Footed Jammies

Baby Luke

2012-02-13T22:17:00.001-05:00

My sister Mary and her husband Jason welcomed baby #2 on January 27th. Sweet baby Luke arrived at 7 pounds 9 ounces (approximately a pound LESS than big brother Jacob was at birth) and at 2 weeks old he has put on over a pound ABOVE his birth weight! He is a sweet and adorable little man, and I simply refuse to believe that 5 months ago Milo was that tiny.

My mom watched the girlies for us so that Milo and I could make the trek to Kentucky alone (Michael had to work) and it was so nice to get to spend some quality time hanging out with my sweet boy and loving on my nephews and sister. Mary is an awesome mama to her two little ones, and even though he's not quite sure what to think of this tiny person who has invaded his home, I know that Jacob will be an awesome big brother :)

Do you want to see some pictures of baby Luke??? Here ya go :)

We're pretty sure Jacob thought Milo was Luke for most of the time we were there :)

Burrito baby!!!

Milo and the subtle eyebrow raise :)

Om nom nom

Jason and Jacob were practicing animal sounds. I can't remember what this one was, but I do remember that it was hilarious :)

"Mooooooo"

<3<3<3

Me, trying to get Jacob interested in the camera!

Jacob with his cousin Emily

Luke with Jason's brother's wife, Jane

Milo with Jason's brother, James

Updates

2012-02-05T00:48:00.000-05:00

I forgot how much more all-consuming babies become as they approach 6 months (holy bejeemenie Milo is almost 6 months old!). These days, when I'm on my computer it is either because I am nursing Milo at the computer, I'm putting Milo down for a nap and am on my phone, or I am nursing Milo to sleep at night and am on my phone. Returning emails, posting more than a sentence or two on facebook or my message boards, and blogging have all become quite a task! I miss having these outlets, but I know that I'll get back to them at some point :)

Updates on the the fam:

Maya ~ Oh, the joys of having a 4-year-old. She has learned that her tone can greatly affect all of our moods, and she is not afraid to use that knowledge! But, she is sweet and loving and almost always wants nothing more than to make Milo laugh and to play "kid" or "princess" with Charlotte. She learns more and more each day and loves to color, write letters and read books. She desperately wants to know how to spell every word and is not satisfied when I try to start with things like cat or sun; she would much rather know how to spell reindeer or princess. Of course when I sit down with an "I Can Read" book she wants nothing to do with it :) We are currently deep into the process of trying to choose a kindergarten for next year. Because Maya's birthday falls after our district's cut-off, we have to decide if we want to have her tested for early entrance, keep her in preschool another year or send her to private school. I considered homeschooling, but at least for the time being am feeling like that's not the best option for us (even though I kindof always thought, in the back of my mind, that that is what we'd do). I'm excited for her to go to school and to be a room-parent and on the PTA and all that jazz :) We live in a great school district so I'm blessed and cursed to have plenty of options!

Charlotte ~ Oh, sweet Charlotte. She makes me laugh and smile and brings such joy to our family. Charlotte is adorable. Her vocabulary and understanding have exploded recently ~ she went through a phase where I really thought there was something wrong...she would totally shut down in certain situations that I'm guessing felt overwhelming to her. I asked mom friends and watched her closely and talked to my mom and sisters and in-laws and finally brought it up to her pediatrician. I was getting the feeling that she had a *lot* of anxiety (not even a little bit surprising if you know me...apple doesn't fall far from the tree ;)). But, as suddenly as she seemed to descend into herself, she has come out of that phase as a full-blown little kid. She is full of opinion and imagination and my heart nearly explodes with joy at my fun conversations with her. I love her funny answers to our questions (tonight at dinner she told us that her favorite part of the day was drinking from her water cup :)) and I really love eavesdropping when she and Maya play pretend.

Milo ~ What a joy he is! I made no secret of wanting a 3rd girl when I was pregnant with Milo. What will I ever do with a boy??? was pretty much all I could think. I mean, I knew that I would love my baby no matter the gender, but was not so secretly hoping the ultrasound was wrong ;) But once he was born? Oh, the overwhelming love you feel when you meet your baby for the first time. And in the almost 6 months since that amazing day, I have gotten to know the sweetest baby on earth. All I want to do all day is kiss his soft baby cheeks and make him smile and play "peek-a-boo". I am convinced that, while I love my girls more than I ever thought I could love anyone, boys are the sweetest. Watch out future girlfriends, this boy is all mine ;)

On the update front for Milo, he is rolling and army crawling and trying to sit and generally being awesome pretty much all the time :)

Michael ~ Work has been busy. Really busy. I've been getting lots of extra quality time with the kiddos, though I have been assured that this will not last forever. We are both in a competition at his work as well ~ "The Biggest Loser". It's been fun and I've been impressed with his ability to drink his water happily while I try to convince him that what he really wants is ice cream or cookies or candy :)

Random pics!

My attempt to sabotage Michael ;) These cookies, "Winter Energy Cookies", are amazing!

I of course had helpers in my evil plot!

On the healthy front, though, I made some awesome veggie burgers! Black beans, sweet potato, quinoa, oatmeal...yum!

Looks tasty, right? ;)

Maya taking the lead on the playground. I'm pretty sure they played "tag" after this.

