Happy Birthday Aedan

To my sweet boy:

Every woman is forever changed when her first child is born. She is no longer just a woman; she is a mother. When I had you I was just a girl, not yet a woman. Honestly I had no way to prepare for your impending arrival. I had no idea what was really coming. You arrived only 5 days after my 18^th birthday. To say I was naïve would be an understatement. To say I was utterly clueless would be an understatement. To say that I was a complete idiot would be an understatement.

But here is the beauty of it: you changed my life in every possible way. I had to grow up, and fast. I had to work extra hard to graduate on time and with good grades. I had to get my priorities right. I had to not only be a teenage girl, but I had to learn to be a woman, a mother for you. Your dad and I had to learn to grow up together, in love.

I often think about what my life would be like if I hadn’t gotten pregnant at 17. I’m sure by now I would have my college degree. I would probably be traveling all over the world. I’m not even sure if your dad and I would have been together. But I never want those things more than I want you. I am so glad you came into our lives, because your dad and I really are perfect for each other, though at the time we might not have seen that. We’ve been together now for 9 years! All thanks to you!

You are so smart, so talented. I look at you, and I swear there is no way I made you. You have such joy always, and you are so patient. I see a leader when I look at you. Every time there is a chance to help someone you do it. I can always count on you to help me with your sisters, or with some house work. But I’d much rather see you play: football, Legos, running, video games, Pokémon, or rough housing with friends. You have never-ending patience when it comes to your sisters, especially little Corah June, whom you’ve always been so gentle with since the day she was born. You have a natural curiosity for everything, and I hope it never ends. You are smarter than your years. Every day I am impressed by you and proud of you.

I can see you in the future; though it breaks my heart to see it. You will be such a good husband, an incredible father. An amazing leader of men. Maybe a college football star? Maybe an entrepreneur like your dad? I wish you could be my little boy forever though. You are really growing too fast.

Thank you for being my sweet boy. Thank you for making me realize everything I’ve ever wanted from life. Thank you for making me grow up. Thank you for making me love your dad. Thank you for making me the woman I am today, I am so grateful. I couldn’t be who I am without you.

Happy 8^th Birthday to you Aedan. I love you more than you could ever know.

The day we found out you were a boy

two months old, chillin in your crib

Five months old, my sweet boy

That face! Six months old

Daddy is home from Iraq and finally gets to spend time with you. 8 months old.

Christmas time in 2007. 1 year old.

Just me and my boy. 1 year old.

Two years old

Driving with papa, two years old

that sweet face, two years old

First movie theatre experience, 3 years old

First day of preschool, 3 years old

Loving your sister Morgan, 4 years old

4 years old

You are the best big brother in the world, 4 years old

On your 4th birthday

Fishing with daddy, 5 years old

First day of 1st grade, 6 years old

6th birthday

7 years old, that smile!

1st day of 2nd grade! Getting so big now!

You love your seahawks! 7 years old.

I love you so much Aedan, you will be my little boy forever.

 

What’s in a name?

In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare’s Juliet says:

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as
sweet.”

The meaning of this quote is that we should love the person, not the name. Juliet loved Romeo, but their families were in a long-standing feud. She asked him to refuse his name and be her lover, and so he did. She loved him despite his name.

However, I tend to think that names actually have great importance.

My favorite thing about having a baby is choosing a name! It is such a fun part of being pregnant. The name you are given is so important to who you are. I have had the pleasure of naming four little ones. Sam and I picked each name with a ton of thought, and prayer.

