Christmas Thoughts

Picture this:
A young woman betrothed to a man, pregnant out of wedlock in a time where punishment for that could be stoning, yet she has not been with a man.  She goes to visit her cousin, old and 'barren' yet she is with child.  Her husband is unable to speak.  When it is time for the young woman to have her child, stinky shepherds AND rich kings come to visit the Babe, who was born in a stable.  This child who was born is called the Prince of Peace, not a prince of defending, or a prince of conquering, but of Peace.  What a crazy mixed up story, with a crazy mixed up family. 

Who am I to try to put God in a box.  Who am I to think I know what is best, when His will and timing is perfect and nothing I could ever have come up with. 

He came to us, so that we may come to Him. 

A very merry and blessed Christmas to you all! 

From this guy

 

And this guy

 

And this guy

 

And us!

 

 

Love ya, mean it!

Be here now

Once in a Blue Moon...

...CALLUM JOSEPH CAHILL arrives! 

August 31st at 11:11 AM (it was a blue moon that night)

He was 9 lbs 9 oz, 22 inches- our biggest one yet!  And quickest, for that matter-less than 5 hours of labor. (A huge shout out and THANK YOU to Luke, who was my rock, my encourager, my prayer warrior during that whole time.  I love you, Honey!! And thank you for your prayers and support, Mom!) 
As proof in how long ago the last blog was, life has a totally new normal.  It gets tricky with three, for now you are out numbered!  Though life has been different (and tough and exhausting), it has been wonderful!  Lachlan and Torin are lovin on Callum so sweet...and sometimes so aggressively.  Boy is Callum going to be tough!

Grampa is really excited that Luke can say 'My Three Sons' AND that he can say 'My Three Grandsons'
My Three Sons

Our very first Family of Five picture

Three months ago today (kind of, November doesn't have a '31st') that sweet, sweet boy was born.  My how Babies change so quickly!!!  He is now sharing heaps of smiles, a couple of giggles, and drool. Lots of drool!  Here is a quick walk-through of his life so far.

Last picture inside Mama.  To think we had no idea who this Little one was!

Right before we left the Hospital, we squeeezed him into this newborn outfit. All 3 boys have worn in home.
Our Irish blessings.

One week

2 weeks
I love my child DEARLY, but he just looks a little Gollum-esque...

1 month, with his friend Adalyn, born on the same day! (she was early and he was late...can you tell?)
; )

Chillin at the Pumpkin Patch

  

Not a big fan of the tubby in the sink

2 months, and lovin the pirate look!

A bit blurry, but look how happy he is!

1st Halloween with Lightening McQueen and Woody

                                                 

1st Thanksgiving, demanding more turkey.

Looks like he got some...

He is growing so healthy.  We are so grateful.  At his 2 month Dr appt, he was 17.2 lbs.  And that was a month ago.  I can only imagine what this HUGE little guy weighs now.
Love you, Callum!  And can't wait to watch you as you grow and Grow and GROW!
Thank you, Lord, for a beautiful family.

Love ya, mean it!
Be here now.

Sweet Sayings:I can do it!

We got creative this year on the 4th of July because this BabyMama did not want to endure the heat, so we went where everygood American goes-the Mall of America!  I don't think we bought a thing (minus some cool drinks), but we had a nice time wandering around and enjoying the Air Conditioning.  One stop was the Barnes and Noble book store, where they have a train set in the kids section.  We spent some time there, and Toring found a book by Eric Carle, From Head to Toe, that we have at home.  He would do the action, and then say 'I can do it' in his sweet little voice.  Totally can't understand what he is saying, but still pretty sweet!
I can do it!

Thanks, Old Navy for the fun balloons!

THEN we went to the Auntie's house (they live on the 27th floor in Kellog Square) to swim, eat dinner, and stay up waaay late to watch the fire works.  on the 27th floor.  in the air conditioning.  A pregnant woman's DREAM!

Pool Time with Grampa

Watching the many fire works shows waaay off in the distance.

Glow sticks!

Love ya, mean it! 
Be here now

Fun with Forts

Now that the weather has been so amazing, we can access our sunrrom again.  Normally during the summer it just becomes a sauna, minus the hot rocks!  Lachlan had the great idea to build a fort, so we went with his lead, and I tried to assemble the best fort I could.  It's not really fancy, but it did the job!  After eating dinner OUTSIDE (we have been doing that quite a bit lately, after 'hibernating' in our house all of July) the whole fam took a trip into the fort.  Oh how grateful I am for this weather!

Oh but the fort fun didn't just stop at our house. My brother, James, has a Spiderman tent that the 3 of them have been enjoying. And the last day we saw Auntie Rara, (my sister Sarah is going to Madagascar for a year-please keep her in your prayers.  She will be living in Fort dauphin--haha!  How appropriate.) They had FUN in the tent as well! (One of these days I will learn how to embed correctly...it's not working for me, so we resort to the good ol' link)

Auntie Rara loves doing the 'Dada Smile'

We will miss you HEAPS, Auntie Rara!  Know we are praying for you.  The boys (and especially Baby) are excited to receive their real, live lemur when you return in July. 