Charlotte picks her own clothes these days.

mid-roll

"Where's your tongue?"

Quick Post

2012-01-21T23:30:00.000-05:00

Life is flying by, as usual! Right now I'm rocking a sad little boy who is battling his first illness. Compared to probably any other illness we've dealt with, this one is mild. But, my sweet boy is sad and needs to be nursed and rocked and held and bounced and "shhhh"ed (shushed? that sounds so harsh, though...) and I just want him to feel better. After being up a good part of the night coughing and wiggling, though, he fell asleep for about 45 minutes on Michael's chest this morning and woke up all smiles and giggles and was relatively happy for most of the day. Now I'm gearing up for a repeat of last night, and as Mr. Particular is getting angry that I am trying to both hold him *and* blog (how dare I!), I will sign off for now.

Pictures:

Stuffed animals at "school"

The aftermath of about 7 minutes in the snow!

Mommy! Charlotte and I are hugging! Take a picture!

I know this one is blurry, but I loved the moment :) She and Charlotte were dancing around the office <3

And now, a string of Milo pictures, because he is adorable (and also because he pretty much stays in one place :))

Wow, somebody needs to cut his fingernails!

It's an amber teething necklace.

Overwhelmed, Abundantly Blessed

2012-01-08T00:25:00.000-05:00

For some reason (or for lots of reasons, more likely) I am feeling extremely overwhelmed with life right now. I don't feel like it is necessarily a bad thing, just a season that I am going through. Some days it is all I can do to make a path through the clutter, both mentally and physically, and do the bare minimum of what needs to be done. My kids are loved on and taken care of, my house not so much. I find the former more important anyway so it works out ;) Since Maya was born, I've had guilt that I should be doing more and being more when it came to motherhood, marriage, homemaking. I beat myself up that I should play instead of clean, and then feel guilty because the dishes aren't done or that pile that I started to sweep in the kitchen stayed there for FIVE DAYS (true story) or Michael runs out of socks or it's 7pm and I haven't even thought of what we would have for dinner so we eat spaghetti again (I am seriously fortunate that my family likes spaghetti ~ and I'm talking a box of pasta and a jar of sauce, *maybe* some frozen meatballs ~ because we have it at least 2x/week).

But, I'm starting to really believe that "babies don't keep" poem that I see quoted on other blogs and facebook so frequently. Milo is almost 5 months old and I can't even believe that the time has gone so fast. My one regret from the short time that we've had together is that I've stressed so much about what I should be doing instead of just enjoying his sweet baby scent, how his hair sticks up after a bath, the way he kicks just right so that jammies don't stay on properly. Part of me wants to keep him little forever, but a larger part wants to just soak this all in and enjoy every little milestone as it comes. After watching a friend work *so hard* with her son to meet milestones that come naturally for some babies, I really feel blessed and in awe each time Milo grabs for a toy or rolls over or scrunches up his face so hard to make a sound. So, as much as I am overwhelmed, I am blessed beyond measure.

Song for a Fifth Child

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth,

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

Hang out the washing and butter the bread,

Sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue

(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew

And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo

But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.

Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?

(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,

For children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.

I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

~Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

Pictures...

Charlotte with "Holly" Pocket ~ neither girl will accept the fact that her name is Polly.

Charlotte made me dinner :)

First real snow!

My little ballerina :) She is *so proud* of her pointy toes :)

Saturday morning breakfast ~ yum!

Could she seriously be any sweeter???

The girls were having a snowball fight today with the last tiny bit of snow in the yard. Maya was so sad that it melted!

I think Charlotte's snowsuit is hilarious. I'm so glad it still fits this year :)

Busy Month!

2011-12-28T22:53:00.003-05:00

This month has been, uh, busy. We had some sort of meeting, class, or other obligation almost every night, which has left little time for much of anything else! January is going to feel relaxing in comparison (I hope!) and with the first *real* snowfall happening right now it appears that we might not have a choice but to stay inside and relax! The month culminated in a week of illness in our family, starting with a migraine that knocked me out for 2 days, and ending with all five of us being hit with a nasty stomach virus. Michael is on the (hopefully) last leg of it, and then I am planning on bleaching our entire house. Due to the sickness that washed over our family, this was the first year ever that I didn't spend Christmas day with my mom and sisters :( I was sad, but really too sick to even think about getting in the car for 2+ hours and then infecting everyone with our vomit germs.

My plan was to do a lot of blog posts with descriptions and pictures of what we have been doing all month...but I'm going to take the advice of a friend, dump a bunch of pictures in this post, and start fresh :)

So here ya go...here is our December!

Maya playing the part of "Herald Angel" in her preschool Christmas pageant

Maya and Charlotte listening intently to the pastor after the program

We celebrated Michael's birthday late this year, with surprise party (attended by the kids and I ;)) and gifts picked out by the girlies

Maya picked the card. Not pictured are the disposable serving platters, a flashlight with batteries, and a sparkly red table decoration. He uses the crystal chalice almost every day ~ no lie!

The lone picture I have from Mom's Night!

Rovisys Kids' Christmas Party

Grace...

...and Mason. These guys are too cute!!!

Clearly Milo was thrilled to meet Santa

Christmas with Penny

Playing "1000 Blank White Cards" ~ so fun!!!

