Miscellaneous Memories

The days fly by, and I am getting behind on recording anything about them here, but I'm going to try to do a little catching up. These are exciting days at our house as the kids hit milestones galore. Take last night, for example...LL lost her first tooth and SJ went to sleep for the first time ever without sucking her thumb (with the help of a little duck tape...on her thumb, not her mouth!). As for the boys, RL has been making as much progress with the potty as we have the time to allow, and SA is growing like crazy. At 7 weeks old (3 weeks ago) he weighed 13 pounds, 7 ounces! I will post more about him soon. Here are some pics going all the way back to Halloween...

Ready to trick-or-treat in the new neighborhood


LL sharing candy...


and RL begging for more!


Don't tell the other cowboys he was wearing his sister's boots!


Reading together...


Brothers...


RL calls SA "SySy"


More storytime


I never get tired of watching RL play!


We picked about 40 satsumas in our backyard this year!

Friends and Family

A few fun shots with some special people taken over the last few weeks.

Our neighbor, Mrs. G, has been so sweet to stop by with her three wonderful dogs several times. The girls LOVE to see them coming and pet them and run around the yard with them. We even got to take them for a short walk one day with the girls holding their leashes! On a side note, LL especially would love to have a dog but we are just not at the point to make that a reality. She got a golden retriever Webkinz for her birthday and has named it Gracie...she's having fun learning to take care of it but we are so thankful to have some real dogs nearby that can at least be occasional playmates!


My five sweeties and me


PopPop with SA


A few weekends ago my friend from college, Em, and her husband and little girl came to visit for the afternoon. We had a great time catching up and the girls loved playing with A! Here they are...


All of us with Nana and Grandpa after LL and RL's birthday party

RL's 2nd Birthday

A week ago today RL officially entered his "twos"...and though they have a reputation for being terrible, I am hoping that with him it'll be terrific. He is definitely showing us that he has ideas of his own, and sometimes that means a fit of frustation with one of his sisters or some other such outburst, but overall he is seeming to be a pretty easygoing little boy. Here are a just a few things about him at 2 that I can remember to record...just a snapshot of a description of him followed by alot of photos!

He talks alot, but is a master of abbreviation. He can whittle a 5 syllable word down to the one syllable that impresses him, and that is all he needs. He has no use for sentences so far, with the one exception being that he loves to sing "Clean up! Clean up!" when asked to do just that (thanks to the nursery ladies at church!). The only other two word combo he uses regularly is "Big truck! Big truck!" which he also sings exactly like he's heard in one of the songs in AG and LL's early music book. And speaking of singing...he loves it, and he can carry a tune pretty well. When he plays with the toy piano he says, "Do! Do!" (as in solfege). Guess he's paying attention to some of the music practices going on around here!

He is still totally hooked on "Ralph" his stinky puppy dog-headed blanket whose brown ear he essentially mauls from the time he is put into is bed until he gets out. We have three of them so they can be washed and he's never without one at naptime or bedtime. I know it's gross, but sometimes the Ralph of the moment smells so bad when I go in to get RL from a nap that I mistake it for a dirty diaper. And I know it's crazy, but I love his wake up snuggles so much that I have almost grown fond of RL's super stinky wake-up face!

He still loves "tains" though his awesome little "wooowooo!" is getting less frequent (sadly:). He had a train cake for his party, as you'll see below.

Often when he sees a man in a book he'll say "DaDa." He also consistently calls the girls' Ken doll "DaDa" in spite of the fact that this Ken wears a fedora and skinny jeans.

He gets so excited when he sees football on TV and starts yelling, "fut! fut!" (Like I said, one syllable. Other balls are "ball", but a football has its own special name).

Most weeks he stays in 3 different nurseries (church, CC and co-op). One of the sweetest things for me is that when I pick him up, he always runs to me and yells, "MA-ma!" with lots of emphasis on the first "ma". Be still my heart.

These first few photos were taken within the few weeks before his birthday.






At his (and LL's) party!









On his birthday, at home...

LL Turns 6!

October 16 was LL's 6th birthday! We are so thankful for these years we've shared with this energetic, fun-loving, thoughtful, and bright girl!

After church on her birthday there was a churchwide picnic, so we took cupcakes to celebrate.


LL is such a sweet big sister to SA, and a big help to me! She asks several times each day if she can hold him and loves to cuddle him and try to give him his paci (if he's in the mood for it...) to try to settle him if he's fussy.


We officially celebrated LL's birthday on last Saturday with a party at the park for both her and RL (who turned 2 the next day). Here are LL and her good friend AR.


LL requested a "horse cake"!


Swinging high!

The Arrival of SA

He was born one week ago today, and he's stolen our hearts! We are so thankful for the life of SA, who shares his PopPop's middle name (which was my Grandmother's maiden name)and his Uncle Matthew's birthday. Here's a parade of photos!

The night before, at bedtime, taking the final opportunity to get a photo of RL on his tummy seat!


Just a few hours after the kids went to bed, as T and I were making final preparations for our anticipated 2:45 a.m. trip to the hospital to start an induction, I started feeling real contractions. We went ahead as planned to our appointment, and here I am for one last tummy shot between contractions!


SA was born at 7:19 a.m. and Dr. K immediately commented that he was a big baby. T had the honor of cutting the cord and some thoughtful nurse caught the moment for us!


Big baby alright! He weighed in at 9 pounds, 4.8 ounces and measured 21.5 inches. To put this in perspective, the biggest of our other kids weighed 7 pounds, 10 ounces. I was more than a little surprised to have such a big boy! As Dr. K pointed out, his size would help him handle all the handling he was sure to be getting from his sisters!


Having his prints made...


Getting to know one another


Later that morning, the girls, RL, and Gran and PopPop came to meet SA. The girls were especially eager to know his name and, of course, hold him!




Gran and PopPop had a turn to hold him, too...



RL seemed a little unsure of the whole scene at first, but he finally made a move to meet his brother and even gave him a kiss.




The next day while the girls were visiting, they got to watch SA have a bath. He'd lost a few ounces...then at 8 lbs, 14 oz.


Saturday morning we got to head home! Out in the real world for the first time...and with a huge green pacifier covering half his face! Sorry, SA. :)


At home he received a warm welcome. Who would hold him first?


LL somehow got her hands on him first, again!


AG seems especially thoughtful when she's holding him.


Nana and Grandpa were here to welcome him, too!



So many precious,snuggly moments.


Big yawn...


Our handsome little guy


We look forward to introducing him to friends and family in the coming days! Thank you for your prayers and care for us all during these wonderful, tiring, precious days.