Aedan Grant: Our first-born. Our only boy. Born 11.27.06. While many people have heard the name “Aiden” not a lot of people have seen it spelled the traditional way: Aedan. This is an old Gaelic name (traditionally Irish Peoples) meaning “fire.” When I was pregnant with Aedan, I noticed from the beginning that he was a very active baby! I first felt him move at 14 weeks which is VERY early for first time mothers. From those first butterfly movements to full on kicks, he was always moving. Before we decided on his name, I always thought of him as my little fireball, and so when I saw this name and meaning I knew this was a perfect choice. Little did I know “Aiden” was going to be a very popular name and it shot up in 2006! A ton of people have that name, and I was trying to get away from popular names. OH WELL! I still have not seen it spelled the traditional way. Grant is Samuel’s middle name. I am not a huge fan of juniors so I didn’t want to name our son Samuel, so giving our son Sam’s middle name was a good compromise. Grant is latin for “Great” which works really well with his chosen name meaning of “fire” as he is my great fire! My great passion for life! My beautiful son!

Aedan Grant, 5 years old

 

Kenley Leona: Our first-born daughter. A twin sister. Born 03.11.09. I have never heard the name Kenley before or since our choosing it. I have to admit naming twins was a huge challenge. I didn’t want the names to rhyme or match. While pregnant, the twins were always in the same location, Kenley on the bottom, Morgan on top. Kenley was a lot more active than Morgan, and was quite a pain in the butt—literally. Between the two girls, her personality showed through the pregnancy. She seemed outgoing, as she would kick me back any time I touched her. We thought of her as our little princess! When searching for names, we looked for name meanings that pointed towards princess or royalty. Sam is very English and so we decided to go for an English name. Kenley means “the king’s meadow” or “royal meadow.” It is also a place in England. For a middle name, we decided to keep with a family name as we did for Aedan. Because Aedan was our first-born boy and received his dad’s middle name, we did the same for our first-born daughter. Leona is my middle name and it is Hebrew for “my strength.” This middle name fits Kenley very well because she has a very strong female personality!

Kenley Leona, 3 years old

 

Morgan Elise: Our second born daughter. A twin sister. Born 03.11.09. My poor Morgan was squished her entire pregnancy by her twin sister. She was on top, half in my rib cage! In fact, when the girls were delivered via c-section, the docs had to pull her out of my rib cage! Painful! During pregnancy, Morgan was not very active, but she played nicely with her sister. She seemed quiet and calm. We thought she would be our smart child who enjoyed reading. We had a hard time naming the twins, but one name always kept coming up: Morgan. This Welsh name means “great brightness” and in German, we say “Guten Morgen” to mean “good morning.” Morgan certainly is our sunshine or “brightness” of our life! She is such a happy child even with her challenges (which I promise to eventually blog about!). Her happiness despite her disability is what brings me inspiration; I wish we could all be like Morgan! In keeping with family names as middle names, Morgan got her Grandma’s middle name Elise. This name is French meaning “consecrated to God.” Consecrated to God means that you are set apart for Gods use or that you are special to God. Morgan fits this SO well because throughout her struggles, we can see that she is SO special to God. She was given specifically to us from God to teach us many many things. She was definitely used for God’s purpose and she will continue to do so.

Morgan Elise, 3 years old

 

Corah June: Our last child. Our third daughter. Born 08.10.12. Sam and I took a long time to decide this little girl’s name. We wanted to make sure her name “fit” with our other children. We didn’t want to go out of left field with this one. We really thought this little one was a boy, so we had many boy names picked out in the beginning. When we discovered we had a little girl on the way we were excited, but didn’t know where to start in the naming process. We also discovered some difficulties with the pregnancy during an ultrasound and we prayed to God she would make it through! We started looking for names with powerful meanings. We decided on the middle name first: June. This was Sam’s grandma’s name. She was a beautiful strong woman! Not only did it fit the family names for middle names criteria, but June was the Roman goddess of fertility and childbirth. As we discovered the tumor on the placenta, we agreed this would be her middle name because we wanted her to be healthy and strong. Corah was eventually chosen (although even up to her birthdate, we still were thinking “Claire” might be her name) and it means “heart.” Corah certainly has my heart! She is such a sweet baby, and we are so thankful that God gave her to us.