The girlies watched a show while we played :)

"Junk Food Night"

Christmas with Larry

The following pictures were taken by Charlotte. These are unedited.

Back to your regularly scheduled blog :)

Our best attempt at getting a pic of the 5 of them, lol :)

Second best :)

Christmas morning. Forgive me for not sitting up...I'm not sure I could have! I tried to be as excited for the kids as possible :)

Christmas day breakfast, one day late :D

And finally, my awesome photographer friend Sierra took our family pictures :) Here are my favorites!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!

Mornings with a 4-year-old

2011-12-09T13:39:00.001-05:00

My kids sleep in. It's ok to hate me a little bit for this ~ I would, too! They will happily sleep past 9 almost every day, and some days even later. Of course this does mean that they don't go to bed until fairly late, but as a former-morning-person-turned-night-owl I am ok with this arrangement :) The problem comes when we have to get up to go somewhere in the morning, and I have to drag not only my own sleepy self out of bed, but also wake up 2 grumpy girls and encourage them to get dressed, brush teeth and hair, eat breakfast, etc. Maya will usually say something like, "but I didn't sleep very long at all!" or "I'm just going to rest my eyes a little bit longer" or something similar that I imagine I'll be hearing again when she's a teenager :) However, her independent streak shows at the meer mention of me picking out her clothes (she once told me that I'm not allowed to pick out her clothes anymore because she knows she won't like ANYthing that I pick). This morning was no exception. I woke her up for our LLL meeting, she said she would sleep a little bit more, I said, "ok, do you want me to pick out something for you to wear?" and she shot out of bed like I had just told her Rapunzel AND Cinderella were waiting for her downstairs. After ensuring that I wasn't picking out something "gross" for her to wear, she climbed back into bed, looked at me, and said,

"Mommy, do you know what my favorite animal is?"

"No, what?"

"A penguin."

"Oh?"

"Ya, they spend some of their time in the water and some of their time in the snow."

Disjointed much? Are you wondering how we went from "I want to pick out my own clothes" to "I like penguins" with no transition? Confused how the two are related? Welcome to my world.

I cannot believe...

2011-12-01T00:06:00.001-05:00

...that I forgot to blog on the *last* day of NaBloPoMo! It is currently 12:05am so I'm calling this one "close enough"!

Almost done with NaBloPoMo!

2011-11-29T22:44:00.001-05:00

Then I can get back to regular blogging!

Steak, Balloons, and Face Paint

2011-11-28T22:36:00.001-05:00

Didn't think those three went together, did you? :) Michael's company had their annual Steak Roast in October, and it was awesome! They had the most amazing balloon bender (that's his actual title) and a super fancy face painter who gets her materials from THE Tinkerbell!!! Maya was pretty excited to learn that :) They also had an inflatable obstacle course and a bouncy house, both of which the girlies enjoyed thoroughly, and ended the day with a pinata. The company he works for is really awesome and family-friendly, and this year Michael is even on the party planning committee! I'm pretty excited to see what he comes up with :)

Pictures :D

Maya's Rapunzel crown, made entirely of balloons. You can't see it really well, but there is a long balloon braid in the back!

Before...

After!

Charlotte got her arm painted instead :)

Milo's balloon animal

Charlotte with her balloon Elmo

Elf

2011-11-27T23:15:00.001-05:00

We're watching "Elf" with the girlies tonight, and each time I watch it I remember how awesome it is :) The last time we watched it was last Christmas Eve and the girls were pretty uninterested. To my surprise, when we pulled out the DVD today and told the girls we were watching a secret movie, Maya said, "it's Elf!" and when the movie started she pointed out Buddy (the Elf). Her memory is ridiculous! I told her I was surprised that she remembered it, and she said, "well, we just watched it at our other house." Ya, *just* 11 months ago, lol :)

A couple pictures from this weekend:

Lancaster

2011-11-26T20:59:00.001-05:00

We're in Lancaster celebrating Thanksgiving with the In-Laws. Yummy food, the girls are wiped out, and we're spending time hanging out with family. Pics (from my phone) from today :)

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-25T23:12:00.001-05:00

Several weeks ago, Maya's preschool class took a trip to the pumpkin patch. They went to the same farm as last year (which Michael blogged about here), and we all had a great time! One of the best parts is the slide that dumps the kids into a giant sandbox full of corn kernels. Sounds weird, I know, but they loved it! Of course, this meant their clothes were full of kernels in about 4 minutes ~ Michael had a creative solution for emptying their pockets and such :) Then we went on a hayride to a corn maze. I'm looking forward to the day when the kids can think logically and make decisions based on what they think the outcome might be, rather than just blindly racing ahead in random directions. Fortunately, there were 2 levels of difficulty inside the corn maze, and we chose the toddler version :) After the corn maze, we went to a giant field full of pumpkins and the kids got to get out and pick out their pumpkin. Only after following Charlotte around for what felt like hours (but was probably minutes) did I begin to understand what it must be like to go to the Christmas Tree Farm with me (Michael dodged a bullet this year, as I got super excited and didn't want to wait until after Thanksgiving to get our tree...so we got one at Lowes :) Still lots of indecision, but not nearly as cold or snowy as normal!). Anyway, Charlotte takes after her mama and went from pumpkin to pumpkin examining them, picking them up, putting them back down, and declaring each pumpkin "not it". Our rule was that the pumpkin must be small enough for her to carry, but when it got to the point where we were the only ones left in the field and the rest of the preschool class was waiting for us on the hayride, I dropped the rule and let her pick out a big pumpkin. Charlotte: 1, Mommy: 0. She is a stubborn one :) All in all it was a great day!

