Lois Abigail Qualls

The biggest (and cutest) change in our family in the past 2+ years is our fourth child, Lois Abigail.

Lois Abigail Qualls arrived on April 2, 2012. 8:11pm. 7lb 3.5oz. The fastest, easiest, most peaceful (Ben would disagree on that one) birth of the four. And she was born at home. It was a challenge finding a midwife who would be willing to deliver over an hour from her office location, but I finally found one who I not only really liked, but she actually used to live in TN, too! It was amazing how much we had in common. Technically, though, she didn't actually catch the baby, Lois was too quick for that. Her assistant was closer and got her gloves on faster.

Lois is the only baby to not be born with dark hair - but she did continue the trend of a head-full of hair. It started red and is now strawberry blonde.

Lois currently likes princesses, tu-tus and babies. She has begun talking much more and expressing herself. She has finally started saying 'Lucas' and 'Lois' - apparently she didn't want to try until she knew she could.

 Cute and Cozy

June 2012

Patriotic Cuteness

July 2012

Her hair is so red in this picture!

12-24-12

Summer-time Haircut

May 2013

September 2013

July 2014

A New...Well...Lots of Things

There are so many things that have happened in the last...um...2 years. I could summarize, or I could give myself many reasons to continue posting. Frequently.

For starters, we bought a house! With having a new home-based business (more on that later), we quickly realized that keeping records and designing shirts from the comfort of our (way too cluttered) couch was not a good business/family strategy. Which is a nice way of saying Mommy is finding it frustrating trying clean around all the (not so) well organized piles of paper. That and the fact that four kids (yes, that's four now - another thing I should post about) is just too much energy for our small house convinced us that it was past time to start looking for a home that fits us rather than a place we can try to fit into - which is what we have been doing for the past 10 or so years.

Our criteria: 4 bedrooms, a living room large enough for the sectional couch that was given to us that we have never been able to put together because our current living room was too small, 2 car garage (not that we were actually planning on putting both cars in the garage), a front door that did not open with a view to the kitchen or family room - preferably with the office near the front door, carpeting throughout the house (not typical in the desert - most prefer tile or laminate), cinder-block wall around the back yard (typical for AZ), and in our price range. What we found: all of the above. This place is perfect!

We moved in the beginning of May 2013.

The perfect sized hallway for hyper kids!

Spacious kitchen with lots of cabinet space 

(though, somehow it's still not enough - someone explain that to me!)

This is what the front of the house looked like when we moved in over a year ago...now that I see this picture, I think I need to get the hedge clippers out again.

And our living room complete with a running track...I mean couch. 

Magic tricks and motherhood

When mommy goes to work...

Today Ben showed the kids a magic trick: he put a quarter in his ear and made it come out the other ear. The kids love that kind of stuff...then Lance tried to repeat the trick with an apple seed. It didn't come out the other ear. Actually, Ben had a hard time getting it out at all.

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Some people say that having more than x number of kids is unfair to the kids because you can't give enough of your time or yourself to 'all' your children. However, I am finding that the more kids I have, the more of myself I am able to give to them. Having children gives a parent the unique opportunity to learn selflessness and self sacrifice. Can a person learn this without having having children? Probably. But I can't think of any other way I would rather learn it. I can still see so many areas in my life where I can improve, though. I guess I just need more children. :)

A few random thoughts....

All the things I want to say, but don't have anyone to say them to:

