Happy 5th birthday to my sweet Elizabeth

To my dearest Elizabeth, 

When I was about 6 years old I saw the movie Baby Boom. Even though it was not a kids movie by any means, I loved it. I loved the story line and I absolutely adored the baby Elizabeth from the movie. I imagined a time when I would have my very own Elizabeth baby girl to hug, love, and care for.  About 20 years later, on April 30th, 2010, my wish came true. From the second that you were born, I could not take my eyes away from you. The nurses begged me to rest that night but I could not close my lids. I did not want to sleep for a single second because if I did, it might mean that my fairy tale dream did not come true. Since the moment that you were placed into my arms, you have amazed me and you continue to amaze me in every step that you take through life. Your soul has a deeper understanding of the world. You have grounded me with such simple, but profound statements.  The world is a better place with your beautiful spirit in it. You are my dream come true buttercup. I waited so long for you. Thank you for all of the joy and knowledge that you have already given me. I'm so proud to be your mommy and I love watching you grow. Happy birthday my Elizabeth. 

"I wanted you more than you ever will know, so I sent love to follow wherever you go." -Nancy Tillman

Xo

Mama

Photos by the crazy talented Tyler Branch :)

Family camp

We spent the weekend camping at Vail Lake campgrounds with the YMCA adventure guides. Mason and Tommy have been attending their father son campouts at various locations for the past 3 years. It is an amazing program and such a great way to strengthen their bond. I love when they come back and share stories from their trip.

I was especially excited to go to this campout with them to experience some of the fun myself. Well, I do have to admit that I was mostly excited, but also very nervous to campout with an almost one year old in a tent for the weekend. I was kind of expecting the worst with that little Addie girl. 

We arrived on Friday had a great dinner, bonfire, and drinks with the tribe. I put Addison down early. The big kids stayed up super late running around with glow sticks and chasing their friends. It was adorable to see them all wound up and excited to be there. Around midnight the bird woke up freezing. Even though it was high 80s during the day, it went down to 35 overnight! We were not prepared for that so we were pretty cold. Even though we had very little sleep that night, it didn't stop us from having loads of fun on Saturday. We played lazer tag, swam at the pool, had tons of yummy food, a very entertaining nation fire, and ended the night with s'mores, drinks, and card games by the fire. I forgot to mention that the whole weekend was 70s themed so we got to have some fun dressing up in our daisy dukes!

What great memories that we made this weekend. The best part was spending the weekend unplugged from phones, tv, and the computer. Feels so refreshing to be present in the moment.

Xo

Kirby 

The best valentine ever

I received the best valentine ever from my Mason. He found the idea for this in his Highlights magazine. He followed the instructions and free hand drew the flamingo. The love note in the middle was his original thought. "I hope that your my only valentine forever.."

Wish granted moodle. There isn't anyone else that I would rather be valentines with ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Happy birthday to our boy

My boy. The one who made me a mommy before I was ready 8 short years ago. You have taught us so much in your time on earth and you have changed us down to the core. You will always challenge us, make us grow, and set the path for our parenting ways. Your sisters have you as a the greatest example of a the kind heart that a boy should have. Your imagination is so incredible and it fills me with such joy to see you still dress up and give as much effort into every different "role" or job that you take on. Your ability to read at such a young age has helped your brain to grow to imagine and question so many things in our world. Mason means to build or strength with stone. Little did we know that when we named you how much that would apply perfectly to your role in our family.  You are the foundation of it all. You started this bond and we couldn't be more proud as we watch you grow. Love you to the moon and back moodle 

Tackle your fears

Elizabeth had her first soccer game last weekend.  She was excited to get dressed up in big brother's hand me down soccer shorts and cleats. As we got ready to walk out the door though, a fear set over her face.  She shared with me that she was really nervous to play soccer against all the other kids.  She was scared to be out there in front of all of the parents who would be watching. I assured her that it was ok to feel nervous but she didn't have to.  She was going to have so much fun running on the field, kicking the ball, and playing with her buddies.  I also told her that she would feel so proud of herself when she was finished.
When we got there she eagerly ran onto the field, greeted her coach, and put on her uniform.  The fear seemed to disappear and she relaxed.  I looked on with delight as she aggressively went for the ball.  As she was running off of the field during a break, she yelled over to me and said, "Hey mommy, you were right, this is fun!  I'm so proud of myself for playing!"
I couldn't feel more joy toward her at that very moment.  My little girl tackled her fears head on and succeeded.
xo.
Kirby

