100th POST

So I was signing out of blogger the other day when I noticed that I was coming up on my 100th post. At first I felt like a big disappointment because I have had this blog for 2+ years now and am only at my 100th post. Seriously J? Com'on Man. Then I started thinking about it and this blog was never meant to be lots of thoughts through-out the day, or a day to day occurrence of my life. It was initially set up to help capture some of those memories we are creating on our journey and it was a way to share pictures and stories with those that don't see the kiddos regularly. I wanted to have my blogs printed at the end of the year in a blog book, and I wanted to have entries that I would look back on and want to read about. Something that I could have on the bookshelf and the kiddos pull out and look at and say "I demember this"!! So outside of last year, we dubbed it The Year of the Sawyer since life was just about readjusting to life with a baby, I have been able to capture some of the bigger memories. And looking through pictures and journals, just because I didn't blog it to the world, doesn't mean it did not go unnoticed.

So for my 100th post, I thought I would blog about 10 things that are important to me or that I cherish. Ideally doing something with the number 100 would be cool, but who would want to read 100 things about me? I don't even think I would want to write 100 things about me. Ten may be pushing it...we will see how far we get;) I am thinking that I am going to do 10 installments of 10 things, the first being the 10 most important, that way if I don't get too far, you have the basics:) One thing that I have learned as I age, is who and what matters. I am proud of my life, my choices, and the path I am on and I thank GOD everyday that He has gotten me this far. Here is my list, happy reading:

10. Books. Literacy is something that I think so many take for granted. I think of how many countless hours I have devoted to reading and cannot even fathom the inability to read. I take this privilege very seriously and read often;) I had taken a bit of a hiatus from reading novels or anything that was not a board book or dealt with friendly characters for a few years. When Cohen and Miayla were both born, we were still in school so reading was an every night occurrence. (well with Miayla technically I wasn't in school, but Cody was in graduate school, so I read with him every night (see #7)). But once school got out, the books were few and far between. Then Sawyer came... a hungry Sawyer. And he would nurse for hours, or what seemed like hours, then sleep on my chest.. and this was all we would do. So I read. I read a ton. I was reading hundreds of pages a day, and I LOVED IT. I love that the kiddos love to read, I love that at the end of the night when Cody and I sit down to read, Sawyer grabs his books and sits down in his chair by himself and reads too. I love having Cohen read to me. That has been one of my bigger joys the last year and a half. That kid can read. His voice only sounds sweeter when he says "momma" :) I love snuggling up with kiddos in beds and reading to them or with them, or them to me. They have book lights in their beds and every night they read after I turn off the lights. And I love reading in bed with Cody at night, reminds me of Mike and Carol Brady:) LOVE BOOKS

9. FOOD. Clearly if you have been reading my posts lately you know I love food. I actually picked up a magazine yesterday and there was an article about how a woman had cheated on her husband with food. Cody and I laughed and acknowledged that would be my kind of affair:) Food brings me happiness, lots of happiness. It also brings me something else that ends in two "s" but that is for another post. I love gatherings with food and I love having people over to share food. I thoroughly enjoy eating. A few of my favs are Granite city BRUNCH, and Sweet Basil for lunch during the week. Both ironically are buffets, which Cody and I both despise, but I make exceptions for these two places. yummmm, food.

8. Bedtime Routine for adults. Don't worry, this is completely G-rated:) I am crazy about Cody James. Drives me bonkers, but love him. One thing that I love about him (you couldn't honestly think he would be this high up in the list) is our bedtime routine. From the very beginning we have never gone to bed with out the other. It is something that started out cute-can't-get-enough-of-you sweet and now it is so routine. I know LOTS of couples where she will go to bed and he will stay up watching TV or vice versa. We always go to bed together and not only do we go to bed together, we race to the bed to see who has to turn off the light. When he was going through graduate school, I would stay up and read. When he was going through certifications of sorts, I would stay up and eat. And now he is going through more "initials behind his name" so I stay up and read and eat. On warmer nights, we sit out on the patio and talk about our life together when "we grow up". I cherish this time when it is just him and me and I look forward to it every night.

7. Close Friends. If you are reading this and it makes you smile, you know it is you. I have just a handful of them. The ones that get the full Jeny. The ones that get notification when something happens, namely the conception of a child and or it's birth (seems like that has happened a lot over the last 6 years). The ones that know what is going on sans FACEBOOK. The ones that see me in sweats (or I guess hang out with me in sweats, cuz Lord knows EVERYONE sees me in sweats), the ones that come over and hang out with the kiddos. The ones that play with the kiddos and ask them questions and hold them with out asking. The ones that call or text and say I'm thinking about you. The ones that go to my kiddos games and ask about practices and recitals. The ones that know I love to eat and take me places with food. The ones that give Cody hell. The ones that i know I can call on if I need anything and they will be there. LOVE THEM and I hope they know that.

6. MIKA. Mika is my bestest. We met in college and became close friends sophomore year. She was the 3rd person to know of Cohen, Cody and I being 1 & 2. And she didn't tell a soul, judge, or do anything except give lots of hugs and let me know life would be okay. And it was. Actually, now that I think about it...she has been the 3rd person to know of all 4 of my kiddos. Props to Mika. I say that like it is some honor to know about them:) Mika is the epitome of #7. I love the way our relationship is. She is the friend that you can call and not say anything and she will 1.start talking, or 2. if something is wrong, know that something is wrong and start talking because you don't know what to say. One thing I love about Mika is the way she loves my kids. You lose friends when you have kiddos, it is no secret. But I think of it as the time you find out who your true friends are. She is a huge fan and she takes them in. For two summers in a row we have gone on "bacations" to Mika's. She always has their favorite foods (she knows these from knowing them), fun things lined up, and PATIENCE. That girl has patience. Which you would have to if a friend and her 3 soon to be 4 kids invaded your life. She plays games with Cohen, pampers Princess Miayla, and cuddles with Sawyer informing him of his future girlfriend, Peyton, her niece:) I would be lost with out her and she deserves all the happiness in the world. Words really cannot do Mika justice. LOVE HER.

