Three's Company

We've been planning all along to move SJ into the room with AG and LL at some point in the next few months, but we made a quick decision to do it over the weekend. This was mainly motivated by a near-sleepless night due to a certain little roommate of ours that seemed to have been in the midst of a growth spurt and wanted to eat every hour. We decided it was time to have the crib available for the little guy so that we can get him in his own room ASAP, so SJ graduated up to the toddler bed in the "big girl" room. I'd talked to her about starting to sleep in there a few times, and she seemed excited. After we told her she would be moving that night, she ran around saying, "Sleep! Big girl bed!" AG and LL were excited to welcome SJ into their room. Here are some pics of the three girls in SJ's bed in their new pj's (which we afterwards decided were to cozy for that night...it's still pretty warm here).

Sweet


Silly


Sardines!


T and I went in to take a peek later on and this is what we found...


We've had to work with AG and LL on leaving the room quietly in the mornings so they don't wake SJ (a late sleeper) up, and one night SJ woke up and had trouble going back to sleep and was being noisy and keeping AG and LL awake in the wee hours of the morning, so we put her back in the crib to finish the night. But all in all, after 4 nights the transition seems to have gone pretty smoothly. Hopefully by Thanksgiving we can "depink" the nursery and have it ready for RL to move in!

2 Weeks

RL's first two weeks have flown by! It seems like he is growing and changing so quickly already.

A few days ago I was able to catch a few smiles as he slept...


At his 2 week check-up on Friday, RL weighed 8 lbs 11 oz (over a pound more than his birth weight!) and measured 20.5 inches. One of the sweetest sibling moments since he came took place unexpectedly during the appointment. I'd taken all the girls along, and when the nurse came in to give RL one vaccine, LL began to cry and say, "I don't want him to get a stick!" AG got a little teary-eyed, too. I hadn't even thought about how seeing him get a shot would affect them, but it was really sweet to see them have such compassion for him and thankfully he (and they) calmed down quickly.

14 days old!

Cuties in Costumes

We stayed home the first week after RL arrived, so by last weekend we were all ready for some fellowship and fun outside our own walls. Soccer games were cancelled on Halloween morning due to soaked fields, but happily, the girls were invited to two birthday parties that day (both for little friends named James!) plus we were able to go trick-or-treating around our block. It was a very busy but fun day to get out and celebrate!

The girls wore costumes to the afternoon party. SJ was Minnie Mouse, LL was a leopard, and AG designed her own butterfly costume.


Setting out for trick-or-treating. AG had decided to change into a princess dress. Don't miss our little sleepy jack-o-lantern in the middle, snoozing through his first Halloween!




All 6 of us!


I have to throw this one of SJ in...I love how it shows her personality and several of her current signature looks. She always puts on too-big shoes on the wrong feet and she's been running around in training pants for the last two weeks...making lots of potty progress but still needs frequent reminders.

RL's First Days

The first week of RL's life has flown by in a blur of sweetness and sleeplessness, as could be expected! Today was a really busy, fun day...the first that we have ventured out into the company of friends since he arrived, and I'll post about that, inluding our trick-or-treating outing, sometime soon. But first, here are a few more highlights of the last few days of pregnancy and first few days with him.

We took so few tummy pictures this time around. I kept meaning to get some of the girls, especially SJ, with the baby belly since she loved to "kiss L" alot in the last months before he arrived. These are a few of the only ones we got toward the end, taken less than a week before he was born.

SJ and me on a hayride at a little friend's birthday party


T humored me by going along with my idea of a seasonally appropriate demo of the tummy's size! I'm pretty sure I have him beat!


Gran and PopPop drove down to the hospital and met L when he was just about 8 hours old. The girls arrived soon after to meet their "baby butter" in person! They came right in and surrounded us on the bed, and AG and LL's first comments centered on how "tiny" his fingers, ears, toes, nose, etc. were. SJ agreed: "Him tiny! Him tiny!"


