My Little Girl is Five!

I cannot believe that 5 years has passed, since my precious daughter was born! Really, where did the time go?

It was on September 16th, 2003 at 8:19pm that we welcomed Lily Anagrace into our world. We wanted to be surprised as to if our firstborn would be a girl or boy. I was overjoyed to have a daughter! She has been everything that I would hope for in a daughter and more. She has grown from a calm,sweet-natured baby to a loving, compassionate little girl. She is a big sister twice-over and tries to be a second mommy to her little brothers. She is playful and encouraging with Anderson and gentle and comforting to baby Ashton. She is really good about thinking about how others would feel. Even when she was deciding which cupcakes to take to preschool, she was concerned that the boys would not want to eat Hannah Montana cupcakes and she wanted to buy them "boy cupcakes".

She is a collector of many things...rocks and acorns, dum-dum wrappers and small scraps of paper. And she has a great imagination. She will make up games and play with her dolls or Barbies by herself for a long time. She is very inquisitive. Lots and lots of questions! (It must not be a coincidence that Curious George is one of her very favorite cartoons). "Mama" was her first word, a word now that is NOT used sparingly. I hear it multiple times a day preceding her questions. My most favorite thing to hear is her saying "I love you", which she also does often along with one of her sweet kisses and hugs. She is the most precious little girl I know. I am so glad that God gave her to us five years ago today!

Anagrace on the day she was born... look at that head full of dark hair!...Cute as can be in her hat on her first birthday ...

Posing with her best buddies, Jordyn and Josh, at her 2nd birthday...

Starting to look less like a baby and more like a big girl at 3...Blowing out her candles just last year...
My beautiful 5 year-old...

A Funny Conversation with my Almost-Five-Year-Old

A few days ago, we were listening to the song Ammunition by Switchfoot, which has a line in it that says "We're the issue". Here's the conversation that followed:

Anagrace: Mama, what's an issue?
Me: It's kinda hard to explain, umm....
Anagrace: Is it like, when you blow your nose?
Me: No, that's is a tissue. An issue is like a problem.
Anagrace: Oh, so if our dog was stuck in a hole and there was fire around the hole, would that be an issue?
Me: Yes, that would be a big issue.
Anagrace: So, if it was a little dog stuck in a hole with no fire around it, that would be a little issue?
Me: I guess so?!

Has it been 7 weeks already?!

Wow, it has been a really long time since I've posted anything. Life has been crazy busy! And that is an understatement. By the way if you haven't heard of bloglines, you should check it out. You can subscribe to multiple blog feeds that you read and you don't have to keep checking the sites to see if slack bloggers, like myself, have posted anything.

When I was pregnant, a lot of people told me "going from 1 to 2 was harder than going from 2 to 3", and to them I just want to say "liar, liar pants on fire"! Just kidding! I'm sure it would be a lot easier if the second and third were spaced a little further apart than mine, maybe that's the difference. Anyway, we are "surviving". When anyone asks how we are doing my reply is "Hanging in there". That's just how it feels right now. I'm sure I'll get in the groove eventually. I did find a way to hold both boys at once!

(Can you see Ashton's head right up under my chin?)

Ashton is a sweet baby boy. He's starting to smile and it just melts my heart. He has reflux, which makes him fussy... a lot and want to be held...all the time. It is very difficult to see him hurting and not be able to do much for him. He is on medication to relieve the discomfort and we're still working with the pediatritian to try and manage it. He is such a chubby boy despite the puking! My other two were skinny babies, with no spitting up whatsoever...go figure. I just love all of his rolls and those cheeks...I can't stop kissing them!

Let's see,what else...we went to the beach. We went the week that Hurricane Faye sent lovely weather to the coast. The weather was okay the first day we arrived, but after that it rained everyday. Every. day. We were trapped in our cabin with our 3 children. Fun! One night we even lost power. Anyone ever nurse and change diapers by flashlight? I don't recommend it!

At least we had a few good hours on the beach together.

So, that should catch you up for now. Hopefully, I can post again soon.