Happy Birthday to Marcus!

Marcus turned 2 on May 9th, and once again I'm behind in posting.  It's really been a crazy time for us.  We officially have a new fixer upper house, we are living with my in-laws, and Sammy and Marcus have been working through round 2 of a new sickness.  I feel like we've been sick since the middle of April.  This one has been pretty yucky, but they seem to be on the mend.

Anyhow, enough about us, this is all about Marcus.

He was by far my easiest birth and easiest baby.  But, once he got old enough to be curious, he's become a handful!   It's funny, we tease him about his large head, (it is a little large) but, maybe it needs to be big to hold all of his passion to learn about things.  He really does seem to have a desire to learn about just about everything he touches.  The problem is that he often destroys things in the process.  Marcus has really helped me to learn to let go of the stuff in my life!  I remember cleaning up a lamp he broke, (it felt like one of my last wedding gifts that was still in one piece), and I think that's the last time I bawled over something he broke.  It's just stuff that will be destroyed one day anyway.

He's such a sweet little love bug despite his precocious side..  He always has hugs and kisses to go around.  He loves to be doing as much as possible, but will still cuddle some to read one of his favorite books.  Right now he likes, "Are You My Mother" and "Snow".

He has quite the vocabulary for a 2-year-old, and has been talking for what feels like forever.  He speaks in complete sentences all of the time, and has no problem communicating what he does or does not want.

He loves to be outside exploring.

He is so excited when we see trucks, tractors and other big machinery.

He's my water baby who will find any water he can to get onto if it is not first offered to him.

He loves his Grandparents, and especially loves going for rides in the "beep beep", (off road vehicle) at Papa LaRock's house

We love you, Booger!

Visiting with Mimi and the boys.

A few weeks ago my mom and youngest brothers came to visit.  We had a great time with them!  We'd hoped to be in our new house by then, and hence would have had projects for my little brothers to work on, but that saga continues, and one day, when I actually know whether or not we'll be moving, I'll fill you in.  It worked out for my brothers to help out on my father in law's campaign for the Virginia House of Delegates.  It also gave them the chance to play volleyball with the HSLDA crew.  They seemed to enjoy that arrangement.  Jed especially loves him some volleyball.  Jeffrey, maybe next time we can get in some good basketball!

Here's our chubba, Isaac, ready to head to the train station to pick them up.  Yep, just want to show how much he's changed in these last several weeks.

Here are Mimi and Isaac spending some quality time together.  He loves to be held, (a lot like Sammy did when he was a baby.)  Mom helped me so much just spending time holding him.
Mom sang songs to him that I remember her singing when I was a little girl.  He really seemed to enjoy his times with Mimi.

Marcus also took to Mimi Cole pretty quickly, and still asks me, "Mom, where's Mimi Cole?  Can we go visit her?"  One afternoon Mom and Marcus went outside and they observed a moving truck together.  My picture's not that great, but it was a sweet moment.

He had a good time playing with my little brothers, too.  It was a blessing to have the extra hands especially when we were outside.

Speaking of little brothers.  Here they are hanging out in our backyard.  Well, they aren't so little anymore.  It's funny, I remember when they were born, and I can remember spending a lot of time playing with them and watching them.  It's kind of fun now to see them playing with my kids.

Sammy especially took to them, and one morning when Peter took them to the LaRock's house to work on the campaign, Sammy watched out the window, and with tears streaming down his face cried, "Daddy, don't take them, daddy don't take them away!!"

On their last day here, the boys stayed with us for the day, and then we had a small cookout on the back deck.  That seemed to make it all better for Sammy. :-)



And, here are some more photos of my little men enjoying their Mimi Cole!  We missed seeing dad, but hopefully, we'll catch up with him next time.

Guess Who's 4?

Sammy is!  His birthday was actually April 20th, but, I hope he'll forgive my late post.  Sammy was born on his due date, April 20th, 4 years ago.  We were excited, scared, new parents.  This was a whole, new adventure, and I'll be the first to admit, we had no idea what was coming.  But, looking back over these last four years, we wouldn't trade any of it.  Well, maybe the fussy first several months, or the defiant passion and drama that come out of this little one.  And yet, even things that I may view as negative, are God-given, and are things that make Sammy who he is.  I learned a lot about myself as I cried in self pity over my fussy, imperfect newborn.  I began to realize that God had given us exactly the baby that we needed to shape us to be more like Him.  I began to see just how impatient I am, (I had always prided myself mentally on just how patient I thought I was.)  In reality, much more than being married, my little man Sammy began to reveal to me just how sinful I really am.  Yes, God knew that I needed this little one right off the bat.

Sammy is such a little sweetheart and such a big helper to me.  He LOVES his baby brother, Isaac, and, is really beginning to play well with his other little brother, Marcus.  He runs and fetches me diapers and wipes for diaper changes, towels for spit up explosions, and, when I'm pinned down nursing, he checks on little brother mischief, Marcus for me.  He has the best imagination in the world and loves books, movies and songs..  He'll pick up lines from movies or books, and he'll create whole new stories from those lines.  He can take a random piece of paper, or a cup, or you name it, and imagine it's a plane flying over a cliff, or some other random thing.  I love to watch his little mind at work.  We have started a reading program, (paused when baby Isaac was born.), and he was picking up a lot.  I look forward to getting back into that with him soon.  He also enjoys painting with watercolors, and other creative type projects.

Samster is a social butterfly who will greet any stranger and try his utmost to be kind and fair to everyone.  His cheerful "Hey there" or "Hey man" has stopped many a folk on our walks or in the store.  His cheeriness makes people smile.

