jesiah's 4th birthday (some pics)...

five months old...

jaelyn is five months old - wow!! i can hardly believe it. i say it every month, but really the time is flying by! check out her blog for a few pics and her five month update!

our little buddy is four...

happy happy birthday to our little buddy!!!

jesiah is four years old today!

here is a picture of jesiah only a few days old!!

such a sweet sweet baby!






jesiah is our sweet, full of life, laid back little guy! he just loves to be alive. he is so sweet and tender hearted. jesiah has so much energy. he is always jumping and running and playing. he is all over the place. more bumps and bruises have appeared on his head than any other of my kiddos. he trips and falls all of the time. jesiah can be quite a stinker sometimes. sometimes he will have a mind of his own and he will do just what he wants to do!

jesiah looks up to his big brother and wants to be just like him. he has really missed having jordyn around as his sidekick and playmate. only being 19 months apart they have been playmates and now she leaves him for most of the day. he plays really really well by himself. he loves his baby sister but doesn't ask to hold her too much. since she has become more of a baby and less of a newborn (definitely another post) she interacts with him a lot more - he loves to make her laugh!

he loves his mommy - he certainly can be a mommy's boy. but when daddy comes home - he is all about wrestling with him.

jesiah loves to play with pirates, batman and any kind of action figures. he can often be found using some sort of string, hair band or belt and wrapping around the super hero. then i find it dangling somewhere. he loves to dress up and wear costumes of all sorts.

he doesn't like being to dirty or messy! he chooses to stay away from anything too messy. he loves to cuddle and snuggle. jesiah loves to climb on my lap to read stories or to tell me what a good mom i am. (sob!!)

jesiah is such a joy! we are so proud that God has chosen us to be his parents! everyday jesiah amazes me with the things he says and does. he makes us laugh - sometimes i laugh so hard i am in tears.


sweet little jesiah,

you are such a big boy now! we are so proud of what a sweet boy you are. we know that God is going to do big things in your life! you have brought us so much joy. your love for life teaches me new things everyday. you certainly have taught mommy to just stop and enjoy the day that God has made for us. i love how much laughter you bring to our family. you are an amazing big brother. and a fun and spunky little brother too! i am looking forward to watching you grow and learn this year - your fourth year of life - wow how time flies by! it feels like yesterday that you were born and i was holding our sweet jesiah bennett. we are so excited to celebrate your big day. we can't wait for you to open your presents tonight! your sisters and brother can't wait either. keep shining your light on this dark world!! God is going to use you in a mighty way!

we love you so much!!!

four years ago (jesiah's birth story)...

in honor of jesiah's fourth birthday tomorow, i thought i would rewind in time and write a post on the events and happenings of the day jesiah was born!! my friend, stephanie did this the other day on her blog for her little girl who just turned two. loved reading it!!! i have been thinking that i wanted to post the birth stories of each of my babies on my blog. the perfect opportunity would be to do it on their birthday!!! so i will start it off with jesiah's birth...


some background info...

on july 19, 2004 - jordyn turned one year old exactly a week before and i took a pregnancy and it was positive. just the day before we were coming home from the beach and jamil and i had "the talk", we had decided to wait a few years before adding baby #3. i had been feeling a little different (bloated, moody, very hungry) but didn't think i would be pregnant. i woke up sick that day and knew i had to take a test - just in case. jamil was shocked when i told him that night before dinner.

i decided because of my easy births with josha and jordyn that i would switch and see the midwives in my ob/gyn practice. becauase i was still nursing jordyn, and before that being prego with her... i hadn't had a period since october of 2003!! we had to do an u/s to find out my due date. it was set as march 17, 2005.

i was nauseaus throughout the first trimester. i really thought we were having another girl. to my surprise on october 6, 2004. we saw our little baby BOY on the u/s. we thought he was a she and had a girl's name picked out (jaelyn!) but had to work on a boy's name.

we had two boy names picked out; jackson or jesiah. i continually went back and forth between the two. we even took a poll of our friends and family to get their opinions. jamil was set on jesiah. i was the one who went back and forth. i love jackson but it is so popular. and i love jesiah too.

