Yes, After This Picture, I STILL Married Him.

 

We just celebrated 5 years this past week. Really? It’s only been 5 years? It feels like forever. In a good way.

We have 4 girls. The first two are not his by blood, but don’t tell him or the girls that. He is their father. End of discussion. He’s the one who helps them out with their homework, tucks them into bed, puts things together, helps them with their iTouch’s, goes to parent teacher classes, gives them blessings, pays for their braces and glasses. As you can see, it takes a lot to be a dad and he’s an awesome one.

Let me tell you about my children.

Lauren is my first born. She loves to play her saxophone. She is in regular concert band and on the “side” is in jazz band and pep band. She takes it very seriously. She is also a scientist. Everything has to have an answer to everything. She is in AP math & science. She always has her hand up to give an answer in class. In fact she tells me that a lot of the time, the teacher will ask a question and then that teacher will ask if anyone besides Lauren knows the answer. She has her laptop and microscope that she uses on a regular basis. She also loves her video games. She loves to read. She is a great big sister. She does chores around the house without being asked.  She loves to play with her hair and it has gotten herself in trouble with it a couple of times.

Kathryn is second in line. She is a very typical 2nd born child. Wants all the attention all the time. Wishes she was an only child. Talks and talks all the time. You look around at all the second born children. See if I’m not right. She loves to dye her hair. It’s been purple, green, blue, red and lately is dark brown. Her natural hair color is blond. I’m sure she’ll be a hair stylist when she grows up. She says she hates school, but she gets straight A’s. We never have to worry if Kathryn has done her homework, she just does it. She loves to run and wants to be on the track team when she can next year and she loves to read. Since school has started and she has logged how much she’s read, at the parent teacher conference on the the 20th of October, she was at 27 books. The teacher told us that when a child reads that much, usually their school work takes a hit. Nope. Not her. Her teeth are straight and it looks like we’re going to slide by with her need to not have braces. I never needed them either. She has also never had a cavity.

 

 

 

Amy Lynne is our third daughter. She was a very nice surprise for us. She was born one week exactly before our 1st wedding anniversary. What was even more a surprise was that she was born dead. Even though evergreen wasn’t expecting it, they got to working on her really fast and got her back. Her whole life she was on some oxygen support, whether it was a vent, c-pap or nasal cannulas. She suffered a stroke when she was still inside me. She passed away at 10 weeks, 5 days. On a Thursday near 5:30 pm.

Since you can’t really compare, she never reached 6 pounds. In the pictures above this one, she was born at 3lbs, 14 ounces.

Then there is the baby of the family. Hurricane Lily. She debates with us. Seriously. She refuses to go potty on the toilet. She doesn’t have time. No joke. Here is a regular occurring themed conversation:

Dad: Lily, go and get a new diaper so we can change you.

Lily: Don’t know where they are.

Dad: No, there are some in the living room.

Lily: We’re out. We need to go to the store and buy some more.

Dad: Lily, if you don’t go and get a diaper, then you can put big girl panties on and go on the toilet.

Lily: *Looks around sees a diaper near her feet and picks it up* she exclaims “Look! a diaper. No potty for me.”

As you can see, she talks in full sentences. She is in gymnastics and loves it. Anytime I say, “get your coat on, we’re leaving!” She always asks me if we’re going to “nymnastics” She loves the bjorn. Yes, Benjamin still puts her to sleep in it every night. Yes, she’s way too big for it. She is a natural mother. She has a baby and her stroller that she walks around the office. She makes her baby sit in between her legs and does her hair every morning. She also makes her baby sit and folds her arms for prayer time. That baby needs to be reverent too! I know she’s going to give me a run for my money. In this instance, that is a very good things I married a younger man! He can have the energy to run around after her.

This is my family. We are eternally linked to one another and I wouldn’t have it any other way.