Saying goodbye to my 20's and welcoming my 30's

The day has come...I am 30!!!! I remember inching up to this day the past few birthdays and discussing with a friend how 30 would be here before we know it. While I think by society's standards, I am supposed to be depressed and wear black or something because I am now "old," I am not. I am actually quite excited to begin this new chapter of my life.

 I do have to say that it is a little crazy to say goodbye to a decade of my life that holds some amazing memories. To know that I will never see my 20's again can start to make me a little sappy, but I know that my 30's will have some wonderful things in store as well (God willing). I wanted to take a minute and look back at some significant milestones that happened in my 20's. These past 10 years have been pretty amazing and full of God's grace and love. So, here goes:

• I graduated from college with a degree in Elementary Education:

                                    

• I became a K teacher and taught for 4 fun and hectic years. It was such a blessing to have such influence over so many students that I came to love.

                                  

• I met and married the most AMAZING man in the whole world. I didn't know men like him existed and I was grateful that he chose me to spend the rest of his life with.

                                               

• My faith became solid and I have gained a humble appreciation and love for Jesus! He became not just my Savior, but my Lord. It's nice knowing He's in control:) 

• We bought our first house

                                  

• I had the privilege of experiencing the miracle of pregnancy and gave birth to my 3 precious and beautiful children. I have never known a love so deep.

                                       

                                     


                                                   

• I started my dream job as a stay at home mommy. There is no place I would rather be than loving on my babies and watching them grow. It's not always the easiest job, and some days I want to pull my hair out or just go to the bathroom by myself, but it's so worth it. Oh, and photo shoots don't always go the way you want, but they are still cute.

• I joined an amazing church family that is dedicated to showing Christ's love to others and living out the gospel. I am excited to see how God continues to use us for His kingdom.

• I have made some amazing friends and have grown deeper in relationship with some I already had.   *I couldn't possibly fit everyone's picture here, but you know who you are:)

• I got a mini van (yes people, this was a milestone for me..I dreamed about it since high school)

                                          

I feel so CRAZY BLESSED to look back at all of that and see how God has brought me through this journey. I am not sure how I can top those years, but I look forward to seeing where God leads me next. I am embracing my 30's!!!

Now walk it out.....

Is anybody else singing that song in your head now??? It has been a long time coming, but Knox is finally walking!!!!!! He still prefers scooting, but he is gaining more confidence and doing it more frequently. He is still quite wobbly and often loses his balance and falls down, but I give him another week and he'll have it figured out.  Now I am so ready to go buy his first pair of shoes. And yes, I will be the annoying mom who buys their kid the squeaky shoes that drive you CRAZY!! I figured they will get him more excited about walking. So, if you are out and about and you here some squeaks...it may just be my BIG dude walking his little heart out!!! 

Bounce with me...Bounce with me!

I went on down to the Audubon Zoo......

I was so excited to have a family day last week and take our kids to the zoo for the very first time. I have been wanting to take Dixie for about a year now, but Evan is no fan of the zoo. He thinks it is cruel to see all those animals locked up in these tiny spaces. While it is sad, I have very fond memories of visiting this zoo when I was a kid and wanted to share those with my children.

The weather was perfect, overcast yet warm. We arrived shortly after the zoo opened and started to unload everything out of the van. It is amazing how much stuff you have to pack with 3 kids. As soon as the van to the door opened Dixie started crying that she had to pee (go figure). There was no way we were going to make it into the gates, so I pulled down her pants as quick as possible and as she started peeing in the parking lot. I tried to hold her out at arms length while propping up her legs as if she was on an invisible chair. I was pretty impressed with myself for getting her in this position so quickly but to no avail, I still ended up with pee on my shoes and Dixie had to change clothes. We haven't even made it into the zoo and we are already changing clothes...this was going to be a fun day!

   This was Savannah's first outing and she did great overall. She decided that mommy having pee shoes was not enough, so as soon as we walked into the zoo, she spit up all down my shirt. At this point I just had to laugh. The day hadn't even begun and I was smelling worse than the monkeys.

 After her spit up session, Savannah pretty much just slept in the stroller. Knox was basically satisfied with just riding in the wagon. Sometimes I wondered if he even realized that there were animals there. Dixie was thrilled. She loved everything and had so much fun. I think her favorite part of the entire zoo was the big pool in the middle where the elephant statue was. She kept wanting to go back to it. I think she would have jumped in if I let her.

It was a great family day, but exhausting. Going to the zoo with little ones brings the trip to a whole new level. But man, it felt great to get out of the house, walk around and get some fresh air. I would say that our first family zoo trip was successful...and smelly!

I think Savannah liked being out for the first time

 Dixie's favorite part

She liked this baby elephant statue over the real elephants because it was a baby.

Give him a wagon and some cherrios and he is a happy kid.

I love the discovery walk. I couldn't believe that Dixie touched things...even a snake..YUCK!

You gotta pose with all the statues..it's a family tradition.

Daddy B'jorn's Savannah for the first time.

The 2 studs in my life!

This peacock kept trying to eat Knox's pb &jelly sandwich. He was more than willing to feed it to him.

Here I am telling the peacock "no..no!" Hmm...am I a mom or what?

Up close and personal 

Isn't he so adorable??

                                 
 

Party of 5

So I haven't posted in a while because I was busy giving birth to this beautiful girl and getting adjusted to life with 3 kids under 3.

Delivery went really well, but recovery has been kinda tough! It is going on 5 weeks now and I am still not totally healed:( I almost want to be done having kids so I don't have to go through surgery again. Either way, it has been totally worth it to get this sweet little addition into our family. I mean seriously...look how cute she is:

The kids have adjusted REALLY well to having a new baby in the house. Dixie is in love with her and Knox maybe glances her way once a week. (Daddy looks good with 3 kids on his lap).

The transition was tough at first. I was very blessed to have someone here to help me for 2 full weeks and dinners delivered to us almost every night for 3 weeks (I know that sounds spoiled). We have amazing family, friends, and church family. You have no idea how much this helped and was appreciated!

When we first brought Savannah home and started "reality" I cried a couple times. I felt so hormonal and even though this was my 3rd kid in 3 years, I felt like a first time mom when it came to some stuff (like getting her to stop crying or sleep). I have gone through that with every one of my kids, but praise God he sees you through those rough patches. Now here we are 5 weeks later and I can actually manage getting all the kids fed, dressed and taken care of by 8 am. I just have to figure out how to squeeze getting myself ready in there too. Most days I am still in my pajamas at 2 p.m. when they all go down for nap (sounds pathetic, I know...but you try it). It will come in time and already a month has flown by. The baby is now sleeping in her own room and crib and that certainly helps with sleep. Plus my amazing husband takes 1 feeding a night so I get some rest. I'm trying to enjoy this precious time frame with my baby girl that seems like forever while you are going through it, but goes by in a flash.

I still can't believe that I am a mom of 3 now. I look at these sweet babies that God has blessed me with and I wonder how I ever lived my life without knowing them. Will there be more kids in the future...I can't say for sure. Maybe, maybe not. Right now, I am content with these 3 precious little beings and most days overwhelmed with tending to all of their needs. I am humbled at the fact that God chose Evan and I to raise them up. I look forward to all that He has in store for each of their lives and our family as a whole. So for now, here's to my party of 5!