Christmas

 Elle is crawling and getting big and so beautiful!!

 Wil - trouble but so cute!

 Matthew and the kids at the church Christmas program!

 Cant believe Elle is 7 (almost 8) months already!!

 Matthew - looks so innocent here, ha!

 Love this picture of the three of them!

 Matthew in his Christmas program at his preschool!

More pictures to come!

Peace

Today, I am overcome with peace. Peace knowing that I'm not going to get along with everyone, and not everyone is going to like me. And guess what? That's okay. There is not one person on this earth that is liked by EVERYONE they meet and even my sweet Jesus was and is hated by so many (because they do not truly understand who He is). I am overcome with peace looking at my sweet children. Even though they drive me crazy most of the time I am SO incredibly thankful for their health and their personalities already. I pray that they will grow to know and love Jesus and be a blessing to everyone they come into contact with. I am thinking of things positively today. Wil decided to figure out how to climb out of his crib (without getting hurt) and instead of getting frustrated I am reminding myself of how smart he is :) It is easy to be happy with Elle at this moment because she has been sleeping 4 hours right now (noon to 4:00) but really she is a good baby and the moments she is fussy it is because she wants to be held and I am happy to do that so we can create a strong bond as mother and daughter! Matthew has been really bad lately...pretty standard for a 4 year old I guess but today I have tried to not yell as much, or spank him right away and I notice a difference. He is more calm when I am calm and he still gets the punishment (time out's usually, or toys taken away) so he isn't getting away with anything, just less yelling and high blood pressure! And even though Shaun is gone today with my brother at a waterpark, I am thankful that he gets along with my family...and he loaded and ran the dishwasher this morning before he left :)
Elle is just waking up, but I hope what I wrote today will encourage you to be a little more thankful for the things in your life. Remeber to slow down and look around you: Life is not a race! Here is what inspired me to  think differently today:
http://www.aholyexperience.com/2012/08/10-ways-to-be-a-happier-mom/

addictions

Check out this article about addictions from Relevant Magazine.com. Here is a little sneak peek:
"Immediately from birth, life is a shocker. We develop and grow, but there remains a natural human inclination to reach out to anything substantial, to stabilize us and lend us support. For some people, this innate need can turn into a full-blown addiction. In fact, 16 percent of the U.S. population is dependent on alcohol, nicotine, or other drugs."

To be honest, I have my own addiction I'm dealing with. It stems from my inability to make decisions easily. It's sort of like rolling dice, or drawing a card...without giving anyone ideas. I have this struggle between knowing that I don't let this addiction take over me too much and knowing that I should use my brain that God gave me. I do make my own decisions most of the time  especially when it comes to things that matter. I mostly can't decide where to start when cleaning my house, or how to wear my hair. It really is a thing that stabalizes me and lends me support like the article says.

