Let's try this one more time...

So, here I am trying to this blogging thing again. I am not sure why I stopped, I guess it just became the last thing on the list. There are a few reasons why I am giving it another shot, but we'll get to my inspiration next time.

Some of you may remember that previously my blog name was "Brown Eyes and Blessings." Well, that was 3 years ago and quite a bit has changed since that last post! The biggest change being that we have added 2 new blessings to our family. Emma Joan is 17 months old, and we recently added number 4 in June, Anthony Lawrence is 2 months old, today, actually.

The reason for the name change is baby number 3, my Emma Joan! When she came out we were a little shocked, she looked so different than our first two. Joe and I just assumed that we would probably always have dark haired, brown-eyed babies. Well at birth, Emma's hair was light brown with all these blond highlights and her eyes were much lighter gray/blue than Gianna or Dominic's ever were. We were not sure if she would keep those blue eyes or not, but did know that all 4 of our grandfathers had blue eyes, so the recessive genes could be there. Well, she did keep those beautiful blue eyes! And her hair lightened quite a bit. Everyone always asks where she came from. Well, she is our grandfather's gift to us, we guess! More on our little spicy thing another time, she has quite the personality that keeps us on our toes!

Emma about a week old

Emma this past Mother's Day

Blessing number 4 is Anthony Lawrence. He is our "super surprise" baby. But an amazing gift from God. I keep saying that God has big plan for this little man because his a miracle! He is such a good baby (other than the typical "hold me, Momma and don't evvveeerrrrrrr put me down, EVER" stage that he is currently going through) and I thank God for that everyday! His big sister and brother could not adore him more. They still get so excited to see him, hold him, kiss him, hug him, and talk to him.

Anthony, about 6 hours old

Sweet baby boy!

On to the new name now...

As those of you who have multiple small children probably can guess and sympathize with is that I get that comment "Boy, you have your hands full, don't you?" all.the.time. Well, the truth is, yes, my/our hands are full, and yes, we have MANY hard days, and I often make comments to my husband like "Man, our life is crazy!" Yes, there are challenges on top of challenges to having 4 children ages 4 1/2 and under, but it is so so worth it, and my/our heart(s) are overflowing with the joy and love these 4 little ones bring to our lives.

I mentioned earlier that Anthony was our "surprise" baby. Many people may view that as a terrible thing, and while having 4, 4 and under was really hard and overwhelming when we found out, we knew it would be okay. That this child was God's will. That is the beauty of NFP, you know that you have allowed God to work through your marriage and your love to bring about these lives that you may not have planned, but He sure did and He wants in this world! God has big plans for each of these little lives, how blessed we are that God has entrusted them to us and to have them as our children.

So, there we are...yes, our Hands are Full, but our Hearts are Overflowing with love, joy, and God's blessings!

All our little blessings: Gianna (4.5), Dominic (3), Emma (15 months), and Anthony