Raising Blessings

My babies are growing up so quick! Joshua turned a month old yesterday and Miriam is 20 months today and she has learned so much! She can sing her ABC’s and she knows that letters make words. A lot of little ones her age only focus on pictures in books but she points to the words and makes up what the say. She was “reading” a piece of paper she said “I love Mommy”. How precious is that?!

I love how she talks. The last word is louder than the rest of her little sentences. When she wants me to play ponies with her she says “mom, play GAME!” or when she colours a picture she says “look mom. WOW!”

She takes her role has big sister very seriously – she thinks that whenever Joshua cries he wants her! She wants to hold him all the time. She will sit down with her arms out and say “Hugs Josh” when she wants to hold him.

Joshua is such a wonderful part of our family! He smiles now and loves to look at people. Last night Sariah and Joshua fell asleep together and when I went to take Joshua I found that he was holding onto Sariah’s finger. It was so cute! Rebekah also wants to hold Joshua all the time, she also likes to get him dressed and help change his diaper. She even changes Miriam and does quite a good job folding a cloth diaper! All the girls are such wonderful little mommies!

All week JJ has come home at 1 am. He is working on a proposal that he has to present in February. The one job I give JJ is to put the kids to bed (and mop the floor) but of course he hasn’t been here to do that so its up to me and since they all share a room, it’s not easy. By Wednesday I got tired of the 2 hours it took to get them to bed that last night I had them all fall asleep separately. Miriam in their bedroom and since she was by her self she fell a sleep in less than 5 minutes. Rebekah in my room and Sariah on the living room couch.

After half an hour of putting Bekah back into my bed every 10 seconds I went to check on Joshua and this is what I found.



Sariah reading to Joshua. She loves to read, which is one factor to her staying up so late but it’s still cute. A friend who is elementary ed major needed some first graders to assess their reading. I told her that my daughter is in Kindergarten but she was welcomed to come read with her so she did and said that she hasn’t met a first grader who reads as well as Sariah does.

Today she had an assessment with a K12 teacher and she said that Sariah is far above where she needs to be. They are going to be sending us the first grade Phonics and language arts kit next month! And the K12 curriculum is a grade level above the regular public school curriculum so I am very happy with her achievement.

Rebekah is now a beginning reader. She is sounding words out and is cooperative during her reading lessons. It is so cute to see how excited she is when she reads a word correctly. She could be reading books on her own by the time she is 5 as well!

This picture is from 2 weeks ago when Joshua was just a week old during one of his rare wide eyed moments. This baby sleeps a lot! I think it is so cute when babies suck their thumbs. All of mine have sucked their thumbs here and there but no actual thumb suckers so I need to get pictures of the act when I can.

Joshua coo’s now and he tries to roll over. He gets to his side and tries to move further. Today, I was peed on for the first time. Something to expect when you have a boy, I guess. JJ was peed on just minutes after Joshua was born.



Joshua doesn’t get put down very often. I hold him most of the day, he is such a snuggly baby, I love it! All 3 girls fight over him – sometimes he doesn’t like that.



Miriam is saying “shhh… Josh…ok…shhh Josh”

My sister came to visit for a week. She arrived on Dec 30, 2 days before Joshua was born so she was of course the first visitor. My girls loved spending time with her. Sariah and Rebekah cried when she left

The day after Joshua’s birth, my cousin Peter came over with his family. They live in Scotland but came here to spend Christmas with his wife’s family.



We hope more family will come to visit soon.

A Mile In His Shoes is a movie based on the bestselling book “The Legend of Mickey Tussler” by Frank Nappi.

Mickey Tussler is an 18 year old boy who is discovered by baseball coach Murph to be a very talented pitcher while he is seen throwing apples to the farm animals on his family farm. Murph immediately wants to have Mickey try out for his team, however Mickey’s parents are hesitant because their son has Asperger’s. They worry about him being away from home. Coach Murph takes care of Mickey like a son and in doing so renews his faith in God.

Here is the trailer:


A Mile In His Shoes is a made for TV movie that is now out on DVD. I love inspirational Christian movies that we can watch as a family. Even though my husband enjoyed pointing out quirks like how the baseball ball team plays the same opposing team every game, I know he enjoyed spending time with the family watching the movie

Leave a comment sharing something or someone that inspires you for a chance to win a copy of this DVD. For an extra entry each each you can:

1. Blog about this giveaway on your blog (leave the blog URL in your comment).
2. Like Raising Three Little Princesses on facebook

Giveaway ends January 21st, midnight MST

Joshua has already accomplished some firsts in his short 10 day life (outside the womb).

