Today I'm Inviting You to My NEW Blog.

Hi friends! I know it's been far too long. But I'm back. 

Over here: spontaneousday.com 

Can't wait to reconnect with y'all. Be sure to leave me a comment so I can start following all my blogger friends again. 

And look how big my girls are getting! This pic is pretty honest. 

Do you know how hard it is to get four animated little girls to smile and look at the camera, with their eyes open, simultaneously? 

Basically when it does happen, I consider it a miracle.

See you at my new website soon!

I'm also on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamiebhappy/

And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpontaneousDay/

Today I Went to a Christmas Party!

Our church had a simple, potluck Christmas party with Santa Claus and face painting to start off the festivities.  The girls were so funny!  They were sooooo excited to see him the whole day leading up to the party and then when it was go time, Ash because totally star struck and tongue-tied.  Britt was friendly but not her usual exuberant self.  Elle cuddle up on his shoulder because she really didn't know what else to do, and Tate stuck out her lip and threatened to cry until a helpful elf handed her a cany cane!

Dinner was nice and I ate the BEST sweet potato casserole in the whole wide world.  My breadsticks were snatched up immediately which made me feel good.  :)  The girls all got up on the stage and sang their little Christmas songs.  Actually, Elle refused.  I have no idea why, but she got really grumpy after that so we left.  I was sorry to miss the rest of the prepared entertainment, but it was an hour past bedtime for the younger set anyways.

We are squeezing in as much Christmas celebrating as we can this year.  I'm going to try to split my posts about everything between here and Instagram.  You can find me at: jamiebhappy

Today I Saw Reindeer.

The girls and I decided to go to Watsons Nursery to check out the reindeer.  I thought it would be a short trip, but quickly realized that the marketing team there has skills.  They offered a scavenger hunt that took us all over the place and got us looking at the gorgeous Christmas decorations in their store.  Prior to this trip I didn't even know they had a store!  It was a win-win since I needed an ornament for an upcoming girl's night out ornament exchange.  :)  And the girls were very pleased indeed as there were flying reindeer prizes at the end of the scavenger hunt.  I think I just stumbled upon a new Christmas tradition.  

Anyways, the rest of this post will now be taken over by pictures of all the cuteness.

(excited)

(i went my whole first 20+ years thinking it was donner, not donder.) 

(they weren't quite as impressed with us as we were with them.) 

(tate.  she's 17 months now.) 

(elle.  she's almost 4!!) 

 (britt, ringing the sleigh bells.  she's 5.5)

(ash. can you believe she's 7?!?!?) 

(they learned that those christmas flowers are called poinsettas) 

(the end)

P.S. I reeeeeeeeeeally want to get back into blogging.  Any of my old blogging peeps still going strong?

Today I Want to Turn Back Time.

Gone are the days of a cuddly, peaceful baby!  **sniff**  This little girl is now on the move and bounces back and forth between being happy and pleased with her new found independence, and sad and frustrated with not progressing as fast as she'd like.  Today has been a particularly fuss-filled day. How did this baby get to this point sooooooooooo quickly???  My oldest three did not grow so fast, I swear.

Here is Tate.  These pics were taken at 7 months.  She's 8 months now.  :)

Today I Just Wanna Show Off.

I'm no seamstress by any means, but I made these cute, easy, matchy skirts for my girls back in May and just got around to taking a picture of them.  That's it.  Nothing more.  Just loved how simple they were and how cute they turned out.  The girls were excited about the fish and mermaid theme.  

Today I Wrote a Review for "Unbound Enchantment."

I'm terrible at reviews and book reports but every once in a while something comes along that really needs me to weigh in.  Unbound Enchantment is one such book. 

(i received permission from the author to post this photo)

Written by Kara Jaynes, this story the first in a series of novellas.  And I'm hooked!  The setting is an intriguing one with forest dwellers and city dwellers, completely pitted against each other.  The city dwellers have luxury, science and education on their side, yet they are completely lacking in ethics and empathy.  The forest dwellers are rustic and choose to live in a more primitive manner, yet they have magical abilities and definite grasp of right and wrong and the importance of personal freedom.

The story is action packed from the beginning!  Both the female (from the forest) and male (from the city) protagonists are interesting and draw you into the adventure.  I don't want to go into detail about the storyline or characters.  Just know that they worth getting to know.  I couldn't put the book down so it's good it was a short story, because it's not like I've got oodles of time for leisurely reading.  I'm completely left wanting more and cannot wait until the 2nd book is published!

Today I Have Four Little Girls.

Actually, I've had four girls for about a week now!

(first picture!)

 

May I introduce our newest little miss ~ Tate

(she was bigger than I thought she would be!  she would have been big like elle if she had gone full term!)

 

She was born in the 19th and weighed the same as Britt at birth.  That would be 7 lbs 11 oz.  19.5 inches (though the follow up doctor visit said she is actually 20.75 inches).

(sweet pea)

 

She's a little sweetie and has got all of us wrapped around her little finger.

 (Tony brought the older girls to visit the next morning.  hair brushing is not a priority.  :P)

I was induced on the 18th because of high blood pressure, even though I was only 38 weeks along.  They started with a cervix softener (that didn't really work) and then started me on pitocin the next day.  It was a long-ish labor, but was mostly pain free.  The more painful contractions didn't happen until my water broke (on its own).  At that point I asked for an epidural (an added measure to control my blood pressure, as well as pain).  It was a funny epidural that allowed me to feel my contractions at a low level and when the time came, the urge to push.  But my legs were completely numb.

 (love this face)

Pushing was the easy part.  The nurse had turned off the pitocin at that point and my body stopped contracting.  But I still pushed Tate out in under 5 minutes! 

 (several days later and at home.  four sisters!)

She was born at 6:49pm.  Just a little bit less than 12 hours after the pitocin (and hence, my labor) began that morning.  I was so relieved to see her!  I had prayed the whole time that my body would progress because it REALLY didn't want to go into labor!  

My blood pressure is good now.  Tate is good too.  The girls are making a great adjustment.  Elle is, of course, the one having the harder time with it, but I know she'll be fine in about a week.  They all are so happy to have a new sister and Ash can't get enough cuddle time with her.  Britt informed me that Tate is "MY baby, not yours or daddy's.  And Elle is Ash's baby.  So this one is MINE."  

I'm grateful for Tony who stepped in and took over everything, when we got home, so I could hang out in my room with the baby for days on end!  The three older girls were thrilled to have so much daddy time. 

I'm doing well.  Not healing as quickly as I have in the past.  But I suppose that's to be expected of a body that has birthed 4 children in under 7 years!  And now I have my Summer baby.  To go with my Spring, Winter and Fall babies.  :)  One for each season!  And I love that they were all born in even years.  2008, 2010, 2012, and now 2014.  Do I feel accomplished?  Yes, I do.  :)