Sunday at Good Shepherd

We spent the morning at The church of the Good Shepherd, where West goes to preschool now and Thomas was last year. We love it there, and enjoyed the children singing for us during the church service. Hartley is over all getting better but the weekend has been rough:( Not sure what is going on but she is having some colic like behaviour at night again, not as bad, which I am thankful for but still not fun. As I have been calling on God more and more throughout this process he keeps teaching me a few things;
When I was pregnant with Hartley, I have a couple of friends who ether lost babies or had them super early because of complications, due to that I was really worried about her and our low fluid, growth issues etc. I vocalized many times that if we could just get her out I knew "I" could take care of her, "I" knew what to do... In my moments of reflection I wonder why I thought God couldn't take care of her in the womb. Certainly was easier when he was doing it! We serve an awesome God in whom I am trusting to equip me to take care of this sweet baby now, no matter how hard it is..
I am also struggling a bit with not being the intentional person that I try to be. Hartley consumes so much of me that I find myself forgetting to ask about others, having trouble sending out baby gifts, write thank you cards, being able to visit with people at parties and get together, bonding with the other preschool mommies, etc. I believe this to be just a season so forgive me friends!! I am learning to be thankful for our baby girl and the ways in which she is stretching and growing me.

Fall leaves 2010

We have no trees in our yard that produce beautiful fall leaves, thankfully our neighbors do! Each day the boys wait and watch as the leaves accumulate on the ground in anticipation of playing in them! We are "thankful" for Mr. Bruce and Mrs. Betty for our fun memories!

Sweet big brother to help!

Happy 3rd birthday sweet Westy!

We had a wonderful party for West on Saturday. I remember 3 years ago so vividly, hard to believe it's been that long. Being blessed to be a stay at home mom I can honestly say that West and I have spent nearly every minute of the past 3 years together, with the exception of him starting preschool this year. West cracks us up, he laughs at himself, can play nearly every sport, loves fiercely, adores Hartley, is obsessed with his daddy and loves to taunt his b rother. He is our early riser, waking at 530 am daily, love Little Bear and the Fresh Feat band. We are so thankful the Lord has blessed us with our Westy! We love you!!

Life has been busy, busy around the Gotbeter house. My sweet darling, Hartley is a full time job. I'll have to admit that many times I have felt like a failure for this being so hard. As a young person all I did was take care of children. Families with 3, 4 or more by myself as early 13. Working in the nursery at church soothing babies whom no one else could and now, my own, my daughter I can't make her happy. On Tuesday I said that Hartley was the most unhappy baby I had ever been around. We are pursuing some testing tomorrow morning and hoping to find an answer to her sever reflux. Prayers for our sweet baby would be appreciated!
Here are some random pictures from the last few weeks. I will say that I am beyond grateful that she is very easy in the night. Never really cries just nurses and sleeps, I look forward to the restful nights after the long days:)