Our time in the hospital was pretty quiet except for the daily visits from the girls! T and I enjoyed lots of time to get acquainted with our little guy and get as much rest as possible.


A few highlights: Just like when SJ was born 2 years ago, our Saturday evening in the hospital was spent watching lots of college football. Since we don't have cable, this was especially great timing! Grandpa came to join us and we caught most of the MSU-Florida, LSU-Auburn, and Texas-Missouri games...probably RL's first of many shared sports events with his Daddy! Also, our pastor came to visit and prayed for RL and our family...we are thankful for a very caring and supportive church family here as our family grows!

Sunday morning it was time to head home! Here's RL in his carseat, the first time he'd been outside, ready to roll!


Sleepy boy at home...


The girls all love to hold RL and give him kisses.



SJ checking out his tiny toes...

He's Here!

We are so thankful to the Lord to share the news that our baby boy, RLP IV, was born at 12:58 a.m. on Friday, October 23. His delivery went very smoothly and quickly after we got to the hospital that Thursday night around 11:00. The next morning he was introduced to his 3 big (delighted) sisters and all 4 grandparents. We brought him home Sunday afternoon and have been spending most of our time just enjoying him!

Here are a few photos for now...I hope to post more sometime soon.

L with a grateful Mommy and Daddy just after delivery.


The newest RLP with 2 of the previous namebearers (Grandpa and T). We look forward to introducing him to the original, T's PawPaw, ASAP!


For now, most of the time he's quite a sleepyhead...


All 6 of us on the day of his homecoming


I never appreciated baby blue this much til now...

Happy 4th Birthday, LL!

Friday was LL's 4th birthday! We had a weekend full of simple celebrations, which was lots of fun and got us all into a dangerous routine of daily cupcakes! It all began her birthday morning when she woke up early and opened her first gift from me and T: a hot pink booster seat (pictured below the next day after the sugar crash occurred on the way home from another friend's birthday party). Yes, this is a perfectly timed and very practical gift, as we are days from having to graduate the girls up in carseats when their baby brother comes (you will notice a definite theme here in just a moment). But she was excited to have a "big girl" seat and get to join AG in the very back...enjoying a new level of comfort, freedom, and style, for sure!



Throughout the day she was asking when her "guests" would arrive. She knew a few different birthday events were planned that weekend and was having trouble putting it all together as to who was coming when and WHEN can we have cupcakes??? Thankfully, Nana and Grandpa got here that afternoon and joined the festivities.



Grandpa helped T secretly set up our other gift for LL: a twin bed (yet another item baby brother's arrival will soon make necessary!). Here she is checking it out with SJ, who will soon be joining her sisters in the pink bedroom in the now vacated toddler bed!



The next morning Gran and Pop Pop joined us at soccer games for AG and LL...


and then we all came home for pizza and birthday cupcakes. We celebrated both LL's birthday and Nana's, which was actually that day! The blew out their candles together.


The new 4 year old with Gran and PopPop


On Sunday afternoon, we had 4 little friends (2 pairs of sisters) over for a little princess-themed party. More cupcakes!


And some fun playtime outside in the beautiful cool weather!


We are so thankful to have this bright-eyed, sweet, silly, fun, energetic girl in our family! She brings so much joy to each day.

Summer's Last Splash

Our summer this year seemed sort of unusual. We had gone on vacation in the spring, and then started school on June 15 in hopes of being able to take a nice break when baby boy joins us (which incredibly is now just days away!). We worked a little, played a lot, took swim lessons and went to the library and played outside when we could bear the heat. And then it became Fall according to the calendar, but with temperatures here continuing to reach the 90s even until today, it seemed our "unoffical" summer never officially ended. So when I discovered these photos from a few weeks ago that I forgot to post in the midst of soccer games and baby preparations, it seemed like maybe going ahead and posting them would be a nice way to (finally) mark the changing of the seasons. And happily, after weeks of tropical-feeling humidity and daily rain showers, our forecast calls for clear skies and highs in the low 70s, starting tomorrow!

