LIFE AS A FAMILY OF 8

So life as a family of 8 might be the one that has felt the most tiring (except for that time when we had 3 babies under the age of one)! It's probably the adjusting to a lot of things all at once this year that has made our days feel mostly like a blur, I mean we're officially school parents now and waking up before the sun comes up is no joke! While the overall feeling of life right now feels tiring and so full, I think this season more than ever I've wanted to be purposeful and intentional with our time and remembering to still see beauty.

We had the privilege of my sweet friend Karen (Elan Photographie/Fortitude + Finn) come into our home to snap some moments in time of what life is like for us right now. It made me teary looking through them seeing how she was able to grab snippets that say so much about our story. It made me look at the mundane details that usually are our days in a new light. I wanted to write down the little things that mostly get forgotten among the chaos so I always remember these little things that add up to the bigger picture as we're raising these precious hearts. 

A few things that are giving me life:

-a crowded couch of little ones snuggled up next to each other

-the sound of little feet running, jumping, and playing around on our dirty tile floor

-special treats and Shane making coffee for us in the morning 

-a back porch/patio with tiny tricycles racing around the table

-the girls playing coffee shop and restaurant in their playhouse and decorating it like it was their own home

-blocks spread across the floor from hours of sibling play and imagination happening 

-giggles on top of giggle on top of loud giggles!

-Dash always playing with or throwing around balls

-late night conversations with Shane connecting with each other

-snuggles from Penny in my arms

-constant coloring at the art table

-the pure love and delight Penny's siblings feel for her

I believe taking time like this to look a little closer allows gratitude to sink in deeper. And in turn, it changes my perspective when life feels hard and exhausting. I want to come back to these moments when the exhaustion hits and remind myself why I really love being a mama and why it's all worth it in the end.

I hope this inspires you to do the same. Maybe grab a journal or pull out the notes on your phone and jot down a few things in your day that you're loving right now. I guarantee it will be a heart changer for you when you need to pull it out again on the days that feel draining. And when it does feel hard and tiring for you, know that I'm right there with you. You're not alone mama.

All photos taken by Élan Photographie Studio

Baby Essentials: What I've Used and Loved

With baby number 6 on the way any day now the pain of finding comfortable things to wear on a daily basis has fully set in. It's hard for me to make big purchases on maternity clothes because I know I will be wearing it for only a short amount of time, but for those days where I know I need something to fit into I try to find things I'll be able to wear after baby too.

Pink Blush has been my recent go to for finding comfy items. Both of these photos I'm wearing tops I snagged on their website. I love the way they feel and comfortability they give me in these last days of being big--looking forward to wearing them more and more post baby too :)

Along with talking about maternity clothes and where I like to shop for them, I also get asked a lot about my favorite go to baby items. Since we've done this 6 times now, I compiled a list of what I've used over the years and what's worked best for us. I'll say up front that we are pretty simple when it comes to newborns. We don't need "all the things" the world might make it seem like you need and I've found that the less you have it's actually way better in the long run. Babies don't know much different anyways, in my opinion :) 

Swaddles- I looove a good baby swaddle. One that's breathable and soft and good for getting those babies tightly wrapped for all the snuggles. I have a handful from the brand Aiden and Anais and I've found that the more it gets washed, the softer they become. I still have some from when my girls were babies! Other brands I love for these, KB Cute Designs (this one is my favorite!), Mebie baby, Rylee and Cru

Bassinet- We've been gifted with a bassinet from a dear friend of ours since our first was a baby. It's a vintage bassinet that all of our kids, and their cousins have slept in as babies, so it's kind of been a family heirloom even though its not technically ours :) BUT a bassinet by the bed is a must for those middle of the night feedings. Here are some other great finds for baby by your side: Doc a Tot, Snuggle Me Organic

Clothes- My babies have all pretty much lived in onesies there first six months of life. One, because they grow so fast and two with living in Phoenix its easy to keep them warm here :) I don't splurge a lot on pieces that I know they'll outgrow so fast so I like to buy things I know they can get a long life out of. So with that said these are some of my favorites to shop for newborn essentials.
Burts Bees Baby, Quincy Mae (cutest, softest organic basics for babes--I've loved everything I've gotten from here,) Zara kids (really any and all things from here for kids I LOVE, the prices are pretty reasonable too!)

