I'm HOW old?!?!

So, my birthday is on Saturday, and I woke up today not sure how old I am going to be. After I realized that this is my 26th year, I asked myself;
"Where did 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24 go?!?!?!"

Tuesday Randoms

Overwhelmed

I am just finding myself overwhelmed yet again by the task of raising four daughters in this world. Generally I get through the days with my girls without fretting about such an arduous thing, but some days, I just become completely consumed with the fear of protecting my babies while giving them room to grow into the women I hope they grow into. Now I am not saying that raising a respectable son isn't a task to be taken lightly (and to be honest, I pray that mothers of sons are raising their sons to be respectable, considering someday my girls will be dating these boys), but it seems that to bring forth a daughter in this day and age is almost as if a special kind of burden (good burden of course) is placed upon the shoulders of her parents. With over-sexualized ideas and under stimulated self confidence in many young girls today, it is not surprising that we see people going down destructive paths. I have taken a lot of psychology in school, so I am too aware of the fact that in just a few more years, my oldest daughter is going to begin to pull away from me to find herself out there somewhere. This frightens me beyond belief. To me she will always be that wrinkly, beautiful little baby born as dawn broke on July 20th of 2002. As a matter of fact I feel this way about all of my girls. Their birth minutes imprinted in my mind as to keep them my babies forever. I protected them inside of my body, and nurtured them from my breast, taught them right from wrong as I see fit... and before I know it I am going to be sending them to the wolves of society hoping that I taught them well enough that they stay on the path and not stray too far from it. Gosh, sometimes I wish I could just hold their hands forever. I just pray that they hear me when they are too old and too cool to listen to me anymore. At the end of the day, all I really want for my wonderful daughters is for them to be as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside, and I pray everyday that I am helping build a foundation that shows them that they are worth much more than they could ever imagine. But until the day comes where they begin to spread their wings and step away from me, I will relish in the little things that make them my little girls... the kisses and hugs, the lap sitting and book reading... picking me a beautiful bouquet of wildflowers (most of them half-wilted)... the way they sometimes say the wrong thing thinking it is the right thing to say... their innocence at encountering new things... I will hold onto these minutes as long as I can, and while I'm at it I will throw in some life lessons also and pray to god they are listening hard enough to take something with them when Mommy is no longer their best friend.

Now you see her, now you don't...

I took this video yesterday... and though I didn't laugh at the time, not I cannot watch it without laughing a little now:).

It helps to understand my lack of total and utter sympathy to know that she practically dusted herself off and kept on going:). No biggie, but solid film gold America's Funniest Home Video style.;)

So yesterday was not such a good day for half of our family... we were immunized. I have not had a shot since the year 1987, and I had to get three of them yesterday for school (to clarify, I have been going to school part time since 2003, taking classes just to keep my head in the game, waiting until my kids are older and in school so I can finish my nursing degree.) Anyway, back to my shots... I have not had them since 1987, and BOY let me tell you they sting! I am also not feeling so hot today with achy joints, a headache, a fever and my arms cannot extend over my head. No wonder they give them to kids when they are little, as my husband put it "They seem to bounce back better and complain less... well less than you do:)" Brynn had her two month shots yesterday and took them like a pro. She practically slept through them. She is doing well today. Maelan also had a couple of shots that were delayed as we were waiting for our insurance to kick back in. She took them just fine, but then about three in the morning she woke throwing up with her heart racing, a high fever, and she kept itching her tounge. I was so scared. After giving her Tylenol to try to bring her fever down, I tried to get ahold of my mom (who is has a bachelor in Nursing... you see I'm keeping the family trend:)) and I couldn't get a hold of her. So we called our Family Doctor and woke him up at 4 am. He told us just to keep an eye on her and that he was not convinced it was an allergic reaction considering those usually happen within the first 20 minutes, though he was a little worried about her itching and chewing her tounge. Anyway I gave her a little Benedryl to ease MY mind, and we settled in finally at around 5 in the morning... to say the least it was a long night. She is 100% today, so I figure that it was a fluke reaction to her fever. Hopefully I never have to see a reaction like that again with any more of my kiddos. Hope everyone else had a better night:).

My House

Today, in an effort to capture things about my life, I am going to show pictures of where we live. This is my (our:)) house in Belding Michigan... We bought it in 2004.

This is the bluejay that nested on our house this year... You can't see it, but her head is popping out of the top of the nest:).
The Garage up front and the Bunny Barn in back

Our Backyard

Our Downstairsand Our Upstairs (excuse the mess). The 'Big Girls' room is straight (in Pink), the 'Little Girls' room to the left (in Lavender), and the office door is to the right done in green. The door to the walk-out porch is in there.

P.S.) OH YEAH

Today, I quit drinking my beloved Coca Cola in an attempt to drop the rest of my baby weight. I have picked up running again also (I used to run long distance in High School... it has been a while since those days...) It's not that I am TOO disgusted with myself... it is just that I have a closet full of size 5 pants that I do not have a prayer of fitting into right now... it is quite depressing... I am hoping once I drop those pounds that it will be like acquiring an entire wardrobe:) Let us hope that this blog helps keep me accountable for -Coke +running:).
Wish Me LUCK!!!

Hi! I'm NEW here!

So, I have noticed lately that alot of people have started blogs. Since I love to write, and talk about myself... and since I have so much time on my hands I have also decided to give blogging a try (anyone who has any suggestions on blogging, it would be greatly appreciated.)
I suppose that I can start by letting people know a little about myself and my family. My name is Tara Lynne born on May 30th 1983. I am a stay-at-homer with my 4 adorable little girls;
Erin Melody who was born Saturday July 20th 2002 (on her due date) at 7:22 a.m.
Abrya Gweneth who was born Saturday November 29th 2003 at 12:45 a.m.
Maelan Brenna who was born Monday August 6th 2007 at 5:20 a.m.
Brynn Evelyn who was born Friday March 13th 2009 at 9:18 p.m.
I am really proud of the fact that all of my girls have been breastfed, co-slept, slinged, and homebirthed! (I am not really a hippy, just someone who things that women should take their births back... wait, that was a really hippy thing to say!!!:) LOL)
My husband of 6 years who is also the father of my 4 beautiful babies is Eddie. He and I have been together since I was 16 years old, and he was 18. I cannot imagine my life without him, as we obviously grew up together and have made so many memories already.
Well, I have so many things I could say about myself, but I will save some for further blogging;).
Iam so excited about starting a blog!!