Treasured family time

I find that we are all so busy anymore that we do not get many days to spend together alone as our family of 5. We decided to take advantage of the day off and travel north to check out this little gem of a beach that has tide pools and low waves. It is the perfect beach for the kids. Laguna Beach is about an hour north of where we live in Carlsbad. Instead of giving the kids snacks or an iPad to occupy them on the drive we just let them sit in their boosters together in the 3rd row. They spent the whole time giggling, drawing pictures for each other on the magna doodle, and looking at the scenery outside. It was a refreshing break from the every day schedule that is filled with work, school, homework, after school activities, the computer, and tv.  
The forecast said partly cloudy in the mid 60s but it turned out to be a gorgeous sunny, 70 degree day. Mason and Elizabeth ran in and out of the ocean, built castles, dug holes, and burried each other in the sand. Tommy, Addison, and I spent some time relaxing in the chairs watching the rascals play. We let Addie down in the sand thinking that she would hate it, but she ended up loving it! She was crawling all over and putting gobs full of sand in her mouth. During low tide we explored the tide pool area. There were great rocks to climb all over so that you could see the little sea creatures. We saw fish, muscles, crabs, urchins, and snails.  Mason and Ellie were fascinated!
It was a great day. One that I will truly treasure. I don't know what the future holds for us later this year when Tommy's contract ends with the Navy. These may be our last few months on the west coast so I'm going to do my best to live in the moment in this beautiful state that we have been lucky enough to call home.

Xo

Kirby

Reflecting back over 2014

I sit here on this beautiful day reflecting over this past exciting and emotional year... And my time as a mother.
We were blessed to welcome into our lives a beautiful baby girl on May 4, 2014. We had a bit of a ride through the pregnancy. Both mason and Ellie were born prematurely. Mason came into the world 6 weeks early at 5lbs 14 oz. In true Mason fashion he came out kicking and screaming, but within an hour of birth he had respiratory distress and wound up in the nicu. After two weeks of feeding issues we were able to take our peanut home. That scarred us severely as young first time parents. It took us a long time to even consider number two, but once we did we were excited to give mason a sibling. After a high alert pregnancy, filled with progesterone shots and bed rest, Elizabeth Ruth was born 4 weeks early at 6 lbs 8 oz. She was a little squirt but she was strong. "Ellie" managed to get by without any nicu time! Wahoo! She was in my room the entire stay at the hospital and she left with me when it was time to go home. Life had been pretty awesome with these two rascals that we really had to think long and hard about bringing another one into the mix. First off what would the pregnancy bring, and secondly, life is good and easy- do we want to start over again? I'm the oldest of 3 and tommy is the youngest of 6. Our siblings both mean the world to us. The thought of Mason and Ellie not experiencing another sibling made us sad. We wanted the dynamic that three would bring so we gave it shot. We got the pee on the stick "yay you are preg" positive at the end of august but we didn't get the official doctor read until September 30th which just so happens to be our 7th anniversary. We told the kids and our family after we got the green light on that day. We didn't really want to find out the sex but Mason was really anxious to find out if he was going to have a brother or sister so we decided to find out. Our ultrasound was on December 23rd, so we had the idea to have the tech write down the gender so that we could find out together on Christmas what the baby would be. I can admit this now but I was totally hoping and expecting it to be a girl. But to my surprise BOY was written on the card we pulled out on Christmas morning. After a bit of tears and a few weeks of adjustment to the thought of a boy I got excited for a little baby boy. I spent the rest of the time getting his room ready and filling his closet with the most adorable little outfits (thanks Tish :)
 I was on high risk because of the other two, so I took it as easy as I could with two other rascals running around, but there isn't much down time between school run around after school activities and life. I was taking the progesterone shots but right around 29 weeks I ended up in the hosital with regular contractions. After a dose of blood pressure meds to smooth contractions I was able to go home. I spent the remaining weeks on red alert as I started to dilate. At 36 weeks I was already at 5 cms so we figured any second he would be here. Surprisingly it wasn't until 39 weeks that I actually started having contractions. We made it into the hospital and after a few short hours and one push our baby GIRL came out. What a shock that was! They placed her into my arms and when I looked at that sweet face, I said her name is Addison. I was living on a cloud as I snuggled my new baby girl in that hospital and brought home a bundle of pink. I sit her today staring at the photos my dear friend Sarah took of our Addie girl about a month ago.  I can't help but think about how one little thing can change life in an instant and you are never the same..  My heart couldn't be fuller as I think about how God has given me everything I have ever dreamed of.  I'm looking forward to seeing what's in store for this family of mine as we embark on our journey in 2015.

xo