Pictures:

Before we left, the girls asked if they could pack a lunch. I said sure, and walked into the kitchen to this ~ apparently they were craving fruits and veggies that day!

Michael getting the corn out of Charlotte's bibs

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T23:45:00.001-05:00

Thankful for having a blogger app on my phone so I can do NaBloPoMo tonight :)

A Week of Thanksgiving, Day 3

2011-11-23T23:32:00.001-05:00

Today I am thankful for angry waiters, kids who are amazingly terrible at bowling, and awesome in-laws. Each contributed to a super fun date night for Michael and I :)

A Week of Thanksgiving, Day 2

2011-11-22T21:24:00.001-05:00

Today I am thankful for homebirth. It has empowered me as a woman, brought Michael and I closer together, shown our children that birth is not something to be feared, and allowed our family to grow and change in the most gentle, loving, natural way I can imagine.

Charlotte:

Milo:

(and here's one from Maya's birth, so she doesn't feel left out :D)

A week of Thanksgiving

2011-11-21T21:55:00.001-05:00

Today I am thankful for my amazing husband and children. I am blessed, and every day that I get to spend with them is a gift.

Here is a picture of our Christmas tree.

On This Day In History

2011-11-20T21:49:00.001-05:00

2007

2008

2009

2010

Van

2011-11-18T23:09:00.001-05:00

At 4,000 miles over the certified warranty, our catalytic converter in the van went *poof* and needed to be replaced. Ok, it didn't technically go "poof", but the little check-engine light came on and when we took it to Honda, they told us what was what. And for reasons unknown to us, Honda corporate worked it out with Honda local and they're doing the work for 5% *less than* the warranty price. Not ones to look a gift horse in the mouth, Michael and I just said yespleaseandthankyou and left quickly. But, the van is still there, with its insides all taken apart, as Honda local won't have the part in until tomorrow (which they didn't discover until they'd disassembled the exhaust system...oops!).

In the meantime, they gave us a brand new 2012 Odyssey to drive. Um, holy bejeemenie. Michael actually asked if they could give him not a brand new van to drive, as he didn't want us me getting van-envy, lol. After driving it tonight, we're pretty sure the whole "we don't have the part in stock" line was just a ruse to get us to test drive a new van :) I won't bore you with the details, but if you're in the market for a new van, seriously check this one out. We are definitely going to be a little sad to hand over the keys tomorrow :)

Here is an unrelated picture of Charlotte in a fairy costume :)

Our Week Through The Phone Lens :)

2011-11-18T23:05:00.001-05:00

Happy Friday!

Can't Believe It's Been 3 Months!

2011-11-17T23:08:00.001-05:00

Confession time: I forgot that it was Milo's 3 month birthday until I started this post and remembered that it's the 17th day of NaBloPoMo which means it's the 17th day of the month which means my little tiny sweet baby boy is 3 months old today!!!

Milo is either going through his 3 month growth spurt (exactly on time, too!) or he's suddenly developed an anxiety disorder, because the kid has been FRANTIC today. I imagine after another day or two of this, he will look like a totally different baby :)

Happy 3 month birthday, Bug!

(all photos and video taken with my phone)

Thanks for the outfit, Aunt Monica!

A couple of nights ago, Milo realized that he can intentionally make noises. For several minutes after we turned out the lights, he laid there and cooed at us. There is no video here (no lights) but here is 38 seconds of sweet baby noise <3

Stickers and Sad Faces

2011-11-16T22:23:00.001-05:00

My dad and stepmom got Maya some wall stickers for her birthday, and they were quite the hit! She put the butterfly ones in her bedroom (that is the "theme" in there :)) and the flowers in the playroom. They make the rooms very cheery! Such a cool idea, as the girlies LOVE stickers, and I love the fact that they come off (unlike the glue that Maya used to hang a picture a couple of months ago...that one took the paint off with it when removed!). I promised my dad and stepmom that I'd send pictures, and I took a LOT of the process and finished product...and when I uploaded them, realized my exposure settings on my camera were crazy off and all the pictures were extremely overexposed. Like, it hurt my eyes to look at them! I tried to salvage them in Aperture, but most went in the recycle bin :( Here are the few I could save (not the best pics I've ever taken :P)!

Here are a couple of pictures that Maya took when we were outside one day ~ she is becoming quite the photographer! :)

I love this picture of Maya and I :D

Poor, poor Milo :( He's got quite a good pouty face...