i had a very healthy and "normal" pregnancy! praise God. i enjoyed every second of being pregnant for the third time! i was really uncomfortable at the end and could not wait to see our baby boy!!

fast forward...

thursday march 3, 2005 ... 38 week midwife appt with hallie! i had gained 29 pounds and measuring at 38.5 weeks. i was 3-4 cm. dilated and 70-80% effaced. the baby was in a -1/-2 station. i was making great progress!!!

saturday march 5, 2005 (the day before his birth)...

jamil had to work that day, i took josh and jordyn to eat at dunkin donuts before we headed off to babies r us for a last minute shopping trip to get some things for the baby. i bought his sweet coming home outfit amongst some other things. that afternoon, i installed the infant seat in our van (a 1998 toyota sienna - sage color). i had been having contractions on and off all day. that evening we had our babysitter, amanda was keeping our kids so we could go out to a church gathering. we joked with her about us not coming home and going straight to the hospital if i was in labor. went to sleep around 11:00pm

sunday, march 6, 2005 (the big day - taken from my journal!)...

~ woke up at 3:15 am feeling really uncomfortable and having heartburn.
~ started feeling really sick @ 4am - contractions started and i was shaking a lot. the contractions were 10 min. apart.
~ called the midwives at 5:00 am and they told me to come in (because of my past history with quick labors)
~ we called my mother in law to come and watch the kids, she couldn't come because she had to go into work unexpectedly. really stressed out about this. so we made arrangements for our babysitter, amanda and her mom to come and keep the kids. my father in law came over until they could get here! it was sunday - church day - and almost everyone was participating in some way at church!!!
~ we left for the hospital around 6:00 am, contractions were 5 min . apart
~ we called my family and my friend amy - she was going to be at the birth with us. she met us at the hospital later!
~ by the time we got into a l&d room and i was hooked up to monitors and filled out the paper work, my contractions stopped (they always do this!!!) and small ones started again around 8:00 am
~ i was checked at 8:30 and still only 3 -4 cm. amy arrived during this time.
~ my midwife, hallie was on call and she arrived after 9:00 and checked me again, i was at 5-6 cm.
~ we decided for her to break my water at about 9:45. my contractions picked up quickly and were really really strong.
~ i labored for a little while in bed, only hooked up to the fetal monitors (monitoring the baby's heart rate and my contractions) i did not want to get out of bed.
~ when the contractions were on top of each other i really wished i would have opted for some drugs or an epidural, too late for that.
~ amy and jamil were really supportive as a was in so much pain and just breathing through the intense contracions. hallie and our nurse, arden were great too. they were so encouraging and supportive. they all worked to get me through the pain.
~ at around 10:30 am i knew it was getting time for me to push, he was really low and i was feeling a lot of pressure. i was checked and indeed fully dilated and totally effaced.
~ i pushed two times and on the third push, at 10:56 am our little jesiah was born!!
~ he weighed 7 lbs 2 oz and was 19 & 3/4 inches long! he was such a beautiful and sweet baby.

who's who (my babies)...

here are the result of guess who!!!


guess who #1 is...

jesiah bennett (the birthday boy)
march 6, 2005
7 lbs 2 oz ~ 19 3/4 inches





guess who #2 is....

jordyn alexis
july 12, 2003
7 lbs 1 oz ~ 19 3/4 inches






guess who #3 is...

jaelyn aliyah
october 6, 2008
7 lbs 1 oz ~ 19 1/2 inches







guess who #4 is...

joshua brendan
october 1, 2000
8 lbs 7 oz ~ 20 3/4 inches

guess who?...

here is the first fun post celebrating jesiah's birthday!!!

below i have posted baby pictures of each of my kids. each were taken on the day they were born. i won't tell you who they are, they are in random order. actually a few of the pictures have some clues in them - so it may not be so hard. so it is up to you to guess who!!! just for fun...take a guess and leave a comment on each of the posts telling me who you think each baby is!!

guess who #1...

guess who #2...

guess who #3...

guess who #4...

birthday boy...

this friday is little buddy's birthday! jesiah is going to be FOUR! i can hardly believe it. to celebrate his birthday on my blog, i have a few fun posts up my sleeve. this morning, i will post the first fun blog - actually it will post as five seperate posts. i hope you will jump in on the fun this week and leave comments and help celebrate our birthday boy!!!

