bawling my eyes out when I had to get my spinal put in for the surgery.  The anesthesiologist wasn't able to place the catheter the first time which was quite painful and I just burst into tears. oy  The sweet nurse that was helping me sit still for the spinal wrapped her arms around me while I put my head on her shoulder and just cried and cried.  I finally got a hold of myself right around the time the spinal was placed and was laid on the table so Samuel could come in and the surgery could start.  It was so strange listening to the doctors working and just waiting to meet our daughter.  After a few minutes, I heard them say they found her feet and then that her rump was out. At 2:17 am on 3/2/13 they said "It's a girl!" and then a couple seconds later her head was born.  They had to pull the silly girl out by her feet since she was transverse.  I heard a small cry and then they held her up over the curtain for our first look.  

 Hello sweet girl!!  I cried...I was so happy she was finally here!

 My first look up close.  Such a pretty girl.

Once they took her from me so I could get all put back together and transferred to the recovery room, Samuel went with Amira while she was cleaned up and measured.

 7 pounds, 4 ounces 19 inches long.

Already wrapped around his little finger. 

 

They finally brought her back to me in recovery where we tried nursing a bit and got to snuggle for the first time.  I can't believe how lucky we were to be blessed a fourth time.  Thank you Lord for your miracles!

Ballerina Sapphira

A dear friend of mine at church is a trained ballerina and as a ministry, she offers ballet classes through our church.  She is incredibly patient, knows just how to interact each age group, puts emphasis on using our bodies and our dancing as another way to offer praise to Jesus, and really just loves the girls and our Lord.  She starts each class with a prayer and ends their time together thanking Jesus.  My two nieces have been taking lessons from her for the last couple years and Sapphira has been waiting anxiously for her turn to dance.  Even with the paper chain count down I made her, she'd ask nearly everyday if it was time for "rina school" yet.  The morning I was able to tell her that "today is the day" was the best day of her little life!  After nap, we put on her tights, leotard and leg warmers and headed to church.

Isn't she the cutest ballerina you've ever seen??  She was so excited to put her dance skirt and shoes and look like a real "rina".  Goodness I love her!

Trying to make her skirt twirl like the other big girls.

As all the other girls and their families started coming, she got a bit unsure and decided to watch them from a distance.

The three little girls on the right are all other 3 year olds in her class and Miss M on the left was kind enough to show the littler ones how to pose.

Such beautiful happy girls.

Sapphira really enjoyed herself and talked for several days about all the things they did in class.  Every morning she asks if it's a "rina school" day.  I'm so glad to be able to let my kids to fun things that they want to do and at the same time learn about Jesus.  The older my kids get, the more I realize that it really does take a village to raise them and I'm grateful that my village includes so many wonderful Christ-centered people!

Fair time!!!

Our state fair is held in the city we live in and the fairgrounds are on a main street we use nearly everyday.  Every year the kids see something is going on, ask about it, but we have always been able to get by without taking them.  It is soooo expensive!  It was close to $30 for just the 4 of us to get in! This year, right along the street we take was a display of huge tractors and Malachi begged to see them every time we'd pass.  No getting out of it this year!  Since we decided to skip church after getting home so late from the wedding the previous day, we used our down day to go see what we could see.

Right inside the gate we entered, was a free kid's zone.  There was a hay pyramid to climb with a slide, necklaces and buttons to make, grain to dig in with tractors and shovels, and the kids' favorite, a barrel train.  Samuel was such a good sport and rode with Sapphira since she was nervous to do it by herself.  We'd told the kids the we wouldn't go on any rides so when we told them they could ride this, they were over the moon!  We also watched a funny magic/illusion show for several minutes before the kids wanted to move on to explore more.  Malachi got quite involved in the show and would clap and do motions at the appropriate times.  So cute!

Because we went on the second to last day, many of the animals had already been taken home.  We were still able to see cows, pigs, goats, llamas, turtles, snakes, a couple horses (the Clydesdale horses had already all left.  I had really wanted to show Malachi how big they were.  Bummer), rabbits and several types of chickens.  This incubator full of baby chicks was pretty interesting to them.  We also surprised them by getting an elephant ear and a couple scones to share as a snack.

Even though we'd told the kids they couldn't go on any rides, the kids still wanted to see what that section of the fair was all about.  We had wanted to maybe take them on the Ferris wheel, but it would have cost $25 for the four of us to ride just once!  Not happening!  We told them they could watch a ride go for a little bit so we found the Ferris wheel (it had the most lights!) and just stood for several minutes while the kids were mesmerized by the sight.  I wished I'd taken a picture of their gaping mouths but it was just so crowded.

It was dark by the time we left and Malachi thought our shadows in the parking lot were very silly and begged me to take a picture.  Samuel is at the far left, then Malachi, Sis in the stroller and me on the right.

We all had a good time and I don't think we'll be able to get out of taking them in the future since now that it's gone, they often point out the fairgrounds when we pass by them and talk about all the things they did when the fair was there.  I guess I'll have to look for deals and coupons next year! :)

Wedding, Horses and Sand...Oh My!

On September 1st, we were invited to the wedding of our oldest niece Katie. The ceremony was about 3 hours away, so we loaded up the car in the morning and set off.  The kids did soooo good in the car and we only had to stop once or twice for potty breaks.  The ceremony and reception were beautiful, Katie was gorgeous and she and our new nephew Jeff seem so happy together.  I took my camera, but didn't ever get it out of my purse...I was preoccupied making sure my babies were behaving well. :)

After the reception was over, we'd only been out of the car for as long as it took to drive there, so we knew we needed to find something for the kids to do before we left.  We asked our family memebers who live in town and they told us the best way to get to the beach (less than 5 minutes away!!!) and my in-laws had spent the previous night in a hotel and had discovered some fun things for our littlest nieces to do.  Off we went in search of adventure!

First we found a small area where you can ride horses for just a couple dollars.  We had to wait a bit for the horses to come back from a ride on the sand, but it was set up kind of like a little cowboy camp so the kids had some things to do while we waited.

They "started" their own fire.

The horses started coming back.  He was anxious to see which one he'd get to ride.

The girls were able to ride the horses earlier in the day, so they excitedly told Malachi which ones had been theirs and all the things they'd learned.

I tiny bit unsure, but so excited!

Since Sapphira is afraid of even little dogs, we wondered what she'd think of a big horse.  She got on with Daddy's help and didn't look back!

Off they go!  The trainers took the kids on a loop around the stables.  They were never far from us and we could hear giggles the entire time.

I don't know what this face is about but it sure is cute!

After having so much fun riding, we walked two blocks down the street to the beach.  What a great way to get out all the extra energy from riding in the car!

Funny story...after we'd finished eating at the reception, the 4 kids were playing off to the side of the room with some other kids.  We saw Addy and Malachi pair off like they normally do and start talking.  A bit later, they came up to our table holding hands and informed us that they had just gotten married, too.  I asked them what they did to get married and they said they'd held hands said "I'm married to you" and then Malachi kissed her on the cheek.  Ta-da!!!  Married!

I love living so close the the beach!  Our house is only about an hour away from the Oregon coast.  Our kids love it, too!

When the sun was nearly set, we walked back to Grandma and Papa's hotel and took baths to get the sand and dirt off and get jammied up.  Sapphira fell asleep about 45 minutes after we started heading home and Malachi stayed up for nearly 2 hours but was content to just lean against his pillow and watch the moon.  I'm thankful we have good travelers!  Congratulations to Katie and Jeff and here's to another good day for the memory books!