...though for comparison, here is Maya at the same age. She looks so very distraught. It's tough being a baby :)

Weekend

2011-11-15T23:15:00.001-05:00

This past weekend we went to Newark to visit family. Somehow I don't have many pictures, but here are two :D

Blogging every day is interesting, huh :P

Tis the Season

2011-11-14T23:04:00.001-05:00

Our rule, for as long as I can remember, has been that you do NOT start with the Christmas decorations until the food coma from Thanksgiving has passed. No Christmas movies, no Christmas music, no Christmas tree, no Christmas lights. You get the picture. But...Michael has decided to make decorating the house his project this year...so what the heck! We went to Lowe's tonight so that we could pick up a few outdoor lights and it was all festive and cheery and there was Christmas music playing and the girls were SO EXCITED to see all the giant blow-up lawn decorations (which we're totally gonna stalk at the end of the season). We have candles in the windows, the kiddos are wearing Christmas jammies, and as soon as I can get the house in acceptable condition we're gonna bring out the decorations :D The plan is to have it all done by the time Michael's family comes for Thanksgiving, so I have 9 days to get this place whipped into shape! Yay!!!

First World Problems (or, "The One With the Broken iPhone")

2011-11-13T22:02:00.001-05:00

About a month ago I got a new iPhone. Less than a week later it crashed ~ screen was black, phone was totally unresponsive. When I got home (happened when I was out at the park with the kids) I looked up what to do, tried a "hard reset" (hold the home and power buttons at the same time for at least 10 seconds) and it worked. NBD. About 2 hours later it happened again. Hmmm. But then it was fine. For about a week. When it happened again. Then again about a week later. All told I think it crashed like this 5 times. Each time I was able to reset the phone, so it was slightly annoying but not a big deal. I kept reminding Michael that this was happening randomly, and he kept reminding me to at least attempt to look up the problem myself, and I kept reminding him that as the computer engineer in the house that is his job, and he kept reminding me that he was the one with the not-broken phone. Anyway, I looked up the problem, seemed like probably a hardware issue that was affecting a very small portion of users and that I should take it back to the store to get it replaced. Looked up the Apple Store on my phone, scheduled an appointment with the genius bar, and we stopped there on our way back into town today.

After getting a very unsatisfactory answer from the first genius I talked to (and I'm not trying to be rude or sarcastic...they're actually called geniuses :)), Michael convinced me to try again. And by "convinced me to try again" I mean he went back in for me because I don't like talking to people. And by "I don't like talking to people" I mean I have irrational anxiety about talking to strangers...I don't even like ordering pizza. Anyway, he talked to a couple more geniuses and they decided to replace my phone because it shouldn't just randomly crash. Setting up the new phone took longer than expected because my old phone was apparently possessed. You can't activate a new phone when an existing phone is already on the plan. The easy solution to this is to wipe all the data from the old phone and turn it off. But my phone wouldn't turn off. The genius tried all the tricks she could, tried to force it to shut down, and when she finally got it off, it turned itself back on. She had to go in the back and remove the battery with a screwdriver (she compared removing the battery to "The Sword in the Stone") and then got the new one all set up and we were on our way. Thanks to "the cloud" my phone is exactly like the old one. Same desktop background, same apps, I didn't even have to re-login to facebook. Craziness.

So as I'm writing this post I am realizing that this is ridiculous. The fact that 1. facebook exists and 2. I can check it from my phone astounds me. There are so many more important things to write about and talk about and believe me when I say that an intermittently broken phone is so far down the "things I worry about" list. But for now, after a super fun but also exhausting weekend, I'm enjoying cuddling with my snuggly boy and not thinking about anything important.

Night!

Next time I will (probably) blog about Halloween...here's a little teaser for ya!

Phone Blog

2011-11-12T19:31:00.001-05:00

Out of town, blogging from phone :)

Pictures!

Friday

2011-11-11T13:40:00.001-05:00

Heading out of town, need to pack :)

Friday Phone Dump

Park, Baking and Diet Mountain Dew

2011-11-10T23:10:00.001-05:00

Mostly just pictures today...enjoy!

The good thing about 4? When they're not being ~~awful~~ challenging, they're being awesome and doing cool new things :)

Isaac wanted to get into the learning tower SO BADLY. He kept trying to climb in and then looking at me and saying, "this? this?"

He also found our recycle bin today. He must have stockpiled because he *still* brought me treasures even after I put the bin up!

Isabella was crazy neat putting the muffin batter into the tin ~ every time she got a tiny drop of batter on her fingers, she had me wipe it off. I'm pretty sure Maya and Charlotte have a goal of getting as much batter on their fingers as possible!

Seriously, Why Did Nobody Tell Me What 4 Was Like???

2011-11-09T19:59:00.000-05:00

I have friends with kids older than mine, and all I've been hearing for the past year or so was how amazing kids are when they turn 4. They used phrases like "breath of fresh air" and "you can reason with them" and all those good things that made me imagine 4 was going to be the best thing ever. Well, I am here to tell you, THEY LIED. For real. 3 was cake compared to 4. CAKE! And 2? 2 is just laughable. Charlotte has very (very very) big tantrums that involve throwing herself on the floor wherever we are and I'm starting to find it downright cute in comparison to 4.

Ok, maybe I'm being a little overdramatic here, but I think you get my point. Maya has recently figured out what phrases and tones get under my skin, what she can say to Charlotte to make her come running to me crying, and how to make Michael go out into the garage by himself, shut the door, and yell as loud as possible (which apparently doesn't help). Seems that her favorite thing to do these days is to tell me I'm wrong and mean and I DIDN'T GIVE HER A NAPKIN IN HER LUNCH OMG I AM THE WORST MOTHER IN THE WORLD! Did you know that she wanted her macaroni on a plate and not in a bowl? Seriously, how could you NOT know that??? You must be intentionally trying to ruin her life.