She's Still Our Baby

For over two years now, we have been cherishing the sweet, easy style that characterizes SJ. An "angel baby" from the start, she has remained faithful to her affectionate, content, fun-loving ways. Countless times I have found myself amazed at how she's always loved to cuddle and rock...and I realize that though she has grown in size and ability, she is still our baby.

There are a few things I've been wanting to record about her since her birthday... just little SJisms that we hear on a daily basis:

-For months she's been saying "Let me...walk, go, etc." (Not unusual for toddlers, but I don't remember her sisters actually saying this.)
-She answers yes/no questions consistently with a sweet little squinty- eyed "MmmmmHmmmmm" (for yes) or "MmmmMmmm" (for no).
-She somehow picked up on her grandparents' first names and has referred to all four of them by these names with no prompting from us. She especially likes to call her Pop Pop "Jim"!
-At potty time, she usually says "Reet me, Mommy!" (read to me, mommy)
-She went on a mini nap strike last week and I found her a few times turning somersaults in her bed...she'd proudly grin and say "flip over!" when I'd come in.
-She uses the words "something" and "somebody" alot; for example, she went into our laundry room (which T had just painted) yesterday morning and reported to me with a scrunched up nose, "Something stink!" (She also uses the word "stink" instead of "smell", so often she says something that actually smells good "stinks".)
-Since T's been reading Chronicles of Narnia with AG (and some to LL) there's been some Narnia-themed play at our house. A few weeks ago SJ came running down the hall on a mission to "'feat White Witch!" (defeat the white witch).

There's no doubt she's an increasingly willful and capable two year old with her own opinions and ideas and issues with her sisters, but something tells me that even after her brother arrives, this little snuggle bug will retain some of that "baby" status...in the sweetest sort of way!

LL's Soccer Debut

Last weekend I reported on AG's first soccer game, and I attempted to do the same about LL's (which technically was the same day). But I just couldn't tell the story, because, well, it was not much fun for any of us. There were many tears, apparently brought on by the feeling that there were "too many people" watching, and she never recovered that day. So we'd talked about the next game (including the fact that, yes, people do come to watch! But not just you! They are cheering for all the kids and want you all to have fun!) during the week, really encouraged her about practice and how much fun she would have, and hoped for the best when we went out Saturday morning. After an initial tear-up on the sidelines, she joined her team on the field and cried through about the first 5 minutes, but she stayed out there. Pretty soon she stopped crying and did great through the rest of the game.

Here she is kicking off...


Half-time smiles...


Lots of running and some kicking...


Staying with the action...


and even scoring a few goals! At the pre-K level they don't have goalies, so it was a pretty high scoring game. The funny thing was that there was this one little boy on her team who was always right by the goal and would kick it in anytime he could, no matter who got it there. (You can see him in front of her in this shot with his little red socked leg going for the ball! She is the one in the back...the tallest on her team, actually. I was trying to get her, but ended up getting mostly goal and teammates, but this gives you a pretty good idea of the general chaos and "teamwork"!) Anyway, she managed to score one or two herself, but we were most excited about how she focused on the game and really had a good time!

5.5!

Friday was a much-anticipated day at our house (the first of many this month for us!)...especially for AG. She turned 5 and a half! She had been talking about the traditional "half-birthday date" with T for weeks, and one day she said to me, "I don't think I want to eat or go for a treat...and I don't want to do anything too girlish because Daddy needs to have fun, too!" So T and I came up with the idea of him taking her to play mini golf, and she was so excited. They putted around the house for practice beforehand and then headed out...here's one of the few photo ops of the event since I didn't want to ask T to keep up with the camera through the afternoon!



They came home after a few rounds and supper at Chick-Fil-A with lots of fun to report. The biggest news was that AG made a hole in one! And then on the next hole T made one...guess he realized he had to up his game a little at that point!

And here's a shot of AG after her game Saturday morning. She had a pretty good time (minus one fatigue-induced "I don't want to do it anymore" moment) and ended up all smiles!