A New Day

For those (probably few) of you who actually read my blog, you're probably thinking "WHOA! Whitney is posting so soon after her last post!?" Yes, it is true! This is not a dream! When I get free time, I am usually cleaning my house, or attempting to at least. And when I do get on a computer, I am catching up on emails! I have 202 right now but definitely need a break right now! (Elle is currently sleeping :))
What's new? Well, the husband has a summer school teaching job out near Geneva which is wonderful! God is so good! We definitely need the extra money since I wasn't working or getting any pay while on maternity leave from watching kids (which doesn't exactly bring us a ton of money). It seems like the perfect fit for him too, other than the fact that he is teaching algebra 2 to high school boys even though he is certified in Middle School math. The *Dean didn't seem to mind. *(It is a private all boys boarding school which costs $38,000/year!) The good thing is he only has 2 students, so it's not too overwhelming for him to be teaching something he's not super familiar with. I went to the school with him for a dinner and we brought the kids. I loved it there. I'm kind of jealous because it seems like such a great community of people. The teachers and their families live on campus which is awesome because you become on giant family, you don't have to drive to work, you don't have to pay a mortgage or rent and you can even eat in the cafeteria with the students whenever you want which saves money on food for you too! 
Anyways...I am on a mission to lose this baby weight which is proving to be harder than I remember with the other two. I have 'dieted' for 3 weeks now and have not lost any weight. I still asked if I'm pregnant and although it's only been 8 weeks since I had Elle it's frustrating because i am trying. I need to be more self-controlled when I'm at other peoples houses or in public because I see it as an opportunity to go off my diet a little (which sometimes turns into a lot). I am pretty good at sticking to eating healthy at home but sometimes my portions are probably too large or even if I'm already full I still eat more. I KNOW what I need to do, but doing it is the hard part. I also have not worked out at all really but I am signing up for a stroller fitness class that my friend is teaching which will be awesome. I have to admit that I am afraid of embarrassing myself because I am SO out of shape! But hey, everyone has to start somewhere, right? So, basically I need to start working out, and possibly cut back on the carbs and my portion sizes and hopefully I can lose some weight by mid-August for a wedding we are attending. I would love to start 'The Maker's Diet' at the beginning (Phase One) because that's the detox part but I'm not sure that's a good idea with breastfeeding so I'm just sticking to the usual big parts of it which is no pig, shellfish etc...I should obviously be staying away from corn-syrup and white-refined flours but it's hard not to pass up a root beer when I'm at someone's house, or chips with dip. Not too mention my mom is allergic to whole wheat stuff so she only has white bread. 
I should really be getting my little guys to be eating healthy. My mother in law buys us stuff from Sams Club which happens to be mostly junk, like huge boxes of waffles, toaster strudels, sugary cereal, crackers that have 1000 ingredients listed etc...She has good intentions but it makes it hard to eat healthy. Sometimes she will buy us fruit or milk for Wil because he drinks almond or coconut milk. 
Well, Hope everyone has a Happy 4th of July!!!!!!! We will be having both of our families to our house to grill out, with our first bonfire experience with Matthew!

Welcome our baby Elle!

Happy (late) Mothers Day, all you mom's out there!
I am happy to say I am now a mommy of 3!!!
(Including a GIRL!)

Welcome Elle (Elizabeth Marie) Spence at 3:23am on May 4th. Weighing in at 9lb 1oz and 20 inches long.
As you can see we did a water-birth at home. I loved it and I think it really helped with the pain! I am not going to even attempt to put the whole birth story on here considering it's taken me about 5 times to work on getting the pictures on here and if I wait any longer, Elle will have her first birthday already, haha. So at least you all (whoever you are) can see her.

pictures

Thought I'd put up some pictures from Christmas since I neglected to do so...

above: My family

below: Our Wil...I love this picture of him. He looks so handsome!

Shaun's family - his Dad, brothers, Mom and us.

It's a...

Well, to start from the beginning:
We had my ultrasound two days before Christmas so we decided to have the technician write down the sex of the baby in an envelope and we gave it to Shaun's cousin to make us a cake with blue or pink in the middle. As you can see, we are having a GIRL!! I am glad for so many reasons...although at first I think I was nervous since all I know is how to take care of boys and I know that moms and daughters dont always have the best relationships. God has given me peace over those silly fears and I am ready to embrace all the pink! I'm excited to dress her up and teach her so much. I'm excited to watch Shaun with her - I know she will have him wrapped around her finger! I'm excited to watch her big brothers protect her. I'm especially excited for my mother-in-law since she never had a girl. My husband is one of 3 boys and his dad in one of 3 boys. We broke the 'curse' of boys I guess. I'm also glad because it makes it easier to stop at 3 kids. Although I really love being pregnant and I've had wonderful births, I think I will enjoy getting my body back in shape and moving out of the baby/toddler years (I know,all you moms out there are thinking that I'll regret saying that).
It is a new year, and although I am constantly coming up with 'resolutions' all year long, I do have a few I want to try to start at the beginning of this year. One of them is to not talk about myself so much, and ask people questions about themselves and their families. I realized I have not cared enough about other people. I know this isn't an excuse but having little ones to take care makes my mind run at a hundred miles an hour - there are always things on my mind but when I'm with others, I will try my best to focus on them.