My Intro

I have been wanting to do one of these for a long time but never seem to find the blog site I was happy with. I wanted something that I can add not only my blog of the day put pictures to go with it and maybe even a video or two. A friend of mine had a blog from this site and suggested it to me. The best part is... its FREE! Yay... I can handle that.

So, I thought I would start with an introduction.

I'm Beth, 35 year old mother of 5 children who I'm sure you will get to know very well through out my blogs.

Chandler Michael John ... 15 (November 23, 1993)
Savannah Rose ... 13 (October 19, 1995)
Madalyn Noelle ... 10 (April 14, 1998)
Lillian LeeAnn ... 2 (February 28, 2006)
Nicholas Matthew ... 6 months (January 10, 2008)

I always tease that I started with a son and now have ended with a son with 3 beautiful daughters in between.

I have been married to a wonderful man, Matt, for over a year now. He is the father of my younger two children but claims the older 3 as his own. I have so much respect for him. Going from a bachelor to taking on a women with 3 children and then 2 children of his own in just a short 4 years. He works hard to make sure we have what we need and to make sure I am able to stay home to take care of the children. I just can't say enough about how lucky I am to have him in my life.

Matt is currently a truck driver working during the week and home on weekends. Once in awhile we will get lucky and have him home for an evening during the week. We enjoy those surprises all the time. He loves sports and enjoys spending his past time watching football, baseball and even Nascar. Right now he is going through Nascar withdrawal. February cant come soon enough lol.
Chandler just started his freshman year of high school. He is loving the freedom that comes with high school but also learning its a lot of work. I have no complains about Chandler (other then getting his grades up lol... if that's my only problem... I'm so darn lucky), he is so kind and such a wonderful big brother to his younger sisters and baby brother. I can trust him to watch the younger children while I run to the store or even take someone to the doctors. He is willing to help out in what ever way he can and always makes us laugh. He so has our warp sense of humor lol.

Savannah is a typical teenager. She used to be my tomboy who blossomed into this beautiful diva. Once she turned 13, we allowed her to wear make up, but only a little... although as my mother told me would happen, she sneaks the eye liner out and puts it on at school. Eyeliner seems to be the only thing she really wears so I guess its ok. She used to be into the dark, black clothes but is now into the bright colors. This year Savannah is in 6th grade and so loving Jr High. Her favorite thing is having 2 study halls. She loves the fact she hardly ever comes home with homework, giving her a chance to hang out with her friends after school. She has her first little boyfriend which is sweet but I think she shouldn't get to attached to one boy at this time and age. I keep telling her that what she feels for him is puppy dog love and that there will be many many boyfriends before she finds true love. She is going through the, I think other boys are cute but I can't hurt this boys feelings by braking up with him. She is so her mother's child.

Madalyn is my little mother hen. For so long she has been the youngest of the family and longed to be a big sister. I remember being there but she got something I never got... the chance to be a big sister and not only once but twice. She loves it when she comes home from school and Lilly gets all excited to see her. Maddy has to stop and give her a hug and play with her. I have to remind her that homework comes first and once its done she can play with Lilly. Maddy and Lilly have bonding time in the morning. Lilly will wake Maddy up in the morning before anyone else gets up. Maddy will make her toast or give her a pop tart, a sippy cup of milk, and sit down to watch cartoons with her until everyone else wakes up. I told Maddy these are the moments Lilly will remember forever. As for her love for Nicholas... she is always amazed at what new things he does. She gets so tickled when he smiles or laughs at her and thinks he is the cutest baby in the world. All my babies are the cutest... even her lol. Oh... Maddy is in 4th grade. This year my older 3 all started new schools... High school, Jr. High and Lincoln (later middle school). Come two months and I will have 4 children in 4 different schools. This should be interesting lol.

Lillian is so full of life. I wish I had just half her energy just to keep up with her. She is so so smart, she amazes me every day with the new things she learns. She knows her numbers up to 11, she can even say some in Spanish... thanks to Dora the explorer. She knows some colors, most shapes. We are working on her letters. I thought potty training was going to be a challenge but she is doing so good. We let her play around with the potty chair since about September but about the end of October we decided it was time to work with her on it. By Thanksgiving she was pretty much fully potty trained. We still put a diaper on her at night since she takes a sippy cup to bed (although she hardly ever drinks it) and a pull up on long drives but during the day at home or even a day at someones house... she is in big girl panties. I think since Thanksgiving she has only had maybe 2 mistakes. She is doing great.

Nicholas was the baby I wasn't expecting but from the moment I found out I was pregnant, I fell in love with him. Nicholas is a strong one from the moment he was born giving many challenges a little one should never have. When he was 3 weeks old we found out that Nicholas had a nickel size hole in his heart. During his first 3 months of live our challenge was keeping the weight on. He was stuck in 9 lbs for what seemed like forever. There was babies younger then him who looked much older then he did. Many people thought he was a new born or at least a month old when in reality he was months old. On October 2, he went in to have surgery but when they went in they found out the hole was higher then they expected. The ended up putting a pulmonary band in and said they couldn't do the surgery until he was older, stronger and bigger. That was the hardest thing I had to ever go through was watching my little one go through surgery and then to have to do it again... its a tough one. I have to say though, the best thing they could of done was put that pulmonary band in. Every since then, he has been gaining about a pound a month and is now up to (as of Dec 29) 13 lbs 4 oz. I know that is still small but it is wonderful for a baby with a heart defect. I am looking forward to his next check up with the heart doctors. They have not seen him in 2 months and I am wondering what their reactions will be when they see how much he has gained.

At this check up, they will set up his heart cath date for February where they will map out how they are going to do his surgery. Then they will set up a date for his surgery, sometime in March. We are hoping for the end of March hoping the cold weather will be just about gone by then.

Now Nicholas, who will be 6 months old this coming Saturday, is the sweetest little baby a person could ever ask for. He is always smiling, hardly ever cries... just the happiest baby I have ever seen. Even through all he has gone through, he is still full of smiles and love. He shows us what true strength is. Matt and I always say he has Matt's stubbornness and my determination. He is the best of both of us.

Now for me... not much really exciting with me personally. My life is my children and husband, but there is a few other hobbies I do love. I so love my computer... as you know lol and I love to take pictures... pictures of my children... pictures of everything. I am in love with the digital age. No more waisting film or worrying about if this is a good shot or not. I just snap away and see what comes out later. I could take 50+ pictures in one setting just to get at least one good picture. I'm still learning how to take pictures and I say light doesn't like me as its an issue with me but I'm having so much fun learning everything I can.

Crafts is also another love of mine. I love to scrapbook (comes with the pictures lol), to crochet and anything else that strikes my interest at the moment. I wish I had more hours in a day just to dedicate to my crafts and photography.

Well anyway, that is my life in a nut shell. With a new year comes a new blog... I'm sure glad I started now (just 8 days into the year) to start a new blog.