Baby carriers/slings- I've used a few different ones and I've found a benefit to each of them...like this Ergo for when we were traveling a lot when the twins were babies or whenever we're at an amusement park or something like that with a newborn. They're great and durable and can hold essentials you might need on hand.
Wild bird ring slings have been a favorite for around the house or somewhere I'm not going to wear baby for a long time.
Sakurabloom ring slings I also love, but my all time favorite is their Scout carrier. I have this one with leather straps.  Not only is it stylish, its totally comfortable and holds everything in in all the right places. Love that I can use it for a long time while baby grows!

Pacifiers- We've always used these ones by Nuk, but I'm eyeing these for the new babe to try...and also...paci clips--life saver! Not sure why it took me so long to get some of these but they'll seriously save so much time and headaches hunting down pacis! :)

Diaper bag- We currently have a bag from whirlwind bags that I have LOVED for the past 2 years. It has still held up all this time almost like its brand new. Seriously no breaks or rips after 2 years of daily usage.  Another I've been eyeing is bodomint's bags. I like to find things that Shane would wear too and not feel like its too "girly" or "diaper bag-ish-- if that makes sense! haha

Crib- We currently have this one in Dash's room from Ashley home and its been great! We have another that is antique style was gifted to us from a friend when Raleigh was born and all of my kids have slept in it, so new baby will get that crib when they're ready to move into it.

Favorite Books- There's sooo many sweet kids books out there! I tend to always want to get the ones with the really good illustrations and meaningful stories behind them and these ones have been my favroite by far--and have maybe even made me teary eyed sometiems! :)
Anything by Nancy Tilman, Bear Series, Guess How Much I Love You

Favorite diapers- I partnered with this company last year Abby and Finn and reeeeally loved their diapers. I'm not picky usually, but when I tried theirs I saw what I was missing out on. Plus they deliver and you can use their subscription option to deliver when you need so you never have to make those midnight runs to the store when you realize you're out and your little one just exploded (not like that's happened to us before or anythingggg...!!!)


I also have an Amazon store front that you can check out here for a few other things I've added to my list that I use and love. If there's anything I missed you want to know about feel free to reach out and ask!

Now hopefully getting this post up means baby will make its debut now!

Little Kuyper Number Five!

I'm lost for words on how to even start this post. My eyes tear up from utter joy every time I think about this precious gift that entered our world a little over a week ago. 

Late Sunday evening, February 25th, our sweet baby BOY was born!! Yes, that's right...ITS A BOOOOYYY!!!!! I still get chills saying it out loud, thinking how can this even be real. I'm in awe and amazement at how sweet our God is. That he would allow our simple prayers in wanting a boy to be answered this way. 

Dash Thomas Kuyper came quickly in the middle of the night, already living up to his name by making it my fastest labor yet. I am going to save the whole birth story for a later post to share and for now just say how thankful we are for the joy these last couple weeks have brought. I still tear up looking at him, and have to check myself whenever I refer to "him" or "he" in reference to my child...I'm still getting used to that! haha. So far he has been the sweetest baby, making an easy and perfect transition into our family of now SEVEN! whew! And it probably goes without saying that the girls are more than smitten with him (as you can see from the picture below). The biggest struggle is just sharing holding time with him around here (which is not really a struggle at all, but the sweetest thing for this mama heart to watch). 

We are in love in love in love with our cutie little guy. My heart bursts with excitement at all the boy things we'll get to experience together in our family, especially getting to watch a new side of Shane flourish in this way with his SON! 

Thank you so much for those of you who have prayed with us, visited, brought us meals, and sent encouragement and excitement from afar. We have felt it from you for sure and have been so blessed by the sweetness that surrounds us. Now I'm off to cuddle some more with my little BOY!!! (gosh I can't say that without smiling big) 

Baby's First Year Milestone Cards via my Etsy Shop

Softest swaddle blanket via KB Cute Design

Our Best Kept Secret...

Well the news is official. Sage will be joining the big sister club in a few short months! We've been keeping the announcement to ourselves since we found out on Father's day this year, just letting family and friends know face to face. It's been fun to have this be our own little secret and not make a big deal on social media about it, especially when I see others around town who I haven't seen in a while react to my belly. But since it's no longer able to be hidden, and the little one will be making an appearance right around the corner, I figured it was time to let you all in on the news. 

