Spring has sprung! :)

When I look at pictures of my clan of boys, it's almost hard for me to fathom life with a little girl, but I'm reminded of her daily as I feel her kick and move and make my belly change shape in pretty funky ways. I am growing by the day, it seems, as are my discomforts and exhaustion. But how very much she is already proving to be such a blessing! I CANNOT wait to hold her and meet her for the first time. My mom watches Sammy boy every Monday while I take the boys to our homeschooling co-op in town. In my vast attempts to completely re-organize our upstairs bedrooms as we await the boys new bedroom suite, I came upon a little baby doll I bought awhile back for Daniel when I was pregnant with Sammy. Well, Sammy came upon this little girl baby doll today while my mom was here and she said that he fell in love with her. I recognized it tonight as we were gearing down for the night. Sammy was loving on her, kissing and hugging her and playing so sweetly with her. I know Robbie and Daniel will be amazing big brothers and it comforted me in seeing that Sammy is just as sweet and will likely be a pretty wonderful big bro himself. I'm sure it will be an adjustment for us all as we acclimate to being a family of 6, but how wonderfully loved and protected she will be with 3 big brothers, an adoring Daddy and a Mommy who will finally have another girl in the house. And to think we were uncertain that we even wanted a 4th, especially after losing another baby. The good Lord is blessing us yet again and we couldn't be more thankful!

Here are a few fun pictures of my boys that I've taken recently. We've been blessed with some absolutely amazing weather that we've taken full advantage of ... the boys are loving it, as are Rob and I! Time for freshly cut grass, bikes, swings, running down the street, potty-training outside (sorry neighbors!), and being completely silly ... being ourselves! Life is good. God is great! :)

  

Yay for parties and fun times with family and friends!

Our middle guy, Daniel, endured a bunch of icky blood work today and x-rays due to some issues he has been having that have caused us some concern. He was SUCH a trooper through it all ... only a few tears during the blood work and he laid completely still during the x-rays. He even said "cheese," giving all of us a good laugh! Robbie was quite upset when they asked us to leave the room ... he did not want to leave his "little brother," as he kept calling him. He loves him so very much and it warmed my heart to no end. He gave him a big hug when he was done and told him, "great job!" As crazy busy as life often is, I LOVE having 3 boys so close in age and couldn't imagine it any other way. Our baby girl will be here before we know it and we're all super excited and anxious to meet her and love her! GREAT news ... all of Daniel's blood work and x-rays came back normal as per a call I just received from our wonderful pediatrician. Yay! So happy and relieved!

Here are a few pictures from a great family weekend we had with the amazingly beautiful weather we were blessed with ... and, of course, a Saturday wouldn't be normal for the Maloney's without time spent at the pool with my water babes ...

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My water babies!

Since we have a little fish in our family, literally, and another who is following in his big brother's footsteps, we've decided to spend some time (after Daddy finishes his training) every Saturday at the local pool. The boys had an absolute ball this morning and they so enjoyed having some 1-on-1-Daddy time in the water. Robbie amazed us by swimming the entire length of the pool on his back without flippers and without help - there's a first time for everything and both Rob and I got to be there to witness it. We were so excited, as was he! I think Rob really inspired Robbie by showing us how strong of a swimmer he has become after many weeks of training himself! The boys were all little prunes after spending nearly 2 hours in the water. Here are a few pictures of our super fun morning that I was lucky enough to capture .... perhaps Sammy boy will join them next time. He enjoyed watching them from his stroller while eating a snack and we were fortunate to have a surprise visit from their Pop Pop, too! :)

Our very "sweet" news!!!

Looks like we'll soon be changing the sign in our nursery from "Thank heaven for little boys" to "Thank heaven for little girls!" We are so very excited to be adding a precious little girl to our family of boys. Our big news came  as a complete shock to Rob and I, though Robbie has been saying for quite some time that he was going to have a sister, so perhaps he knew something all along that we didn't! We honestly believed that we were meant to have all boys! Funny how the Lord surprises you in pretty profound ways sometimes! Robbie (our soon-to-be 5 year old) shared in our joy yesterday at the OB's office and was thrilled when we were told, "your son is right! It's a girl!" Music to our ears! We are thrilled beyond words and are so looking forward to meeting our precious little one in early July! Looks like I'll have to soon begin shopping for pink ruffled dresses, hair bows, and cute little shoes ... it may seem a bit foreign to me at first, but oh, the fun I will have! Thank you, Lord, for such an incredible blessing!