It's really getting to the point where I can remain calm through the yelling (sometimes, at least) because it is just.so.ridiculous. I remind her of the consequences of her actions, tell her that she can yell and scream if she needs to but she has to do it somewhere that it isn't interfering with whatever other people are doing, remove her from the situation, and walk away. *Usually* she will calm down after a bit, come back into wherever we are, talk about it and we move on with our day. But today? Well, as you can read above, I was super mean and didn't give her a napkin to put in her lunch bag for preschool and that was the final straw. After lots of yelling (from her), I told her that she needed to sit on the couch and think about how her tone was making Charlotte and I feel, she ~~said~~ screamed, "but I don't know how to think!" I will spare you all the details, but will just say that it got so ridiculous that she stayed home from preschool because I wasn't about to subject other kids or adults to the crazies. Tonight when Michael got home, we had a sit-down talk with her wherein we discussed what had happened. She was surprisingly remorseful for how it had all gone down, but then at one point when we were trying to figure out what had happened to cause such big feelings, she said, "today was just really complicated" lol.

She did tell me tonight that tomorrow she will be a good listener and will be nice all day. I hope she's right :D Oh, and she took a 2 hour nap today (!!!) so that seems to have helped a bit :)

Pictures (random):

Kieran looks like he got caught doing something he shouldn't be!

Birth! At Home! Pictures!

2011-11-08T13:28:00.000-05:00

I still haven't written Milo's birth story. There is so much to share and so much for me to process and so little time to do it all (why didn't anyone tell me how little free time I'd have with 3 kids??? ;)). His birth was amazing and a process and so different than the previous two, yet the same in many ways. I definitely had the same feeling of "OMG get this freaking baby out of me RIGHT NOW!!!" at some points, and also tried to praise God for the blessing that it is to be able to bring a baby into this world. Each contraction brought joy and pain, sometimes noise (and with that, many curious small people!). The weeks leading up to his birth were wrought with frustration and impatience, but in the end, God's timing (as always) was perfect and I was able to experience abundant support and love as Milo took his sweet time arriving.

Looking back through these pictures brings back a flood of emotion, and I am so thankful for my best friend and amazing photographer Sierra for not only being present at Milo's (and Charlotte's) birth, but also for documenting it in such a beautiful way. She captured the emotion I was feeling, all the while providing gentle support and encouragement.

Adrianne and Jamie were also in attendance at Milo's birth, and were so amazing with Maya and Charlotte. I didn't know if I would want everyone actually present and in the room as Milo was born, but in the end I was feeling the need for the support, and can't imagine his entrance into the world being any more perfect than it was, surrounded by friends.

Michael was a rock star. He told jokes and made me laugh until I told him to stop. He encouraged me. He pretty much never left my side for the entire labor. He took his job of "rice sock holder" seriously (and I am pretty sure I wouldnt' have survived labor without the rice sock...the thing is amazing). He told me that everything was fine even when I suspected (and he feared) that it wasn't. All in all he was the perfect support person.

More detailed birth story to come (probably :)), but for now, pictures.

Pigtails and Cupcakes

2011-11-07T22:57:00.000-05:00

Pretty self-explanatory, no?

When Milo had Hair

2011-11-06T23:45:00.004-05:00

When Milo was born, the two comments we got from almost everyone we met were:

1. He looks exactly like Michael!

2. He has so much hair!!! I've never seen a baby with so much hair! And it's so dark! The girls didn't have dark hair did they???

He still looks just like Michael (all 3 kiddos do, really...Charlotte looks like a cross between Michael as a toddler and my sister). But, his amazing dark hair pretty much fell out. He still has some, but is a baldy for the most part :P

Sierra took newborn pics for us and they are amazing! Check out her website if you're interested in having her take pics for your family (she also photographed Milo's birth, took our family picture last year, and took pics of the girlies earlier this year).

My favorite...his hair was so cool

Things 1, 2 and 3

Also, the girlies *did* have dark hair. Not quite as thick as Milo's, but dark nonetheless. Like his, theirs fell out within a couple of weeks. His does seem to be coming in dark, so we'll see if it stays that way or goes blonde like theirs...

Maya, 1 day old

Charlotte, 2 days old

Rightside-up...

2011-11-05T23:25:00.001-04:00

Upside-down!

Friday (Saturday) phone dump...

How Big Is Milo?

2011-11-04T23:29:00.002-04:00

So Big!

2 Month Stats:

13lb 15.5oz

24.75 inches

He is the average weight of a 3 month old and the average height of a 4 month old! No wonder his 3-6 month clothes are fitting quite snugly! I imagine we'll have to break out the next size here soon. The only "concern" Dr. Phelps had is that he doesn't try to lift his head when you pull up his arms when he's laying down...but followed that by telling me that it's common in 3rd babies because they're held so much and don't get the exercise that the first and possibly second do :) So not a concern, and if the only problem we have is that Milo is held too much, we don't have a problem at all :)

More on this later, but today Maya had a *major* anger outburst. Triggered by my telling her that we needed to leave a friend's house in a couple of minutes, she was screaming at me, even hit and kicked me (though when she did that I could tell it surprised even her). I remained surprisingly calm through it, first removed her from the situation, and when that didn't work, took her outside to the car and asked her to get herself strapped in while I went back in to get Milo and Charlotte. After she had calmed down, we were talking about what had happened and I asked her what she thought we could do differently next time so that it didn't happen again. Her response? "You could just not be so mean to me" :) I'm totally mean to her all the time, as you can imagine, so I'll be working on that ;)

Pictures!