The girls are pretty excited to have another baby in the family soon. They're already practicing non stop at "being mama", rocking the baby to sleep, and changing diapers. Its been so fun to talk with them about the baby growing in my belly. The questions they ask are hilarious, like about how its growing or what its eating and how big they think its going to get. Watching a 3 and 4 year old trying to figure out the concept has to be one of the most entertaining things. The tie is still even between the 4 of them who thinks its going to be a boy and who thinks its going to be a girl. We're praying for that little boy someday, but know that we will be overjoyed either way! 

We get asked quite a bit if we'll keep going with building our little tribe and our answer has continued to be that we'll just take it one kid at a time...(except for that time we had two at once). And yes, we know that there is only ONE in there this time. This pregnancy wasn't a surprise and we always knew that after having Sage, she wouldn't be our last. Not to mention, she's made it easy on us to keep wanting to more! Its pretty surprising to people when I say that we want to keep going and I'm not sure what it is in us that wants a big family, other than the fact that we just love having little ones. Don't get me wrong, its not any easier for us than other parents and we don't have a magical formula that makes parenting a smooth ride. We have just as many hard, frustrating, sleepless, confusing moments as anyone. But I guess its the moments of laughter and play and being rewarded with the gift of parenting that far outweigh the tiring ones and its in those times we remember how much we love this opportunity we get to have.  

And by no means do I think that not having a lot of kids says that people don't love their own or love parenthood. I'm sure this would be a totally different experience for me all the way around if I was sick to my stomach every day of pregnancy too. I'm super thankful that I've been able to somewhat function normally throughout all my pregnancies and it's something I don't take for granted at all! Exhaustion is the strongest thing that sets in for me while carrying which can get pretty disheartening to me when I want to be present with my girls or don't want to waste a minute. Plus the fact that its not always fun to have a belly stick out so big you can't bend over to put your own shoes on! But I know its temporary and the sweetest gift if awaiting us at the end of the journey.

For a few months we thought I was due at the end of March until my last ultrasound appointment told us we are actually due a whole month sooner! I'm about 5 and half months along now so with that news its felt like this pregnancy has flown by a whole lot faster. There will be a two year gap between Sage and this new one, making it the biggest age gap between our kids so far. So getting back into the swing of things with a newborn will feel natural in some ways and in others I'm sure it will be a whole new adjustment. We can't wait to see what this new one will bring to our family and can hardly wait to find out the gender when it makes its appearance in February. 

Girls Room

Trying to figure out how we are going to fit four little ones in one small room is no easy task. Ever since our youngest, Sage, turned 6 months old she's been trying to climb out of her bassinet and now that she's 8 months I think its about time we transition her to the crib. I tried to put this project off long enough because it not only meant rearranging the girl's whole room around, but also that the twins wouldn't be confined in a crib anymore-- EEK!! But I knew it would come sooner or later, and so here we are. I've been searching high and low on pinterest on ways to make 4 beds work in a room and still keep it a functional and playful space. So in the process of still figuring it out I decided to document how their room has been for the last year. Its fun to keep "before pictures" to look back on once we're finished, but of course I get a little sentimental as I realize this means they're all growing up!

When we bought our house a little over two years ago I was pregnant with the twins at the time. We didn't know if they were going to be boys or girls so when I decided to paint their room I wanted to keep it neutral, cute and playful. I knew they would be sharing a room with their older sister so I didn't want to go too girly or too boyish either way- which is why I chose to paint the stripes and polka dots. We live in a tiny 1100 sqft. house so finding spaces for the girls to play can be crazy at times. As I redo a room the most important thing to me is to make it functional as well as pretty! So with their room this is an even bigger challenge since I'm working with a small space. But I'm determined to make it work. 

I think its important to give my kids an area that feels like its "theirs", that can make them feel safe and free to be a kid. I think the home is so much more than a place we live, its where we do life the most, where we see each other at our worst and our best. Its where we make memories, and learn to love people other than ourself. Its where we go through seasons together, good and bad, and figure out how to become better because of them. Its where we can learn to trust and share who we are with each other. It can be a place that can either build up or tear down and my biggest hope and prayer is that our home is always one that is uplifting and grace filled-even through the mess. Of course, its in my blood to make things pretty and create, but making our home aesthetically pleasing isn't just what its about for me. I believe its about making it a place that our kids and all who enter in will feel safe, loved, and known here. Its where we are living our story and building a foundation of who are kids are and will be.  As we build our home and what it will look like I want it to be a reflection of our heart and our love for one another and the beauty I hope to bring out in our family. Of course there will always be messes to be cleaned up and it won't always look "magazine worthy", but then again thats just how life really is, isn't it!?