good conversation....

last week i had the wonderful opportunity to get my hair cut and my eyebrows waxed!!! my dad kept jesiah and i took jaelyn with me to my friend, christy's! christy has been cutting my hair for about two years, with a maternity leave break for her ( a well deserved one her baby #2 and #3 are just a year apart!!!) and one for me in that time span. it had been almost five months since i had my hair done. it was so nice to have a little time for myself!

and not only did i get a great haircut, we had very good conversation! i left there feeling very challenged spiritually and full of good ideas and thoughts on many different topics. christy's son, eli and my son, josh are friends. the boys go to school together and have spent time at each other's houses for play dates. christy and i talked a lot about child rearing and specifically about our sons. we talked about goals we each had for our boys, things they need to know about and the things that they don't. we talked about what they should be watching and not be watching on tv. we talked about their behavior in school and the behaviors we desire. we talked about their choice of friends. christy told me about a book that i want to read and have jamil read too, preparing your son for every man's battle.

it was so refreshing to have time for myself and to be around a friend who is the same stage of life as me and has a lot of the same standards and expectations for her kids. i feel safe knowing that when josh is with her and her family, he will be exposed to the same things that he is exposed to at our house.

thank you christy for your words of encouragement, good conversation and all of this while getting a great hair cut!!!

what a week...

that is about all i can say is what a week we have had. it has been a week of yuck! we have all been either in the midst of being sick with a cold, getting over a cold or starting a cold over the last week. so that has not been fun. on top of yucky colds, we have also been under attack.

last week, i created a morning and an afternoon schedule to help things run smoother on a day to day basis. one of the things jamil and i felt we needed to implement in the evenings was time to pray and read the bible with our kids. we do this with our kids but not every night with any kind of plan or discipline. we may read one night & work on memory verses another. with our kids being 8, 5 and 3 (the baby just chills out or is asleep) we thought we needed to create a more structured time of prayer and reading. so we started that consistently this week. and wouldn't you know...

~ josh had a rough week at school behavior wise (talking when he shouldn't be, taking things to school that he shouldn't have - nothing serious but enought to warrant a trip to the principal's office).

~ jordyn also had a rough week at school - she has had the nasty cold and not feeling great - this makes her very crabby and tired. i got an email from her teacher about her talking too much and she wants me to come in for a conference so we can redirect her.

~ jesiah woke up on the day of his best buddies birthday party with a fever of 101.7. our friends' planned this party 6 weeks ago making sure we would be there. so i had to take the big kids and the baby and leave him home with daddy.

~ i have felt very worn out and frustrated with where i am right now. feeling like i just don't take care of myself and everyone else is first.

thankfully, jamil and the baby haven't had anything other than colds to deal with.

what a coincidence that we start a family devotion time and we are really intentional this week about guiding our kids and praying and reading with them and look at the attack we are under.

we shall overcome and continue to thank God for all He is to us. He continues to amaze us and a bad week will not have us question who He is.

blog hopping...

i have a long list of blogs on my google reader that i follow - yes, by the way, i switched to google reader from bloglines - i like it so much better. anyway, sometimes if i have caught up on reading the blogs i regularly follow, i will check out other people's blogs and "blog hop". i even "blog shop" - meaning if i like what i read and see - or more likely if i feel like i can relate to the writer i will add them to my google reader. i probably have about 50 blogs that i follow right now. it is a little bit of an addiction. but it is fun!

when i am blog hopping i start with a person's blog and will choose another blog from their blog roll and then on that blog i will find another to hop to. i don't do this often, but when i do i feel like i hear from God while reading the blogs i hop to and from. often, i will find a blog which tells the story of a mom who has lost a baby or babies. these are the hardest for me to read, but i still will read. i am always in tears as i read about the pain and suffering they have endured. i am always amazed at the strength they have. i always say that i don't know how they are surviving with such tremendous loss. it is a loss i do not understand. i can not imagine what they are going through.

after reading their stories and shedding my tears, i am always so thankful that i haven't been through what they have been through. i always pray to God and just praise Him for the four babies he has given me. i feel so blessed to have had four healthy babies who are still here with us on earth.

