Greatful for God's care and provision

You never know when your day is going to end up changing and for us yesterday was full of those unexpected changes. Our youngest two boys have been being monitered for weight problems....they don't gain weight like they should, and yesterday our youngest who is 19 weeks old went in to WIC for one of his weight checks. Both WIC and the Dr.'s office have been monitering him. He was up to 12 pounds from a month ago when he was at 11.4. They still didn't think it was enough so they set up an appointment with our Dr. (which by the way is the same doc. hubs had as a kid). We thought that was going to be the only change in our day but we were wrong. :)
We had just left there and were going to go window shop for Christmas ideas just to get me out of the house when we had a phone call. A lady we met once wanted to give us a Christmas gift. Her daughter and I have become friends since we started attending the church the daughter goes to. It turned out that this mother tithes but not in the normal way. She finds fellow believers in the church that seem like they need help or could use a blessing and she gives her tithe to them. This time it was us. I was so close to crying. A lady that barely knows us had helped us out big time and didn't even realize it but God did. We needed diapers, and had 2 left to last the older for the rest of the day until today and it was still in the morning. She may not know it but she made the rest of our Christmas possible and we are very greatful.
That in turn has made us start looking for a family or a few individuals here that we can bring in to our home on Christmas Eve and give them a Christmas dinner. Last week when we were in VA for a funeral we had need of a shelter for one night and ended up at the Salvation Army post, the family we were staying with had to fly out the night before we left. That made me rethink about all those red kettles that appear this time of year outside the stores. The ones that I ignore other than to wish the bell ringer Merry Christmas. Today thanks to a lady's generosity we were able to pass on a blessing to others in the form of a little cash put into a little red kettle. Little acts of kindness really can make a difference people.
And yet the changes were not done for the day. I had to take our little one in to the dr. They confirmed he weighs only 12 pounds which puts his weight gain for the last 2 and a half months right at barely a pound. Also the dr. was saying he is unusually pale. They have already upped his caloric intake by adding more formula mix to his bottle plus adding a lot of cereal to it 3 times a day. And between all the bottles I am still nursing him. Normally at this point they said the next course is to put him in the hospital for several days :( . Instead they ordered up a lot of blood work including testing his thyroid and protein among many other things. So I am greatful we are not in the hospital yet though we may very well soon be. As I am typing this hubs is with Joey right now in the hospital while all the blood work is being drawn. (another thing to be thankful for....it's not me in there with him :) ) This day will be spent waiting to hear back from the dr and praying for answers. Next month it will be Caleb's turn. He is two and weigh 21 pounds and 4 ounces. He has gained maybe a pound and a half in the last year. But that is next month. I love my boys and want to see them healthy and happy.

Starting Out

So I am starting out on a new blogging experience today. We shall see where all this takes us. I am as the title says a stay at home mom. I am a mom to 3. All of them are boys, but before we reach that let me back up a little and give a little history of me. My name is Sunshine, my nickname is Sunny. I met my husband at the age of 17. We started dating in January of 05 right before the spring semester of college started back up, and at that time I was 19. He left for bootcamp with the Navy on February 14 of that year. We had a long distance relationship. We were very quickly unofficially engaged. It was not lasting at that point and his family had there way and we broke up. For that reason alone my dad did not like him. We ended up back together and after another two breakups. That Christmas he showed me my engagement band. After being dropped off at college and working to pay the rest of my bill I left before the semester started and he flew me up to South Carolina on January 14th of 2006. We were officially married at a courthouse on the 18th. 2 years and 2 days after my brother got married. I became pregnant immediatly and 9 months and 2 days after we married we had Nathan Michael on October 20. It was only a few short months before I was pregnant again. We were hoping for a girl but soon found out that Caleb Matthew would be joining our family that Christmas season. Nathan was always an independant player so he didn't mind mommy having to spend time with a new addition, as long as I kept baby away from him. Caleb joined us on December 3, 2007. It was about 4 months later when we became preganant again, we lost that pregnancy at 6 weeks and 3 days. It was only 2 months later when we became pregnant again. I lost this one in August after our move to Wisconsin, I did lifting and moving of things I would better have left alone. It was 2 more months before we were expecting again. I would have found out on Thanksgiving day but for some reason the test read negative as did the one I had taken earlier. Two more negative tests before the first positive. I took 4 more after the first positive before I half-way believed it. I didn't completely believe it until I had an ultrasound at the doctor's office. Jeremy was once again unable to be there when we found out what we were having. I played a trick on him and made him think it was a girl by the pink envelope I delivered the results in. It turned out that we were expecting another boy. We didn't decide on his name until almost the end of April. July 31st Josiah Macaiah was introduced to the world at 9 pounds and 5.6 ounces. And the final boy in the family is Jeremy Michael. He is 24 as am I, we are 6 weeks apart in age.
Thee best view in the world for me is seriously peeking in through my front porch window when the boys have no clue I am watching. I catch daddy playing with his boys. The older two rubbing the babys' head or holding the very rare bottle he gets when I am gone and can't take him with me. Then there are the rare glimpses of the boys dancing with each other or the consoling hug after one comes out of time-out and the kiss that accompanies it with the words "it's otay bubby" following it. Just those random momments of sweeetness and love makes it all worth it and it is the best view in the world.
We are a family that is in stages trying to learn to live healthier and simpler. We are in the process of switching to cloth diapers. We make our own laundry detergent now, we just bought a bread maker to help me make bread a lot easier. I am open to ideas and suggestions to help us live healthier and even somewhat greener. For now that is all, as I must go tend to the precious babies.