 

Corah June, 3 weeks old

 

 

 

 

 

One week away!

10 weeks pregnant!

We always knew we wanted a big family. We sped up the process by having twins! Everyone thought we were crazy, but we still wanted more children! We started to try for number four when I come home from my beautiful long vacation to Florida in September. It only took two months! We were so happy it happened quickly! We discovered we were pregnant on December 14th 2011.

Because this pregnancy was my third and also after twins, it didn’t take long for me to “show.” I felt like I was starting to show around 10 weeks, but we didn’t announce our pregnancy until 13 weeks, which was pushing it because many people had already guessed!

12 weeks pregnant!

We were excited to finally tell everyone about baby number four! Nothing really exciting happened until 19 weeks when we had our next ultrasound. We were excited to find out boy or girl. We found out we were adding another girl to our family! We also found out some scary information. The ultrasound technition discovered a tumor on the placenta, called a Chorioangioma. This was a potentially dangerous tumor that could kill baby, mommy or both. This type of tumor can potentially cut off blood supply to baby and kill her, or make her a super preemie. We were terrified! We already have had a horrible experience with preemie’s with the twins being born at 32 weeks. We did not want to go through that again!

Little girls toes, and underneath the toes is the tumor that looks like a black circle

I was put on bed rest and told to take it easy. They were going to heavily monitor this pregnancy from now on to make sure baby was growing and the tumor wasn’t. Bed rest with thre other children at home, is NOT easy. I was worried all the time, and very stressed. Four weeks later, I had another ultrasound.

3D ultrasound at 23 weeks.

The lead up to this ultrasound was SO stressful! We were terrified of getting bad news. We just prayed our daughter would be healthy! The news wasn’t good or bad; the tumor didn’t grow, but it was still there. Our daughter looked healthy though, and these 3D ultrasounds were so fun to look at. She was beautiful! I kept growing, and she kept growing! We waited 8 weeks for another ultasound.

3D ultrasound at 31 weeks.

This ultrasound brought great news! The tumor shrank by 2cm! We were so happy! Our prayers were answered and we were so thankful! At this ultrasound, we were told our daughter was a healthy 4lbs! We could tell that she looks alot like her sister Morgan! Aren’t 3D ultrasounds extraordinary?! We were still being monitored by the doc though, and were given another ultrasound at 36 weeks. This ultrasound showed the that tumor was so small that it wasn’t even measurable! WOW! God does answer prayers! Amen and Amen!

32 weeks pregnant!

Now that I am one week away from meeting her, I am very uncomfortable and I can barely walk! She is very far down and ready to meet us. I know Aedan is ready to meet his sister, but I still don’t think Kenley and Morgan really know whats going on. They know there is going to be a baby, but they don’t understand what that really means. I hope to make it as smooth as a transition for them as possible.

Luckily we have Sam’s sister Molly coming to help us for two weeks. This is MUCH needed, as we don’t have any close family members who can help full time. With three kids, and two hyper dogs plus meals to make and a house to clean, it would be WAY to much for me to do by myself. Sam has to go back to work about a week after the birth, and there is no way I could survive on my own after a painful c-section. We are so thankful she took us up on our offer, and agreed to come nanny for us! Now I can have much needed mommy/baby bonding time, healing time, and it will give us time to learn to breastfeed.

I pray the c-section goes smoothly, baby is healthy and I can recover quickly. I am so excited to meet our daughter! Wish us luck 🙂

Excited to Blog!

Hi Blogging world!

I am very thrilled to start a blog for both personal and practical content. I have been a fan of blogs for a long time, but have made many excuses to not start my own. Finally, I made the decision to start it up.

Coming up with a blog name was the hardest part! I couldn’t find a name I liked that was not already taken. I thought about it for a few days before I knew I wanted my faith to show through in the title. I owe everything to God and his many blessings in my life. I would not be who I am today without my faith in Him.

