Madelynne is proof to me that we should keep having babies. I love all my girls so much, but each one opens up something inside me that I hadn't yet experienced. Each one has taught me something about myself, creation, humanity and God's wonderous love that without these little beings, I wouldn't otherwise know. I praise God for seeing me fit to hold even one of these most marvelous of creations.

Madelynne is Here

After cooking for nine months and ten hours of labor, Madelynne Olivia made her grand entrance on May 31, 2009 at 7:05pm. She weighed 7lbs, 7oz and was 20.5 inches long. She is absolutely beautiful, and most defintely has her own look. I can see bits of all the other girls in her, but she is so different and special.

We thank God for her and His grace in bringing her to us safely. Aaron will be home with us the rest of this week to help out as the mama heals up a bit and we adjust to this new member of our family.

Full Term and Off to the Hospital

Here I am 39 weeks pregnant. Sorry to those of you who were hoping for more, but this is as good as it gets. I am leaning against the wall because that is the only way I could get comfortable enough for Aaron to take a picture of me standing. I have been having contractions on and off for the last three weeks, and making progress as I was dialated to a 3 at my last appointment. We now also have a labor-day. Because I have not gained any weight in my final month, my OB wanted to do an ultrasound. The ultrasound showed that there was a very minimal amount of amniotic fluid. That coupled with a recent jump in my blood pressure has set us for a delivery date of May 31st. We'll be going in at 7am to be induced. Wish us luck!

All Grown Up

I will be 27 years old this year. I am soon to be the mother of 4 (!!!) children. Sometimes when I pause long enough(or am allowed to pause long enough) to really think about how much my life has changed in the last five years, it is absolutely mind-boggling. Recently, I've been reconnecting with my cousin's lovely family. (My mother's brother's son) I can hardly believe the transition that he has made from the young man he used to be. He is now the married father of three boys running his own real-estate business. Seriously, that blows my mind, because when I think of him, or any of my other cousins, I still feel like I'm eight years old playing hide-and-seek in my grandma and grandpa Jackson's backyard.

We've recently done a couple of playdates and here are some highlights from our trip to the park. John (my cousin) is a true Jackson in his face and has transferred that on to his sons. I wonder if there is any of the Jackson features in my girls. I see it every now and then; more in a particular face or pose they make rather than a physical resemblance.


Beautiful Charlotte just chillin' out at the park, enjoying some water and fishie crachers. :)

This is the middle boy of the three, Enoch, with our oldest, Anna.


This is their youngest, Ezekial.

Their oldest, Elijah. (Notice a letter theme? :) )

Freezin' for Tomorrow

One of the things that I try to do before each baby comes is to stock up my freezer with easy and quick meals that someone could throw together with one hand tied behind their back, or in my case with a baby in one arm. This go around, it was my goal to go about this is a more organized manner. Here are some pictures and links to the recipes of the meals that Aaron and I made to stock up our freezer for after Maddie gets here. All of this was made much easier by my mother's day gift this year of a new upright freezer. I love my husband. This is something that will, as our family continues to grow, help enormously with meal prep and shopping trips.

First we made something called "Brown Bag Burritoes." These were so easy and are so yummy!


Here is my family's favorite recipe for Pumpkin Bread that makes sensational muffins. These are great for a quick breakfast or morning snack when everyone is hungry at the same time and you've got to nurse the baby. :)


This is "Chicken Tater Bake." A recipe that my sister introduced me to, it is also super easy to make and is a complete meal.

Our new favorite recipe for "Chicken Pot Pie." I've blogged about this before, but the great thing about it is that it makes two pies. I also have made up extra filling and mixed it with cheddar cheese and rotini for another pasta dish option.

These are "mini meatloaves", with the exception that I used my own personal meatloaf recipe. I know that everyone has their own preferred meatloaf recipe and I think the concept would work with whatever recipe, but this is the one that I used.

Robert and Tamara Get Married

This past Saturday, Aaron's youngest brother, Robert, married Tamara Knapp; adding a wonderful new member to this already wonderful Greenwood family. Robert and Tamara started dating when I was pregnant with Anna and I think we all knew pretty early on where their relationship was headed. Here are some favorite pictures from their big day.

How often do you get to see your hubby in a tux? Yes, I took lots of pictures of him all spiffed up.

Mary Jo and Bob, Aaron's parents, looking especially beautiful together; married almost 38 years. They are absolutely the best inlaws anyone could ask for. All of us daughter-in-laws lucked out tremendously with these two.

From Left to Right: Lee Greenwood, Bill Greenwood, Robert Greenwood, Roger Knapp (Tamara's father), Bob Greenwood, Justin Greenwood and Aaron. For whatever reason we forgot to get all the kids, wives and siblings together for a big Greenwood picture, but now with all the boys back in the states now, we should hopefully have more opportunities.

Such a lovely wedding and a lovely day. Aaron and I majorly lucked out with some great babysitters for our girls that enabled us to really enjoy the wedding. Four down, two more to go. I wonder who will be next. :)

Picture Update

I've been asked to post some pictures to update folks on what my girlies are doing now, so I thought I'd take a minute before our crazy, beautiful weekend started. (Aaron's brother, Robert, is marrying a sweetheart of a girl this weekend.) I'll blog about that next week. It sounds like all of Aaron's family will be together for the first time in almost four years. Really looking forward to some of those photo ops.

I've also been asked to post a baby-belly shot, but I'm going to wait a few weeks to do that. Aaron and I have a special ritual where we take some prego pictures when I get to full-term, so we'll post those closer to the end of May.

Here is a picture of Anna with her George, sitting on the top bunk. We finally got the room painted that lovely purple color. Aaron finished refurbishing the railing and Anna's been sleeping up there the last few night. She seems to be really enjoying it. We have had one jumping/slipping accident, but no more jumping since then.

While we may not quite be potty-trained, they are still having fun with the underwear. :)

It is almost impossible for me to get my older girls to wear jammies to bed. Some of you may remember that with Anna we tried cutting off feet from footie jammies and putting them on backwards. As warmer weather comes along, it's not such a big deal, but we got each of the girls a nightgown and they seen to be a big hit. But, so far, they only want to wear them during the day to play in. Figures. :)

Charlotte is getting so big. We're really enjoying seeing her come into her own as a full-blown toddler. As the warmer weather has come on, we've also had some new challenges to face with her. Charlotte seems to suffer from seasonal allergies on top of her eczema. She just seems to have a constant runny nose and itchy skin. We're praying that this is something that she'll grow out of soon.

Some fun towels that the girls got this past Christmas. Anna's is an elephant and Abby's is a duck. They really enjoy the towels, but bath time has become a bit of a challenging time her lately; not really sure why. I think it's a bit of a protest against daddy doing the baths all the time. We went through the same thing when I was pregnant with Charlotte and couldn't bend over the tub to bathe them.

We've been enjoying the warmer weather and taking advantage of it by playing outside as much as we can. Next weekend, we're planning on putting in our garden and doing some revamping of the flower beds. I cannot tell you how much I'm looking forward to that. I love working in the flower beds and garden when I get the chance. We'll have to make sure we take lots of pictures to pass on to you guys. :)

I hope you all are enjoying your Springtime and this season of planting. :)