Momma's Kiddos

I have been trying to take better care of myself.  One of the things that I have taken up is yoga.  I have really enjoyed my 25 minute workouts and the boys have really latched on as well.  Pretty much the only time I have to get away uninterrupted is during the mid day naptime.  Jackson no longer naps, so on days he is home from school, he enjoys doing yoga with me.  He has also taken up teaching his little brother.  They are using their pillows as 'yoga mats'.  

Mother's Day 2020

Jackson is my little mama!  He loves his little sister and loves getting to help take care of her!  

And Then There Were 3

Everyone is infatuated with sweet Emmie!!  The boys each give her 50 kisses every day.  They want to hold her, hug her, kiss her and sing to her.  She is the first person they want to see every morning and are having to learn how to be calm and gentle when they play with her.  

Waymaker

Jesus Loves Me

In the midst of being the oldest child, Jackson is growing up before our very eyes. He is really enjoying taking care of his baby.  He is getting so good at writing, drawing, and coloring.  Here is a picture of "Jesus" that he drew with sidewalk chalk (complete with all the anatomy).   

This spring we had a new friend who frequented the bird feeders along with all the birds and squirrels.  We never found his home or any evidence that he was living at our house, but he loved an early morning snack on us!

Grandma came for a wonderful 2 week visit to help out when Bryan had to go back to work full force.  The boys loved their time with Grandma and all the special memories they made; especially splashing in the rain puddles and floating homemade boats.   

Emersyn is Here!

We went to sleep on April 25 with the full expectation that we were going to have a busy couple days ahead of us.  We had been waiting for Emersyn/my body to progress without success for the past two weeks and yet still had a couple weeks until we hit our due date.  We had finally given up on "waiting on go" and had resolved to just get our large "to do" list accomplished.  However, Emersyn had other plans.  At 3 a.m. the next morning my water broke.  Although this is our third child, this was my first time to experience this crazy phenomenon naturally.  All I have to say is that there was no question that my water had broken.  We arrived at the hospital to be admitted about 5 a.m.  After hours of only mild contractions, things finally began to progress around lunch time and before we knew it she was here!  

Emersyn Grace Alford was born at 1:07 pm on April 26, 2020.  She was 6 lbs. 8 oz. and 19 inches long.  She was perfect in every way except for high bilirubin values that required her to get poked and prodded every day for her first week of life.  She even got her very own personal UV light to take home until her numbers came down.    

Our good friend, Jenn, was able to stay with the boys that first day until Gammie and Papa arrived to help out.  All three boys were smitten from the very first moment!

On her UV light

Easter 2020

Although this Easter was quite unusual with the covid17 pandemic keeping us from gathering and the church building, we had a great time together as a family!  This was the first year that the boys really could grasp the concept and fun of Easter.  We spent the 2 weeks leading up to Easter helping the boys learn the Easter story using Resurrection Eggs!  They are similar to the advent calendar at Christmas, but bring some biblical meaning to the traditional egg hunt.     

And of course the boys loved getting to search the yard high and low for yummy treats in their very own eggs and even a chocolate bunny, too!