I enjoy being with my family more than anything. I love being a stay-at-home mom and a wife. This is the main purpose and drive in my life. One day I would like to own my own kids resale and consignment shop, and I would also like to own a yoga studio. In 2013, I have plans to get my yoga teaching certificate and become a yoga instructor. Luckily, this is a very mommy friendly job that I would fully enjoy! Fitness and nutrition are huge passions of mine. I am also interested in design and fashion. I strive to be a better christian woman, a better mother and better wife.

I am a wife to the most remarkable, self-less man imaginable. Sam and I have been married for 5.5 years.  When we met in highschool–he was a senior, I was a junior–he asked me on a date, and we never looked back. Its been the best 6.5 years of my life. Following his highschool graduation, Sam joined the army. He served honorably for 4 years. He spent two years deployed overseas, one year in Iraq and one year in Afghanistan. He earned a purple heart for injuries sustained in Iraq, but he was one of the lucky ones. He got to come home to his wife and kids! After his four years, he jumped right into college life using the G.I. Bill (literally 2 weeks after he got home, he was in classes! He doesn’t mess around!). He received his Associate’s Degree in Business in the spring, and has been accepted to the University of Washington, which he starts this fall. He will be getting a business finance degree! He has an astounding drive and ambition, and as the head of our family, I know he is taking us places! We are so incredibly proud of his success thus far and his dedication to our family is unmatchable!

I am the mother to our five-year old son, Aedan. He is a brave little boy who changed the outcome of my entire life! He is very curious and full of life. He enjoys reading, playing baseball and being with his sisters. He loves science and he loves God. For the past two years, he has attended Cascade Christian Pre-school, and in the fall he will become a full-time Kindergarten student at Cascade Christian! We are so proud of him! I am so sad to see him go to school full-time though, I will miss him at home with me! Watching him grow has been such a blessing.

I am the mother to our three-year old daughter, Kenley. She is a silly girly girl who loves to play dress up and princesses. She loves the color pink and is the typical girl. She cries when she thinks a bug is going to touch her! She has enjoyed fashion and clothes since she was about 18 months old! She often cries when she doesn’t get to wear what she wants. She is very outgoing and sociable. This year, she will be starting preschool at Cascade Christian. I am excited to see her grow and develop.

I am the mother to our three-year old daughter, Morgan. Yes, my two angel girls are twins! Because they are fraternal, and look nothing alike, I often get asked if they are in fact twins. Morgan is such a sweet little girl. She is very inward and quiet, and enjoys her alone time and her sleep. Her and her sister had quite a traumatic early birth which caused Morgan some health issues (more on that later). She inspires me to be a better person. She loves to get dirty outside, play with her babies and she absolutely loves animals. Morgan is the smartest three-year old I’ve ever met! She always wants to learn! This fall she will learn even more when she starts preschool at Cascade Christian. We look forward to seeing her flourish in such a good school environment.

I am also an expectant mom to our sweet baby girl, who is literally 9 days away from being born! This pregnancy has been turbulent, and LONG. We can’t wait to meet our daughter! We are so thankful she has made it full-term!

On top of all these beautiful children, we also have three furry children! Our cat, Monroe, is five years old, and is the boss of the house! She demands food, and begs more than our dogs! Griffey is our two-year old Beagle-Jack Russel mix. We call him our “travel size dog” because both Sam and I have never had a small dog before. He is very good at cuddling but has a lot of barking and anxiety issues. He is Houdini when it comes to escaping from the yard! Gideon is our basset hound, but he is more affectionately known as “big baby” because he is so big but he doesn’t know it. He has the biggest personality of any dog I’ve ever known! One look at him, and you will melt! He enjoys being around his humans and sleeping on the couch.

I intend to use this blog for capturing personal family moments, as well as spiritual growth, design ideas, fitness & nutrition information, fashion, parenting and stay-at-home mom advice. I am one woman, with many passions; life being my main passion!