Love ya, mean it!
Be here now

Our EnErGeTiC Singer

I have been trying to post this for some time-it was recorded almost exactly a year ago.  I was never able to succesfully upload it, though.  And then I learned a bit about Youtube....it's a work in progress.

So I hope it works now.  And hope you enjoy our Energetic Singer, though he is a bit older now!
(It's almost 5 mins long, but I just wanted to at least show the first minute.  Still learning about editing...)

Love ya, mean it!
Be here now

Sweet Sayings: Window Chemicals

Now that our boys are getting older, the saying 'Kids say the darnedest things' has never been so meaningful!  Because I want to remember all the adorable things they say/will say, I want to try and record them here.  Then you may enjoy them as well!

Lachlan was playing with his window as we were driving in the car...

Lachlan: ...and I washed it all over the window!

Mama: What did you wash all over the window?

Lachlan: Chemicals!

Mama:  (Chemicals?!?) What did you do that for?

Lachlan: Oh, for about ten dollars.

Ha!   Where on earth did he get that from?!?!?!

Our silly little goose!

Love ya, mean it
Be here now.

Five years and counting!

6 years ago and 2 days, a loving, handsome young man asked for my hand in marriage.  How could I say no!  5 years ago and 22 days (but who's counting, right?) we said 'I do!'  To celebrate, we went back to our Honeymoon location: San Fransisco, and pretty much just did the whole thing all over again!  We started out at the serenely peaceful Beachnest in Dillon Beach, accompanied by Tim and Victoria.  Our honeymoon was crashed by special people, so why not our 5 yr anniversary too?  We spent some time in Napa, some time on the beach, and some time just chillin.

Ah.  The view from our deck.  I want to go to there.

Then it was off to the city, where we wondered, played, ate, and of course, rode on the trolley!

Stopping for Irish Coffees

Tim and Luke battling it out in the ring and pier 46-ish (can't remember).  Way fun place to spend your quarters!

After Tim and Vic left, Luke and I continued our celebration.  Though we love our children, it was quite refreshing to go on a vacation and not having to worry about diapers or packing a diaper bag or naps.  It was just us and the streets of San Fran. (A BIG shout out to the wonderful people who cared for our children while we were away-THANK YOU!!!!  YOU are the reason we could do this...)

More delicious Irish Coffee/hot chocolate

Ghirrardelli Square-secretly I was hoping to see 2 really special people here, but alas... 
PS real interesting fountain behind us.  A great conversation piece!

Thank you, My Darling, for a wonderful trip!  How blest I am to have someone to love me as me you do.  Here's to 5 more and counting! 

"Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter; whoever finds one, finds a treasure"
Sirach 6:14

Love ya, mean it!
Be here now

And the beautiful 'chaos' continues...

We haven't officially introduced Baby Cahill III!!!!
So here he/she is. 

(hiding in my belly)

Due August 22nd.  Causing this Mama to work even harder keeping up with the 2 boys, not to mention keeping the house tidy.  It is hard picking things up when you are 7 months pregnant!  And it is quite uncomfortable doing dishes when you are 7 months pregnant!  And it is challenging getting in and out of cars when you are 7 months pregnant!  And it is just impossible to play soccer with your 3 year old when you are 7 months pregnant!
Oh but the new challenges that are waiting right around the corner....
I would ask the Lord for patience, but I did that already, and was blest with this child!  ; )
So then I ask for the Lord to give me energy...and sanity.  Is that a safe prayer???

Oh Little One, amidst the challenges and chaos, you are truly and deeply loved already.  We are excited to meet you!

"Hi everybody!"

Love ya, mean it!
Be here now

A Special Day

Three years ago our beautiful niece was born.  It was a wonderful birthday present!  I was excited to have a birthday buddy.

Sweet Nora Jane now gets to celebrate in the best place in the Universe.  We miss her and love her heaps.

This rose was given to us in memory of her (thank you dear friends!).  This was one of the first flowers it bloomed-prefectly pink and beautiful.  I am sure Nora would have loved it!  Now she gets to enjoy it from a different view. 

Happy birthday, Dear!  We love you.

Nora Jane, Pray for us!

St Peter and St Paul, Pray for us.

PS A quick shout out to Mom and Dad!  Thank you for choosing life.  How blessed I am to have you as parents.  I am golden because of you!

Love ya, mean it!

Be here now.

Life is just a bowl of cherries

For some reason, I don't think Lachlan has ever had cherries before.  They aren't the easiest, or really safest, fruit to eat.  But tonight, a whole new world opened for him!  Cherries are SO delicious, so I bought a bunch...which means we need to eat a bunch! We told him about the seed, and he was quite careful not to chew or swallow it.  It took him about a minute to eat each one--I know what to feed him when I need 10 mins of peace!  They were quite a hit all around (except for Torin-not a big fan-silly kid!)

Here's the cherry

Yummy!

Spitting out the seed

And he was pretty proud of the 'sun' he made with the stems! 

"Life is just a bowl of cherries, you live and laugh at 'em all!"  From Good News, the musical.

Love ya, mean it
Be here now