stacie's sacred space

my babies

the sun was shining today.

i tried borrowlenses.com for the first time.

this canon 100mm gets big thumbs up from me.

it's good glass!

so of course, i had to take some shots of my four babies.

it is truly a moment frozen when i get all four of them at the same time.

i'll cherish time snapped forever.

this was a great end to a sunny, fun, busy, awesome monday.

there's so much i love about my life!

#1 at 10 years old.

 

#2 at 8 years old.

 

#3 at 6.5 years old.

 

#4 at 3.5 years old.

friday.

every friday i count down to meeting j5.

it's six weeks from today.

the kids laugh about my belly bumping into them.

johnny likes resting his chin on it when he looks up to talk to me.

they all love watching it move!

joey even got to go to this week's ultrasound and hear that baby is already over five pounds.

jeff kisses it and has conversations with "her."

i hope he's not too disappointed if he has a little bro!

i often feel like i can't get any bigger than i am now.

i will though.

here's proof:

this was about 48 hours before jeff was born.

this pic seems strange without his sweet face in there.

i love my growing family!

even if this extra long pregnancy is making all of us here at 391 a little nuts!!

we're playing basketball

wanna see what kind of smiles you get from ten year old boys when you're seven months pregnant and you lay on the gym floor and ask them to huddle around?

 

that's joey's team!

i wanted to snap some team pix before the season got away from us.

i'm so thankful they gave me about 5 minutes out of practice time!

i love watching them, and they have played hard all season.

it's fun to watch joey grow up and play "real" rules in sports.

the cool thing about being #1 in the family is that you get a lot of years with a tribe of fans (even if all they want to do is play ipods at the games).

those little j fans show up and support and adore joey!

what will we do with our saturday mornings in march?

that sounds like a silly question for our last month without a newborn.

i really will miss cheering these guys on though.

 

 

 

seasons are changing quickly.

we only have one more week of basketball for joey.

and wouldn't you know it lacrosse starts a week later?

that's okay since janie is still playing for a few more weeks.

we'll also be watching tons of ncaa basketball.

then we'll be bringing our fifth team member home!

i can't wait to have them huddle over me with huge smiles :)

goodnight

 

the moon was smiling as we left basketball practice.

i am delighted to see my cozy, warm bed.

goodnight ordinary time.

lent starts tomorrow!

it's my favorite spiritual season of the whole year.

eight.

yep, our little sweetheart turned eight today!

my heart overflowed with thankfulness that god gave me a sweet girl who has the demeanor of her awesome daddy.

i remember the morning she was born and the tears of joy when dave said, "it's a girl!"

my dad was wearing the new ipod shuffle on a lanyard around his neck. (sign of the times :))

she was our tiniest baby.

she loved to sleep.

we brought her home on valentine's day where a big brother who adores her couldn't wait to greet us.

i remember when he leaned over the car seat on the kitchen floor and said, "good job, janie! good job coming out of mommy's belly!!"

 

 

you know the story ... she grew and grew and grew until four years later she started rooming with that big brother.

they are hard to separate.

i even heard joey recently say, "she's just trying to make me happy."

she does that well!

and she kept growing.

she grows more beautiful each moment.

 

she chose to start her day going to mass with her prayer partner and friend, Grace, on the feast day of our lady of lourdes.

grace spoils janie with sweet love, prayers, and girl talk (and some presents from her wish list today!)

we had our traditional birthday breakfast.

 

it's our own party of six with balloons, singing, candles, yummy krispy kreme donuts, pictures, and presents.

 

off to school she went to learn and celebrate there.

we treated her to lunch in her cafeteria at school ... dave, jeff, and me.

she requested cheese ravioli for dinner and we made it happen.

we prayed, we laughed, we went around the table talking about all of our favorite things about janie!

it was a good day to celebrate janie.

we love this girl with all of our hearts, and look forward to all of the milestones that are ahead of us throughout the next year.

confession

i don't like being pregnant.

there, i said it.

maybe that's why i haven't been around here as much.

i just don't have as much energy when i carry a baby inside of me.

it takes everything i have to "grow" this baby.

i'm also a little scared of all the unknowns.

i don't feel well in the beginning ... food aversions, nautious, scared of miscarrying, and pure exhaustion.

then i get bigger and bigger, get uncomfortable, and lose some of my physical abilities.

i'm out of breath, "normal" activity (like sitting on the floor, walking a couple miles, or even sitting on bleachers at joey's bball games) cause pain, my stomach hurts, i see stars, i can't carry as much.

i am irritable too! sigh.

i know these only last for such a small percentage of my whole life.

i love the reward that i get from this price i pay though.

i get to nourish that brand new life, and i'm reenergized!

i remember so vividly being able to breathe again within an hour of jeff being born.

i adore growing families and all the interactions that happen.

little ones become big sibs.

everyone decides they want to be swaddled.

we get to experience a miracle together.

everyone pitches in to help each other.

i get to see how big love really is.

i get new energy as i care for my babies who grow up to become children.

so from now on i'm going to be counting down!

well, that and taking care of what's most important in my life - my favorite five and our nest.

one little word

i've picked a word the past three years.

it's given me focus and discipline.

first it was pray in 2010,

then it was peace in 2011,

and finally i was in practice throughout 2012.

these one little words are becoming a beautiful collage in my life.

it's time to add on for 2013.

i finally picked from this list:

be

allow

trust

accept

forgive

listen

obey

grow

endure

this time grow is the intention i want to set for 2013.

i think i need to be purposeful about growing and watching all the growth around me.

it would be easy to sit back and sort of just "slack off" with a new baby coming into the family.

i'm tired and i'm gonna be exhausted for most of this year.

when i remind myself of this one little word ... i'll remember to

• grow in faith especially trusting God with everything i'm given,
• grow in my roles as momma, wife, daughter, friend, sister, housekeeper, etc.,
• watch this teeny tiny brand new life grow,
• keep my eyes on the four "big" kids growing bigger,
• grow my photography skills,
• be open to growth all around me.

i believe the one little words i've picked the last three years have forced me to grow in prayer, peace, and practice.

i'm glad i have this focus!

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the pix below show how good it is to be johnny and jeff.

especially on days when this momma needs some fresh air even though she's gonna freeze her fingers off!