5. Family. I love my family-(extended family-to some, but I consider them all core family). I have the greatest parents. They have taught me so much and luckily I have been open-minded to listen. They have tried to give me everything they could and know that I am loved. They instilled a strong faith in me, one that I have not forgotten about, one that has gotten me through dark hours. They have stood by my side on everything. Even if it wasn't right, they were waiting in the wings to catch me if I fell. They adore the kiddos and the kiddos adore them. Just yesterday Cohen informed me that he might move to "uella's" house. blogging about my parents could take forever, so I will stop there for now. Anthony, my brother, I consider more of my oldest child. He is the light of my life. Well one of them. One thing my parents have blessed me with is the "extended family". Truth be told, we are not close to my dad's side of the family, so we just have my moms' side. Which I really feel like they are more my mom & dad's side of the family because they adore dad just as much. My aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandpa are completely important to me. We have family dinner the 3rd Sunday of every month and I think in all the time we have been doing it, I have missed maybe 3. I will reschedule stuff around them, they are important to me. Family dinner is just one instance I am surrounded by them. They come to ball games, we ZUMBA together, shop together, have game nights and pj parties together. LOVE MY FAMILY.

4. Babies. I love babies. I love being pregnant with babies. The gift of life is precious and I feel unbelievably blessed that God bestowed this honor on me. For those of you who don't know. I used to not want kids. I look back now on that time and think of how selfish and cheated I would of been if I did not have them. To see life through a child's eyes is amazing. To experience things with them is breath taking. I feel that God has given me a task to defend life and to be an advocate for the unborn. I love that every night when the kids pray they both pray for the unborn, or as Miayla says "the babies that are born and not born yet." This past January we did lots of "respect life" activities and I feel like they had an impact. If I accomplish nothing else in this life, I hope they grow up to defend life and love babies as much as I do:)

3. My children. Having life in you is an amazing thing. To feel another human being moving, heart beating, growing, is the greatest thing in the world. To experience their first breath outside of the womb is timeless. To see them for the first time and know you created them is life-changing. I love watching them grow and experience new things and accomplish things. Each of them is different, yet they are all similar. And it is so weird how you never knew life with out them. I look at Sawyer and think, "how did I get a long with out you for 26 years?" my children are very well behaved and very kind. They think of each other all the time. Do you know how many valentines I have right now for the baby?? Every place we go they ask about each other. First thing in the morning Miayla looks for Cohen if he is not in the room. They both run to Sawyer. We all run to Cody when he walks in every night. We have nigthly dance parties, crazy dinner conversations, more inside jokes than we should. I adore my little family. Cohen, Miayla, Sawyer and baby #4 are everything to me. I hope they know that.

2. Cody James. I'm smiling just thinking about trying to blog about him. I LOVE Cody, the most. We are completely different.... except in loving each other. Which lucky for us, is where it counts. I was raised to find someone that I loved, loved me, and would help get one another to heaven. Found him instead.... JUST KIDDING! Cody tells me that my faith and love of my faith teach him. Cody and his love for everything else, test my faith, and somehow I am hoping all of it will get us God:) Again with the sarcasm. Cody is unbelievably smart and so incredibly handsome. I love his hands, his blue blue eyes, and the scar on his right cheek and next to his left eye. I love the way he loves me. The way I fit under his chin and how he can wrap his whole body around me. I love that he is one of the fastest typers I know, wears a suit to work everyday, yet can run a combine and change my oil and build me a house. And I love the way he looks when he sees his baby for the first time. The way his hands go from strong, holding mine as I squeeze the blood out of them, to gentle and magical. How excited he gets about changing the first diapers and how he loves sharing the new baby with it's siblings. I love that he cuddles with them, that he takes them out on dates, teaches them, laughs with them, prays with them. I love our story and the journey we are on. I LOVE HIM.

1. God. My faith is the most important thing to me. The priest at our church was telling us about a guy him and a brother priest encountered on a trip and about how the said guy had a shirt on about God not existing. Fr. Weldon said "what's the point?" And I could not agree more. What is the point for any of this if there is not a higher being? God exists. You see it everyday, through out the day. The fact you are even here is testament to His existence. I don't understand how some people can get through life with no god or even how some people can be raised to know God and his teachings and then when grown, leave those beliefs or forget about Him. I know that I cannot change the world, but what i can do, is be a witness to His glory. To live my life to where others see it and my faith. The greatest experience in my life, which has happened on multiple occasions, is kneeling at Mass with my family. Now obviously we go to Mass all the time together, but a couple of weeks ago, Cody put Sawyer down while he was kneeling. I looked down the pew (another goal of mine is to have a pew full;) and every single one of my family members was kneeling and had their hands folded and heads bowed, including sweet baby Sawyer. I thanked God. The two oldest are angels at Mass all the time. When we go to weekday Mass or if we go at a time Cody can't make it, they sit and listen and participate. I will leave to get up with Sawyer and they are so well behaved in the pew and I love watching how Cohen takes care of Miayla. Now realistically, this day, it may have been coincidence on Sawyers part to kneel and pray, although every night at dinner he claps his hands together at prayer. I am hopeful God was working through him to remind me that we are on the right path, even if that path detours to the narthex of the church with a laughing baby. God has blessed me immensely and for that I am thankful. I will continue on the journey He has for me. "God has created me to do some definite service. God has committed some work to me which God has not committed to another. I have my mission; I may never know it in this life....but I shall be told it in the next." Blessed Cardinal Newman