a little snack

FOUND: ALL~NATURAL animal crackers at Target (my favorite store)!!! I hardly ever buy animal crackers or graham crackers or the like because they have all kinds of junk in them ... so this was quite exciting :)

They're really good (especially the box with half original and half chocolate) ... and reasonably priced ($1.99 for a 10 ounce box). My kids would rather have a pile of animal crackers over a cookie any day!

P.S. I also just discovered their Archer Farms line of ice cream ... as far as I know they only have four flavors. The exciting thing here is that the first ingredient is cream! It's not quite Haagen~Daz ... but it's pretty close ... and MUCH cheaper! ($3.99 for 48 ounces versus $3.00 for only 14 ounces.) We tried Madagascan Vanilla and Bavarian Chocolate. YUM!

a little MIRACLE ~ actually a big one!!!

Well ... it wasn't twins ... just a pretty large baby! Our sweet baby boy came into this world at 4:37 on Thursday morning! He weighed 9 pounds & 10 ounces ... and had a whopping 15 inch head (my doc said she'd never seen a 15 incher ... and she's delivered over 500 babies) ... so it was a very good thing that he arrived ten days early.

It never ceases to fascinate me that one moment this little person is inside of me and then, just moments later ... this same little person ... is out! Isn't it amazing how the LORD knits little babies together inside of their mothers? It seems more amazing to me with each child that we have!

We are all so excited to finally see him and hold him and kiss him! Halo is such a good helper and can't get enough of the little guy. Buddy is so thrilled to have a brother. And Foofie is pleased that our family is even and balanced now ~ three girls and three boys.

He doesn't officially have a name yet ... we're narrowing it down though. My husband joked that he's the Haagen~Daz baby as that was a key component of my pregnancy diet. At the moment ...
he is happily going by "Little Buddy" or "Cutie" :)

a little "huge"

Today, after the nurse had exited the exam room and my doctor was preparing to see me ... I actually heard the nurse whisper to my doctor out in the hall, "She's huge!"

a little belly (okay, a big one)

Well ... today I heard it about six times. "Are you having twins?" or "Are you sure there's just one in there?"

It is rather strange as I was never asked this ~ not even once ~ during my previous three pregnancies.

Anyway, my kids have heard it so much that they're starting to think it's a real possibility.

I'm either having a really big baby ... or a really big placenta??? Definitely not twins.

a little biker

Foofie inherited Halo's first bike on Friday night and she biked 4 miles on Saturday and 4 miles on Sunday! She wanted to go more ... but her pregnant mother was tired out!

a little commentary

Recent comments from my family ~

"When you bend your leg and I see your veins ... it looks like your leg is going to die!"
(Foofie ~ by the way, she remembers to pray for my veins daily.)

"Your bellybutton is all blown out!" (Buddy)

"I can't remember what you were like without a big belly."
(Halo ~ and I can hardly remember it either.)

"Look at the plump mamma robin!" (Halo) "Just like your mamma!" (Daddy)

a little mother's day album

Jeff and his sweet mother (and some other dudes) ...
Me and my dear mother ...

Me and my precious children ... Dessert time ~ yummy sundaes!

And a cupcake for Foofie!

a little planning

Halo asks to visit the library several times per week ~ she can hardly survive without new reading material! Tonight ~ as usual, she was planning ahead ~ she asked if they could go to the library while I'm having the baby. Why not?!?!?

"Your brain is always on the library," I teased her.
"My brain is always on legos." Buddy told us. No kidding!!!
"My brain is at the hospital." Foofie chimed in :)

Then, the kids collectively decided that the best time for me to go into labor would be on Sunday morning at church ... because we'd be close to the hospital and Daddy would be sure to be around. I'm not so sure I'd like that scenario though ...