Milo as a newborn, taken by Sierra Hampl

Milo at 2 months

Milo at 2 months, being all smooth with his friend Lily

Pigeon Forge

2011-11-03T22:32:00.001-04:00

2 years ago my sisters and I decided that instead of buying my mom specific gifts for Christmas, we'd plan a trip or event to all do together (Mom, Mary, Katie, me and all the kids). The first year we went to the "Women of Faith" conference in Cleveland, and had a great time! This year we went to Pigeon Forge, TN and had a cabin in the mountains. It was awesome! Mare had discussion questions for us to answer (do you know about your mom's first kiss? I know about my mom's, now!), the cousins played together and wore out their grandma (she said she needed a nap after the weekend was over!), and we all had a fun time just being together :) I can't wait to do another trip next year!

This kiddo is chubbly! He has his 2 month check tomorrow and I'm curious what the doctor will say about his thigh rolls and many chins!

Gatlinburg coffee shop we went to

Hoping those eyes stay blue!

pretty sure she's pinching him here ;)

We realized, after taking this shot (and the many many others that didn't turn out!) that Maya, Charlotte and Jacob are spaced almost exactly the same as my sisters and I were. I don't know how my mom did it!

We stopped at a flea market on our way back because Milo was pretty well done with the car. It turned out to be an old drive-in movie theater, so the kids got to run around, too. Two birds, one stone. Boom.

Back at my sister's house in Kentucky

Group bath!!!

We celebrated Maya's birthday as a surprise for her. I captured her face right as she realized why we were singing "Happy Birthday" <3

A Little Rant

2011-11-02T22:32:00.001-04:00

Today, the girls and I met up with a friend at the playground. Normally I'm all about letting them run free and just keeping an eye on where they are, but during today's visit I was a bit more helicopter-y than usual, as there was a toddler running around with a somewhat realistic looking toy rifle strapped to his back. Yep, you read that right. Toddler. Rifle. Strapped to his back. I know it wasn't real, and it wasn't going to cause anyone physical harm, but I felt strangely uncomfortable seeing it! Anyone who knows me knows that I am pretty anti-gun for the most part. I'm not into shooting ranges or hunting (though many people in my extended family are and that is fine with me :)). No Nerf guns or water guns in our house any time soon. The idea that my kids are going to be exposed to this stuff at the playground of all places makes me a little sad. Isn't there enough actual violence in the world without needing to play pretend? Ya, ya, "boys will be boys" and "they'll turn anything into guns" and all that jazz...but still...

/rant

Pictures :)

A Blog Turns 2!

2011-11-01T17:07:00.001-04:00

Today kicks off NaBloPoMo, and you know what that means...Happy Birthday, Blog! I can't believe how much our family has changed over the last 2 years, and I'm so thankful that I can look back at all the fun we've had. Before moving forward (there will be posts about Pigeon Forge, Halloween, Fall, and much more!), let's take a look back at some of the important events of the last 2 years! :)

Why I Blog

Camera Love

My Marriage Turned 7

I Watched Isabella and Maya become Sisters

Charlotte Turned 1

Maya Started Preschool

Maya Turned 3

Isaac had his first surgery

We Celebrated the Most Amazing Christmas

We Announced Big Changes

Charlotte Turned 2

Isaac had his second surgery

Milo Arrived (also blogged about here)

Maya Turned 4

Isaac had his third surgery (Sierra's blog)

And one picture...a teaser, if you will :D

Our audition for "Toddlers in Tiaras"??? Maya joins Cirque de Soleil? You'll have to come back later this month to find out!

Friday Phone Dump (on Sunday)

2011-10-30T22:10:00.001-04:00

Ya, ya, I know I haven't blogged in a while :) I keep looking and realizing my last post was from Maya's birthday, almost a MONTH ago! Eek!

But, Tuesday is November 1st which starts NaBloPoMo so the plan is to use my ginormous (real word) backlog of photos to post every day for a month :)

***************************

Michael and I recently drank the Kool-Aid and got iPhones, and I've been using mine, as you can imagine, to take many many photos and then edit them using Instagram. A blogger I like recently started doing a "Friday Phone Dump" of the week's pictures, and since I'm all about ~~stealing~~ sharing ideas, I'mma do it, too :) Pretend it's Friday.

A Love Letter For My Daughter

2011-10-05T21:45:00.002-04:00

You were born, and I cried tears of joy at your arrival. You made me a mom.

You turned one, and I cried tears of sadness at how fast you had become a toddler. You kept me on my toes.

You turned two and became a big sister, and I rejoiced at how in love with your baby sister you were. You became my helper.

You turned three, and I laughed every day at your goofiness. You were my source of entertainment.

And now, sweet sweet Maya, you are four. When I look at you, I am blown away by your beauty. You still keep me on my toes, you are still my helper, you still provide joy and laughs every day. When you were born, I realized a love that I didn't know existed, and I am constantly in awe of how that love for you grows each day.