i found a blog tonight that was the story of a mom who lost her little baby just minutes after he was born. it was predicted that he would be stillborn or only live a short time, they knew that while she carried him for nine months. i just can not imagine. this sweet baby was born a day after my sweet baby girl. again, i just praised my Heavenly Father for my sweet baby girl who will be five months old next week. i have been blessed to spend every day with her since she was born. i have been able to love on her, kiss her, nurse her, listen to her giggle, watch her grow and watch her look at her big brothers and sister in awe.

i have had a hard time with jaelyn getting bigger and knowing she is my last baby. but what a blessing to watch her grow and thrive. i am going to remind myself that there are moms out there who have not experienced what i am experiencing...for the fourth time.

i am so grateful to be able to read blogs while i blog hop that remind me to appreciate evey gift i have been given.

under construction (again)...

i am switching to a 3 column blog....so fun!!! please bear with me as i am in the midst of rearranging and redecorating some things on here!

home style...

i really do enjoy making our home look nice. i don't get to spend a lot of time or money doing it but i do get my fix by doing some simple things like rearranging furniture, adding a new (or reintroducing an old) decoration, finding a fun way to organize or just putting out a pretty vase of fresh cut flowers. currently i have one project in the works and i have a few ideas up my sleeve. i am working on creating a command center, which i will post about later. i have always wondered what my style is and then i read my friend stephanie's blog today about this fun website and i thought i would check it out. if you love decorating your home and want to figure out your style you should check it out too!

i took the quiz and it told me that my style is:

Your personal style is a mix of 3 specific styles:

40% French Eclectic

40% Nantucket Style

20% Cottage Chic

i tend to agree with it!!! if you take the quiz, please share your results with me!!

blog giveaway...

i started reading this blog right after jaelyn was born. this blogger momma has a baby just a few weeks older than jaelyn, her name is ivy. my friend, marybeth told me about her blog!!! all that to say...over at adventures in babywearing, stephanie is having a blog giveaway!! you should go and check it out and enter it!!! she is trying to decide on a fabulous piece of jewelry for herself from lisa leonard designs. i checked out the goods and i love her stuff too! stephanie will be giving 2 gift certificates to lisa leonard designs to her 2 winners!! leave her a comment and you can enter too!! i gave her a suggestion on what she should get for herself. with mother's day coming up, i might have to drop a few hints to this idea for myself. what piece do you like for me? maybe something using my j crew or j's...hmmm i don't know.....

and what piece would you like for yourself? (just for fun on my blog...no, i am not giving anything away here...not yet!)

itzbeen how long???

with a busy and hectic schedule of managing four children, a husband and a home, i must admit that i was often asking myself (or my hubby!) these questions about caring for our sweet baby girl...
when was the last time she ate?
or which side did i nurse on last ?
or how long has she been asleep?
or awake?
or how long since she has had her diaper changed?
and even what time is it?

and then i found this awesome baby product which tells me how long "itzbeen"!

what is this little thing?? it is an itzbeen baby care timer. it answers all of my questions that i was often asking.

how it works??? you press the corresponding button and it will keep the time for you. it keeps track for you how long it has been since you fed, since she has been asleep or awake, since her diaper was changed. there is a button you could use for keeping track of medicine or whatever else you'd like. it also has a clock on it to tell you what time it is. there is also a little button that keeps track of which side you nursed on last. you can lock the timer so that little hands can't reset the buttons. you can also set it and use it as an alarm to remind you it is time to do whatever task you want to have scheduled (great for those babywise mommas!). the little gadget lights up so you can use it in the middle of the night too!

what a lifesaver!!! i love this baby product. it has been very helpful and helps me to be even more organized!!! bonus for me i paid nothing for it - i used a walmart gift card we had. i got it from walmart.com and had it delivered site to store. my sweet hubby even saved me from having to step foot into walmart (not a huge walmart fan) and picked it up for me.

if you have a baby and often ask how long itzbeen....you gotta have one of these!!!

change something, change nothing...

