New Chapter...

...Well, after years of wanting out of Pinnacle Pools, we find ourselves there...out of a job. Not exactly how we planned but we knew this day was coming. Doug's last day of work was yesterday and today he is in Maryland interviewing for a job with a church up there...I'm not really sure what will come of it and I'll be sure to post with any new information. But for now, I'm caring for our four girls and missing Doug like crazy. This picture of us cracks me up...for those of you that are wondering (and I know some of you wacko's ARE wondering) we are fully clothed in bathing suits in this luxurious picture...haha. And my mom is in the background of the picture holding Aspen and she will back me up in this story!
I really love my husband!
I really want to get some pictures of the girls all together to post. How hard can that be???? AHH!!!
Ok, well I'm not COMPLETELY exhausted anymore because I'm getting 3-4 hours of sleep at a stretch now instead of 2..WOOHOO!
Until next post....

exhaustion..

I am still completely exhausted. I hardly know what I'm doing these days. The days are just flowing together, I am lucky to get a load of laundry done once in awhile. Holly and Sage have been sick so our nights are very, VERY long. Lily hasn't done any homeschooling in about 3 weeks and she's bored to tears being cooped up with sick siblings. My mom is here which is great as far as having her to help me during the day when Doug is working but it's not much fun to be sitting around with sick, CRANKY kids. She's being a real trooper.
I have friends who are bouncing around like Tigger within days of having babies and I have no idea how they do it. Physically I feel fine, as far as I am not having any pain from the delivery, etc...but I just am so run down in every other way and it's all we can do to get through another day. I have been feeling kinda down because I love this time of year and yet I feel it's passing me by and I'm not enjoying it. We love to take walks and enjoy the lights in the neighborhood and that hasn't happened once yet this year. We love to drive and look at lights and bake cookies for friends and neighbors and make Christmas cards...none of these things have happened yet either and I'm sure they won't.
My eyes are loaded with bags under them and I can actually FEEL them!
Yet, through it all, we are so blessed to have sweet Aspen here with us and I realize that in a few weeks, this will all be behind us and we'll be healthy and sleeping and probably talking about baby number 5. Ok, did any of you have a heart attack over that statement?
Well, this is about all I have time for now. G'night and I'll be back when I can!

Blogging after Aspen....

I am a complete zombie.
I ate at least 4 servings of dessert today.
Hope you enjoyed the update.

Aspen Rain Thomas

Just a quick update...our new baby girl is here FINALLY!
Aspen was born at 5:33 on November 28 and weighed in at 8lb 5oz (my second biggest baby...Holly was 2 ounces heavier...Sage and Lily weighed the same at 7lb 14oz) and she made a very, VERY quick entrance into the world! I was still questioning whether I was in true labor at 5:06 (I made a phone call then, so I have it documented on the time!) and by 5:33 she was here!
We are so thrilled with her but at this point I'm completely exhausted but I did want to let everyone know!
More pictures to come...my girlfriend took video/pictures but she is putting them on disk for me so I won't have them for a couple days but here are a couple that we had from our camera....
Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers these last couple weeks!

No, it's not a baby post....but I've been tagged!

I have been tagged by my friend Rhonda to share the following information with you about my husband:

1. Where did you meet? Doug says he sat next to me in a restaurant when I first moved to Florida...I was way pregnant with Lily at the time and NOT interested in talking to him or any other man...SO I don't remember this conversation but he said he thought I was the most beautiful pregnant woman ever...he is tooooo kind! I guess he didn't realize we would be spending the first 3 years of our marriage pregnant so I'm glad he likes me that way! Anyway, we were at a restaurant with a bunch of singles from church...so we were friends for a really long time before we dated...THAT is another long story for another post....
2. How long did you date? Let's see...started dating in June 2004, got engaged that December and married July of 2005
3. How long have you been married? almost 3.5 years
4. What does he say that surprises you? That he loves my cooking. I mean, I'm not a terrible cook but I'm not "AWESOME" like he says...but I guess it's in the eye of the beholder so I will accept his compliment :)
5. What is your favorite feature of his? His bald head!!!! He's SOO happy I feel that way too. I had no idea how insecure he was about it until he started dating me and realized I wasn't lying about how much I liked it!!!
6. What is your favorite quality of his? He is so honest and a hard worker. He is a very devoted father and spends just about every free moment he has with his kids and me...he's all about the family. I also love how he truly tries to please God with everything he does.
7. Does he have a nickname for you? no
8. What is his favorite color? he loves me and the girls in a very specific shade of purple..it's hard to describe and harder to find!!!!
9. What is his favorite food? a grilled hamburger with baked beans and watermellon on the side! oh and steak fries!!
10. What is his favorite sport? I never thought I would live to see the day when I said that I'm SO glad my hubby doesn't like the traditional ball sports! He's into mountaineering, cycling, kayaking, things like that (although he's given it up for now in order to raise a family but he still loves it!)
11. When and where did you first kiss? I can't remember when as far as the date I just remember it was after he came back from a trip to Colorado. He was gone for about 10 days and we had been dating several months by this time and really didn't plan to kiss at all until we got married....BUT, after having him gone for that long we both realized we never wanted to be apart like that again (we weren't engaged yet but certainly knew we would get married after this trip took place!). I picked him up from the airport with his friend and drove them to my house for dinner....he left to take his friend home but came back immediately and I burst into tears when he showed back up (I guess I was too embarrassed with his friend there to do that when I first saw him!) and we kissed....
12. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? I would say traveling..although we don't do it much with our expanding family...but when we have had weekends away, it's the best! Even a trip to Ft. Myers on the weekends with the kids is fun for us...SO, definitely traveling!
13. Do you have any children? Lily, 8 1/2, Holly 2 1/2, Sage 1 1/2 and due for baby 4....Ok, so I'm officially overdue as I'm typing this....thanks for the reminder! BLAH!
14. Does he have a hidden talent? He will kill me for revealing that HE is my pedicurist.... Oh and most people don't know he's an incredible artist!
15. How old is he? 43
16. Who said, "I love you" first? I waited for HIM to say it first!
17. What is his favorite type of music? Jazz
18. What do you admire most about him? How much he loves God, me and our kids and how hard he works for a company that doesn't appreciate him...
19. Do you think he will read this? eventually...


I have no idea how to tag more friends..I'm still new to the world of blogging.....!!!!!

These last days...

I'm trying to enjoy my last several days (hopefully days, and not weeks!) of being a mommy to 3...I look at Sage and can't imagine that she won't be the "baby" anymore! It's kinda hard to enjoy the days though when they are filled with Braxton Hicks and very painful kicks and tired joints and ...well, I'm sure many of you understand or can remember your 9th month!
So, I just wanted to leave a little blurb letting you all know we are still anxiously awaiting our new blessing. We finally have names picked out...the boys name we are "for sure" on and we have 2 names picked for a girl and Doug will just make that decision when and if we pop out a girl! (which is what we are all expecting!)
What a wonderful time of year to be pregnant too! It's so nice and cool here in SW Florida! YAY!
Keep checking back...I think I'll be very quick to post a couple new pictures as soon as possible when this little one arrives!

WE LOVE FALL!!!!!

So, this post is just for fun! I have seen, over the years, gals who would have their belly painted during pregnancy but I never had been THIS pregnant when October/November would roll around so it never worked out...SO I was very excited about doing this. Lily sat and painted her pumpkins, instead of carving them...which Doug and I were THRILLED about, honestly. Blech! I didn't feel like dealing with all that mess! And Doug had a great time creating his pumpkin on ME. It was hilarious because the baby was inside just jumping all around and Doug would say "quit moving!" and it wasn't ME!!!!!
What a great memory for this pregnancy!