We all make mistakes. It's hard to remember that when we are on the receiving end of the mistreatment. Just like sometimes I get selfish and want to do what I want to do, others do the same thing. I just have to remember that I am loved, and that there is no malicious attempt to hurt me...just human frailty.
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Since when did being pregnant give everyone else the liberty to make comments about my body. Yes, I know I am big...it's my fourth...it happens. No I'm not having twins. Yes I am sure about when my last menstrual cycle started.
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I love feeling the baby move in my tummy....but some days this is crazy. I am fearful we will have another 'Lance'...I wonder what a female version of Lance would be like. Cute. I'll stop there.
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We had the best early Christmas ever! Ben's family came out for a week, and I so enjoyed seeing them and spending time with them. Just being able to see something from 'home' made me finally not feel homesick. And I enjoyed decorating our new house for Christmas. Ben said we had the prettiest Christmas tree we have ever had (white lights with blinking colored lights).
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The rest of the month has been less than 'Christmasy'. Note to self for next year. If the kids are going to be in a Christmas program at church, the program will happen the first week of December or they will not participate. Lance and Lacey may not be in one next year anyway. I wonder if having a 9 month old baby will excuse me from being expected to help with the program.
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Had the worst backache last week. It was possibly a rib out of place. I went to the chiropractor twice and am feeling much better now. Now that I think about it, I should have used the backache to keep me out of being obligated to help with the Christmas program.....that would have been wrong....but very tempting.
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Homeschooling....it's going well if you only judge it by how much Lucas is learning...which is the important part, right? I really need some validation on that. I stink at planning (something that has to change), I am inconsistent (is it even possible to change that?), I'm not sure if I should do it in the morning to be done with it or if I should wait to the afternoon after Ben goes to work. If I do it in the morning, Ben inevitably gets up and gets Lucas doing something else, but if I wait to the afternoon, Lucas is less motivated to get started.
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Ben's job....so thankful that he has one...and a very good one at that, but I hate the hours. Not sure how much longer he will have the job since they have been putting him in another area because there is not enough work for his machine. My job is going great! Just don't like driving an hour to get there. I also don't like driving Ben's stick shift to get there. But for $31+ an hour, I don't really have much to complain about.
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Had so much fun shopping for the kids' Christmas presents! This year we are going to wait until Christmas Eve to put the gifts under the tree so we can try to keep the focus on the meaning of Christmas. The insanity of the last week has made that difficult, but hopefully we can start that tradition.
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My goal for next year (semester) during school is to use arts and crafts to teach different subjects/topics. I bought a bunch of stuff for the kids for Christmas. Now I just need to find some creativity.
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Off to bed now.

Catching up the the present...

About a year ago, the pastor of the church where I grew up suggested to Ben that he talk to a pastor in Arizona,who he knew needed help in his church. We were actually already familiar with the pastor due to a connection with a church we attended in Ohio. A couple from that church worked with him for a while several years ago. So Ben called him, and they talked...and talked. We were finally able to go out to AZ to visit the church in February after which we pretty much knew that this is were God wanted us to be. So we prepared and planned and packed until we were finally ready to go. After a very tearful goodbye with Ben's family, we began our journey. We had two minivans each hitched to a 12 ft trailer. We left Saturday morning from Ben's mamaw's house and stopped that night in Jackson, MS. I should add that sometime during the night Friday, Lucas started throwing up. An ominous sign. Yes, he did continue to throw up all day Saturday. Sunday Lucas was still feeling sick which meant we couldn't take him to church, so we kept going and made it just past Lindale, TX. Monday we figured out that if we kept Lucas from coughing, he wouldn't throw up...begin the cough syrup regimine. We stopped at Crown Southwest in Fort Worth, TX for lunch with the Fowlers (friends from Knoxville) and Lucas kept it down, then stopped for the night in Odessa, TX. Tuesday we had to stop for repairs in El Paso, TX. Both of the trailers picked up holes in a tire, so Uhaul sent someone to replace the tires. We stopped just inside New Mexico for the night. Wednesday morning we set out for our final leg of the journey and made it to AZ on Wednesday afternoon.
We are now staying in a two bedroom apt rented from a member of the church. It is a very nice place with 1.5 baths and a sunroom and is at a very reasonable price....but it is getting smaller by the day with three kids (including two little boys). It is also fully furnished. We had started looking for a house to buy - let me say, the housing market here is definitely on the buyer's side, but we had a snag when we discovered that having no credit at a new location and a new job is a deal breaker for the the lending companies. Boo. But there is hope... The church is currently meeting in a house that they bought, and is nearly finished with their new building. When they move to the new building, the house will be available for us. Hopefully in the next few weeks, we will be able to settle in there.
I can't wait for that day. Whereas we had issues with cabin fever during the cold winter months everywhere else we have lived, it is an issue here in the desert during the summer...and the kids are bigger now.

Addendum: It was actually two more months before we were able to move into this house. We were immensely  grateful - especially after finding out we would be expecting our fourth child the following year.

Arizona and Other News

My last post was Lacey's 1st birthday, and her second birthday was about 2 weeks ago....I need to get better at this whole blogging thing.

Well, in the year since the last post, we have moved to Arizona (more on that later), Ben is working at a sheet metal factory, I am (finally) a nationally certified sign language interpreter...but here in AZ, that's not enough. I am currently working on the application process for state liscensure. The kids are adjusting pretty well, but of course they miss family, friends and the 'blue house', but there are plenty of bugs here to keep them entertained. Now that the monsoon season has begun, they have been enjoying watching the dust storms, too.

Well that's pretty short for having been so long since the last update, but....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LACEY!!!!!

Here's Lacey at 364 days and 23 hours old....

Now my baby is one year old!!!! I kinda went pink crazy for her party. Her Aunt Mary, Uncle Andy, Aunt Sarah and Uncle Nick came over to celebrate with us. Chocolate cake with pink icing and strawberry ice cream is a great combination!

She's getting so good at feeding herself!!