When I have a down time, Sammy instantly can tell.  He'll come, take my face in his hands and say, "Don't be sad mommy, be happy!"  Or, "Don't cry mommy!"  He's really trained me to fight the urge to respond emotionally to my circumstances all of the time. :-)  Like his daddy, he prefers mommy happy!

Sammy loves Thomas the Train right now, when praised for something will say, "I'm a good little engine, aren't I?"

Just last night we saw the Apple Blossom fireworks, and I will never forget the pure joy and excitement that poured from Sammy.  He is so full of joy and childish enthusiasm.  I love it!

Sam can't get enough time with his awesome daddy.  Whether it's a trip to Lowes, going fishing, wrestling on the living room floor, reading a book or playing frisbee, he loves him some daddy time.

Sammy is very cautious and responsible.  He lets me know if Marcus is doing something he shouldn't be.

Sammy is learning more and more each day about God's love and mercy.  It's my prayer that he will continue to grow in his understanding of his need for Jesus and the unconditional love and forgiveness He offers.

I am so blessed to be his mommy.  He is so forgiving of my sins against him.  I pray his little heart always stays so soft.

We love our Samuel and we are so very thankful for him!  Happy belated birthday, buddy!

Here are some pictures of our growing family.  Isaac is nearly 6 weeks already!  I'll post more information about him and the other two boys here soon.  For now, though, enjoy!

Few weeks old, and getting more alert!

Getting chub.  I think he's around 4 weeks here.

Proud, big brother.

Another proud, big brother.

Aw :-)

Oldest two boys heading up to bed.  They love their daddy!

Good Morning World!

Isaac Archer LaRock 3.23.13 6lb 4oz

"Give me plenty of warning, and please work out the timing, Father"  Those had been my specific prayers for this baby, and what a truly awesome thing to see Him answer in such beautiful ways.

This birth was different in many ways.  We were planning a "home birth" with my midwives, but due to our pending move and the state of our house, we were planning to have the baby at my in-laws house.  I tend to be a worry wart, and was worried about the logistics of getting there with my other two little ones.  Marcus' birth was so fast and furious that I worried I'd be in hard labor trying to drive us to the birth location.  God took care of this for me.  I had what I thought was false labor all day Friday and through the night Friday night.  The contractions hurt, but they were sporadic, and not close together, 20 minutes or more.  I did wake up each time during the night, but they never got worse, so I just figured it was my body getting ready for birth a few more weeks down the road.  Saturday morning it became apparent to me that this baby would be coming sooner rather than later.  The contractions eased and almost stopped, but there were other indications that things would be picking back up.  I called my midwife, and she said that yes, we may have a baby later that day.  We did some Saturday, (thank you Lord it was Saturday - Peter was around!) activities.  We took the trash to the dump, and then ran by Lowes so Peter could finish installing a new deadbolt and door knob on our door, (the one he'd bought the night before was missing a screw, so we needed to get that finished so as not to leave the back door with no lock or door knob.)

My contractions started up again around 11am, but were still sporadic and not regular.  We decided to go ahead and pack up and head to Peter's folk's house.  Once there we just hung out and enjoyed the sunny day.  The kids played outside, and I just kept waiting for everything to kick in.  Finally at 5pm my contractions became regular and about 5 minutes apart.  I let my midwives know, and we started with the little tasks like filling the tub etc.  I can honestly say that this stage of my labor is the most gentle I've had yet. The contractions were never more than about a minute I'd say, and I got nice breaks in between.  When they let me know that I was 9 to 10 centimeters and completely effaced, I really was surprised.

The last part of my labor was the not as gentle part.  This little booger had decided to turn posterior, (he'd been in a good position at my 36 week check up) which made for a very different delivery.  With Sammy and Marcus, my body delivered the baby, and I just hung on for the ride.  With little Issac, I had to do a lot more of it myself.  Thankfully, I had wonderful support, and Issac came into the world at 9:08pm.  So, really only about 4 hours of active labor!  He is a little tiny one, but is strong and healthy.  I had asked God to work out the timing of the birth because my husband had informed me that our closing date for the house had been moved to April 9th, (which was two days before my original due date on April 11th).  I am thankful that God saw fit to orchestrate everything the way that He did.  This new little one is such a miracle, and I know that I am very blessed to be able to call him my son.

He has a big head of very dark hair.  His brothers seem to really get a kick out of him, and it's going to be fun to see his little personality develop in the coming weeks.

Another snow day!

March brought us a random, heavy snow day, and the kiddos loved it.  Peter took them out and they make a fort and a huge snowman.  Good thing we took this photo, because Mr Snow Man fell over a few minutes later.  The snow was VERY wet and heavy.  Pretty good though, eh?

At one point I couldn't see Marcus, (who was behind the fort) but I could see his snowballs flying toward daddy as he made a manly "ah" sound.  

Baby boy 3 is growing fast.  He's nearly 36 weeks in this picture, and into month 9.  Marcus came at 37.5 weeks, so I'm starting to wonder about this one.  Will he come early, on time, or late?  Only time will tell.  I have been in much less pain this time around then I was with Marcus.  My back and hip are holding up much better.  That being said though, I'd be happy to have this little one sooner rather than later.

These last two photos are just some of my cuties.  We've been painting some of the rooms in our house because it does look like we're going to close on our new one!  So, we're trying to get this one renter ready.  We went for soft yellow in the living room rather than the dark red and brown that was there.  I think it really lightened up the room.

I've started Sammy on the program Sing, Spell, Read and Write,and he's really liking it.  It's the program that the LaRock kiddos used to learn to read.  Sammy is really starting to LOVE reading books from the library and he is showing an interest in learning to put the letters together himself.  We shall see  Marcus isn't liking the focused attention on Sammy, but you know, I'm a middle child, I get that little selfish, insecurity.  It'll just take time :-)

Happy March everyone!