He has traveled in his car seat. He really does not like being in it.



Don’t worry, we did cover his face from the sun during the car ride.

Joshua’s umbilical cord came off when he was 5 days old so that meant time for his first bath! Which he also really did not like. Sorry, Joshy maybe if I just stayed in the birthing tub for another half hour you would have been born in the water and loved your first bath like Miriam did.



When his umbilical cord came off we also began using cloth diapers for him. You can use cloth before the cord falls off but I just find it too awkward and also babies are so floppy their first few days, it’s just easier to wait several days.

Another first for Joshua was his first visit to the doctors. He got his PKU test and as of the visit yesterday he weighed 6 lbs 13 oz so he’s right about back to his birth weight of 6 lbs 14 oz. He cried so much louder and longer than any of the other babies during the heel prick.

He did become jaundiced when he was 2 days old but later on that night my milk came in so with lots of feedings, some sun light and many, many dirty diapers the jaundice was completely gone 3 days later.



Now this was something he enjoyed! He looked so relaxed laying by the window sucking his tumb.

I’ve got my camera and extra canon batteries out of reach from children, ready to take many more pictures of our children for all of our family to see.

I’m sure there were many, many babies born in Utah before our’s in 2012 but our baby could very well have been the first home birth baby of the year.



Joshua James Lee was born on January 1st, 2012 at 1:18 pm weighing 6 lbs 14 oz and measured 19 inches long. Isn’t he such a handsome little guy?

On New Years eve around 10 pm, I knew that I was finally (it felt that way) in real labour. The contractions were becoming stronger and closer together. We continued through our new years celebration playing Monopoly deal, watching the kids and my twin sister, Sara-Jayne who was visiting dance all night and bang pots and pans out side as the clock struck midnight. I could not stomach any food so I made sure some was saved for after the baby was born.

Around 12:45 am I called my midwife and since my other labours were 8 hours, 6 hours and 7 hours I figured that I would be holding my baby boy around 5 am. Well by that time I was still in the birth tub in labour. The contractions were very mild in the tub. Miriam woke up early in the morning wanting me. Sara-Jayne tried comforting her and then JJ tried getting her to lay down with him but then I decided to get out of the tub and take her. I laid down for an hour and a half with her as the contractions became more intense and I felt like progress was actually being made. I turned to JJ and told him that we are going to be having a lazy little boy, I could not believe how slowly this labour was progressing. He just laughed and said that it would be over soon enough.

At about 9:30 am, I was just wanting labour over with so I asked my midwife to break my water, I was also feeling awful that she had to be at my house all night long. Around 11:30 I began pushing in the tub. Meanwhile Sara-Jayne got Sariah, Rebekah and Miriam ready for church and even though church did not start until 1pm she took them an hour early which was such a huge help I felt so much more relaxed now that I couldn’t hear them running around or Miriam knocking on the bedroom door for me.

Close to 1 pm I wanted out of the tub so I decided to go on the birthing stool. I was just so exhausted and when I felt like giving up I prayed for enough strength to give just one more push to get the baby out. I just went for it hard. JJ used all his strength to keep his hands held up high which I used all of mine to pull them down, the midwife’s assistant applied pressure to my knees and hips. While pushing the contraction ended but I kept on pushing anyways and FINALLY little Joshua James was born and we were over come with love for this precious little guy.

Once the placenta was delivered I handed the baby (and placenta, which was wrapped up in a chux pad) over to JJ while the midwives helped me get ready to lay down in my bed. I could not feel my legs and I ached all over so it was such a relief to lay down in my own bed.

JJ not only cut the cord but also assisted with the newborn exam.



He is adored by all of us. Miriam is so gentle with him and learning to kiss his head instead of his face. She calls his Josh or Joshwa.

I’ll be honest, I was really hoping to have the baby before Christmas but really, I should know by now that my babies just don’t come before their “due” dates!

I have been having a lot of very painful contractions that are just not becoming regular. I sure do hope to be holding this baby in my arms this week – we have until Saturday to get a tax return for him … ha ha! Actually the biggest reason I am hoping for a baby this week is because my sister is coming to visit tomorrow and I will be so disappointed if she doesn’t get to see the baby before she leaves.

I am measuring at 37 weeks right now but with all the pressure on my back and hips it might not necessarily mean a small baby.

I am feeling so anxious to snuggle this little baby and watch the rest of the family fall in love with him.