Mama Stats.

I was doing some reflecting the other night that I thought would be fun to share. The past 6 years have been full of changes, joys and challenges. With my miserable memory these days, I thought it would be fun to share some of the information I gathered. I will most likely forget these details so if it's on the blog, I can recall it much easier in the future if needed.
So, here it goes...
In the past 6 years (from July 2011 to July 2017), I've:
...been pregnant for 36 months, that's 3 years out of 6!
...given birth to 4 children 18, 20 and 16 months apart.
...had only 4 months in which I wasn't either pregnant or nursing a baby.
...nursed a total of 36 months, again that's 3 years out of 6!
...gained and lost a total of 150 pounds.
...had 4 AMAZING epidurals.
...had 4 healthy deliveries and recoveries, with a few rough patches along the way.
...had 4 hospital stays, each 2-3 days in length.
...had roughly 50 OB visits.
...changed TOO many diapers to count. I tried to get a rough estimation but it was too difficult to calculate. And we're still changing about 6 per day.
...through the grace of God, brought 80 fingers and toes into our home!
It is quite something to look back over the past 6 years. So much beautiful change in our lives. God is so good in bringing us through all the joys and challenges that these changes brought and we give Him all the praise and glory for what He has done to grow our family. We look forward to see what else He has in store for our brood in the future. :-)

September

We spent a lot of time outside this month. With the lovely fall weather and many leaves on the ground, much of our outdoor time was spent raking and playing in the leaves!

Me and a couple of the girls all ready for church. :-)

 Another fun event was going to Deer Track Junction with the cousins!

 The kids getting a treat after a successful store trip!

 Another super fun outing was Boulder Ridge Animal Park with the cousins again!

 We spent an afternoon at a church carnival. Lydia and Silas got their face painted.

 Silas was a bit apprehensive, but he did great!

 Enjoying some slushies in some hula-hoops.

 The kids at Frederick Meijer Gardens.

We always stop at the "Mad Mom" statue and do our imitation pose. 

 Lydia playing dress-up at home.

 The girls ready for church.

 Costco trip!

 We're pretty sure Silas is in a growth spurt, or just not sleeping enough at night. We keep finding him around the house catching a few Zzzz's. He snuggled up under my feet when I was preparing lunch.

He has never taken a nap in a stroller so this was a big deal!

 Si dressing up in his blankies.

 Another shot ready for church.

A big event of this month was celebrating Joy and Carrie's birthdays! Here we are about to take Carrie out for her birthday lunch!

Decorating the birthday cakes!

Here comes the cake!! Hard to believe our Care Bear is 4 years old already!

And here's our big 1 year old!

Hanging out with Grandpa and Mimi at the party.

Carrie, we delight in you! We love and adore your sweet smiles, snuggles and giggles. You have such a beautiful heart. We love you Share Bear!
And Joy-Joy, you are such a sweetie-pie. We are so thankful for your "brighten up the room" smile and your adorable toddler run.

August

And here we are moving into August. Lydia is quite the helper with Joy. She can go upstairs, get her out of the crib and feed and burp her. What a big helper!

A friend from church has some land with blackberries growing throughout it. So he took us for a ride on his trailer and we stopped several times to pick blackberries.

Silas trying out the tractor, or "mighty machine" as he called it.

Coordinating cousins.

This is what most meals end up looking like. We don't even bother with bibs anymore, since she knows how to rip or pull them off. :-)

Silas wanted to try feeding Joy...

Care giving Joy a little Joy-ride!

Here are the kids at a local fair checking out the goats.

The kids love the corn box. We usually spend at least a half hour playing in it.

After the fair I had a rare quadruple-sleep in the van.

Just a cute picture of the boys taking a hike in the woods.

Precious girls.

Mama Lyddi time!

I was in the kitchen and I heard Lydia yell, "Hey Mom! You're gonna want to see this...4 kids on a chair! Bring your camera!" She was right.

And then it happened again a few days later!

Daddy picking up the flock. As you can see, Lydia is not too pumped about it.

The road on which our church is located is having some major construction. So every Sunday we go check out the progress before going inside.

A highlight of this month was going to Dutch Village! We had a wonderful day together.

Bunnies in a basket!

Daddy and Joy watching the Dutch dancers.

Family shot.