once a month i meet with an awesome group of friends. we gather for a night of fellowship, discussion, food, prayer and fun! i love this group of friends. i enjoy our time together so much. this past week when we met our lovely hostess opened up our discussion time using some "heart to heart" cards - great for icebreakers. we don't need to break the ice, we have no problems talking but they are so fun to do. each lady grabbed a card with a question on it, we went around and read the question and answered it. my question was..."if you could change one thing about your life, what would it be?" hmmmm....

i had such a hard time answering that question. in the past i could have given a list of things that i would have wanted to change about my life. bigger house, bigger vehicle, more money, less debt, more kids, less kids, longer hair, smaller body, etc. but this time i was speechless. i couldn't really answer this question. maybe i was taking it way too deep and making more out of it than i should have. maybe i should have come up with something. there are things that would be nice to have in my life. like a play room or more time for myself. but there is nothing i would want to change. i am truly content. i don't want any more.

i have come a long way. i used to feel so much discontentment. and want to change so many things about my life. now, i just want to focus on what i have and how can i do my best with what i have been blessed with. i wouldn't want to change anything, i just want to get better at balancing and enjoying what i have. i am content.

bloggy award...

today, i was visiting adventures of a minivan mom and my friend, susan was giving out this too cute award! wouldn't you know it...she gave my blog a bloggy award! wow - how fun! i must say i am a little bit "bloggy blind" when it comes to putting these buttons and doing all of that stuff on the sidebars, (like blog lists, followers, and other things i see on other people's blogs). but i might have to start doing a little of this and that. anyway, thanks to susan for the award! now it is my turn to nominate 1o bloggers. i follow a lot of blogs - it was hard to choose just 10. i chose 10 real life friends who blog!


So, here are the rules:
1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs (ok, i did 11) which show great Attitude and/or
Gratitude.
3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on
their blog.
5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you
received your award.

I nominate:

1. because of love
2. dooley clan
3. what if
4. tennyson talk
5. teri sue's thoughts
6. w4torock
7. mourning into dancing
8. we are here!
9. patti's chat
10. hemphill hub
11. schleicher family

hold them even longer....

being a mom of four has taught me a lot. one thing i have learned is that children do not stay small for very long. oh, how the time flies by! one day they are newborn babies and the next day they are heading off to school. so i have adopted this belief about holding my babies. some people say if you hold your baby too long it will spoil them - i don't believe that at all. i feel that just when you are thinking you have held them too long, hold them even longer. because they are only small for such a short time, enjoy every minute holding them. and when they get bigger and want to hug on you, hug on them because before too long they won't want you to hug them or hold them at all. so my piece of advice for new moms is to hold your babies even longer than you think you should be. i don't think i have ever heard a mom say i wish i would have held my baby less. i have heard moms say the opposite. i don't want to look at them when they are grown and say i wish i would have held them more. go hold your baby or hug on your kids extra long today!!!

little lion...

our little bear (jordyn's nickname) was a little lion for her kindergarten class production of the circus. my pictures are not the greatest. my camera just doesn't do a great job when it comes to pictures of school events.

on february 6, we went to see the union academy kindergarten circus. it was really really cute. a few weeks before the big show, a paper came home from her teacher assigning each child a part in the circus. i must say jordyn was disappointed that she was not assigned to be an acrobat. that was what she wanted to be. what little girl doesn't want to wear her ballet outfit to school?? and jordyn being all girl and loving ballet, her heart's desire was to be an acrobat. but she was assigned to the role of an animal (lion, tiger, etc). being that we had a lion costume already we choose that! jordyn was such a good sport, she did not complain one time about not being an acrobat. i could tell she wanted to be dressed up like the girls who were playing that part. but shed didn't make a fuss. i was so proud of her. she is turning into such a sweet big girl!! our little bear is growing up! i can't believe she is in kindergarten already!

long holiday weekend recap...

we had a fun and busy three day multi holiday weekend! on friday, the big kids had a half day of school. i picked them up and we met the prevettes at the park! we grabbed some lunch and had a fun afternoon. the weather was beautiful!!

jesiah had fun even though it doesn't show!

josh took a pic of chelsea and me wearing the babies, jaelyn and ashton!

my boys!

on saturday we surprised our kids with a visit from our good friends, the wilkerson's! they live near atlanta and came into town for a weekend visit. we spent a few hours with them. the kids were so surprised to see their kids! here is a photo of joshua and elijah. the boys are three days apart and best of buddies. i wish we would have taken more pictures. the day went too fast. we were able to see them again the next day. the came to elevation with us and we grabbed some lunch afterwards. we had a great visit!!!

jordyn is the only big girl in the group -
she played dress up while they did their boy stuff!

saturday was also jaelyn's first valentine's day!! here she is wearing some cute heart outfits!!





my sister along with some help from my parents watched the kids for us so we could go out for dinner! what a great valentine celebration!! thank you julie, mom and dad!!! we had a wonderful dinner at maggianos and did a little window shopping at south park mall! here we are before we left!



on sunday we did our elevation thing!!! jamil served in the morning at providence and butler! i headed back up to mcglohon to help with the ekidz volunteers! it was so fun!! i love to serve at a church as awesome as ours!!! we were planning to head back to church to the 6 pm service that night but i was feeling yucky from the cold my kids so lovingly shared with me, and we decided to pass. i will have to catch the sermon online tonight!

on monday with a day off of school and off of work for jamil, we planned to take the kids roller skating until we found out they were closed. instead we had an errand to run in pineville and took the kids to a huge indoor play place! here is a quick photo i snapped before we left!

we had a great family weekend despite the kids getting over the colds and me getting one! now i will start the week off feeling under the weather - no fun. hopefully it will be a quick one!!!

things i love about jaelyn...

i love her disposition - so easy going - she is such an amazingly easy baby.

i love her little dimple!

i love her sweet chubby cheeks!

i love her little voice, she is learning to squeal and belly laugh!

i love what a good sleeper she is!

i love that she is a mommy's girl.

i love that she resembles me and my sister when we were babies.

i love how she watches her brothers and sisters. she looks up to them already.

i love her beautiful brown eyes.

i love how bright she is already at four months old!

things i love about jesiah...

i love how full of life jesiah is. he loves life and being alive.

i love how he loves to dress up. he is always dressing up as some superhero!

i love how he is so easy going and laid back! he is so carefree!

i love that he will wear his pajamas all day long!

i love when he is being really sweet to jealyn.

i love how he hates getting dirty but can make the biggest mess!

i love how sneaky he can be when he wants to drink my coke or eat some candy.

i love how he says the wildest things.

i love how he makes us all laugh.

i love that he is full of energy but more than happy to cuddle up with his mommy!

i love how he tells me what a good mommy i am.

i love that he looks up to his big brother and worships the ground he walks on.

i love when he wrestles with his daddy.

things i love about jordyn...

i love jordyn's beautiful curly hair.

i love how girly girl jordyn is. she loves to dress up and look pretty! she loves wearing dresses.

i love when she walks around the house in little plastic dress up shoes.

i love how compassionate she is for others. she has a heart for other people.

i love how she is really learning to read!

i love watching her leave for school with a backpack about as big as she is.

i love that she will stand up for herself when her brothers try to bother her.

i love watching her play and care for jaelyn.

i love that she is the easiest kid to put to bed. she knows when she is tired and doesn't hesitate to go to bed! always been like that even as a baby.

i love that she can tell us about everyone and everything in her class. she is a social butterfly.

i love that she just loves her mommy! she spends many afternoons writing me notes and coloring me pictures.

i love that she is beautiful inside and out!!!

i love that she is very smart and interested in learning.

things i love about joshua...

i love how much energy joshua has. he loves to be moving, running and karate chopping all of the time!

i love how intelligent he is. he is very bright. there are few things we can put past him.

i love how strong willed and determined he is. even though it can be hard to parent him we know he is going to make something of himself one day!

i love when he tries to do the right thing and uses his leadership skills.

i love watching him play guitar hero on his playstation.

i love how he spends a long time in the mirror fixing his hair. he is determined to have his hair long and straight. or spikey like pastor steven's.

i love when he plays speedhawks with his sister and brother. it is a little club they made up. too cute.

i love how he can be really laid back and careless. and at the same time he can have a type a personality.

i love when he is seeking God and doing what God would want him to do.

i love how cool he is! he is a really cool kid!!

i love his smile.