I look forward to this year and the many that are to come. You are an amazing person. I love you.

Love,

Mommy

Maya's Party

2011-10-04T23:19:00.000-04:00

Maya's birthday party was so fun! We had princes, princesses, photo frame decorating, a pinata (that was very, very hard to bust!), a marshmallow catapult, CAKE, and cupcake decorating. I'm pretty sure my friends were super thrilled with the amount of sugar I filled their kids with, though Sierra did joke about the fact that I put "healthy" candy in the pinata :) We had our friends from Bible Study and their kids, who just happen to be friends with our kids! We had a great time, the kids were worn out by the end, and we had enough leftovers that I didn't have to cook for 2 days (yay!).

She turns 4 in 54 minutes, though we told her that she turned 4 when she blew out her candles so that has caused some confusion...today she told me that she is "almost 5" lol :) She gets to be the "snack leader" at preschool tomorrow and wanted to take either cupcakes or suckers or twizzlers. We compromised (haha) and she's taking homemade, lowish sugar pumpkin cookies.

It's late and I'm getting cross-eyed staring at my computer screen, so here are some pictures :)

Princes:

Princesses:

Photo frame decorating:

Eric kept making weird faces...I think he was hopped up on post-wisdom-tooth-removal vicodin! :)

The very, very, very hard to break pinata:

Grown-ups getting involved:

Then the kids got aggressive:

Michael broke it open and then had Maya hit it one more time :)

The kids took their spoils and left about half the stuff on the floor! At what age do you have to stop encouraging them to take *more* candy???

Catapult:

Cake:

Isabella sampled a bit of the frosting...pretty sure she approved ;)

Happy almost-4th-Birthday, Maya!

Life in the Day

2011-09-29T21:04:00.002-04:00

I was going to title this post "A Day in the Life" but my chosen title feels more appropriate right now. In true Kelle Hampton fashion, I am trying to focus on soaking up every bit of life every day. As the weeks fly by with Milo, I am reminded that they really do grow up too fast, and as Maya's 4th birthday looms brightly in the not-too-distant future, I try daily (and sometimes even succeed) to enjoy each moment, each milestone, each drawing, each story. I am well aware of the fact that Milo may be our last baby (by choice or circumstance), so while the OCD part of me screams "DIRTY DISHES! STICKY FLOOR!!!", I try to balance that with playing and holding and coloring and know that, when the kids are in school (as in, college ;)) my house will probably get more of my focus. Right now it is "clean enough to be healthy, messy enough to be happy" (thanks to my friend Jamie for that one :)).

Since I've been an infrequent blogger for the past 6 weeks, here is a short update on each child :)

MAYA:

Preschool and ballet are her main focuses right now. Outside of that, she is loving going to the park and playing with her friends. She asks me almost every day if we are going to see Isabella, and if I say no she quickly follows with, "well then we'll see Kendall (or Eden)". She LOVES her brother. We're having a princess party for her birthday, and today she told me that Milo could be her "little prince" <3 I love her more than I thought possible.

CHARLOTTE:

Charlotte has become quite the independent little lady of late. While Maya is at preschool, she sets up whole picnics and/or tea parties for her babies, lays down and reads books, puts on dress-up clothes and dances around, and generally entertains herself. She is becoming more and more verbal and I love that. She is still cuddly some of the time, and I savor each hug and kiss.

MILO:

Milo is pretty much amazing all the time. I mean, we have our rough nights and our days where I am holding him at arms length for Michael to take as soon as he walks in the door, but he is just my awesome little man. The boy is growing like a weed and has the cutest little chubbly thighs and wrists. He wants to be held pretty much all the time, and I happily (for the most part ;)) oblige. He is already far too big for my liking!

And now, pictures...

Maya's favorite hairstyle :)

He is enjoying bathtime quite a bit more now!

Waiting for ballet to start

Charlotte wishes she could be in the class, too!

Showing what she learned in class

"Isabella, make a silly face!"

Trip to Duma's to buy beef...

At Becca and Julia's birthday party

Milo with Pam, my midwife <3

I love love love love love how they play together. Love.

Bird's-eye view

Photo Shoot!

2011-09-24T18:56:00.001-04:00

The kids and I met a friend at the park a few days ago, and everyone was magically in a good mood when we were getting ready to get in the car. I decided it was the perfect opportunity for a photo shoot! And, the one guaranteed way to get Maya to sit still and smile for the camera is to let her hold Milo, so it worked out :)

I need to do a longer post with updates about all the kiddos (isn't it crazy that I've moved from "both" to "all"??? I seriously have a moment of panic at least once a day that I've left one of them somewhere!). But, for now I just need to get these pictures posted! More later...

Big Red Park, (s)Milo

2011-09-13T12:42:00.001-04:00

There has been a lot going on around here, and not much time to write! Crazy, huh? :) Our days are filled with playgroup, preschool, library time, La Leche League, family visits, spending as much time as possible outside, hanging out with friends, and sleep! Milo is growing by leaps and bounds (I swear he gained a pound between Friday and Sunday with a major growth spurt!) and is cuter by the day. The girls are totally in love with him!

When we went from 1 kid to 2, the adjustment was epically difficult. I was an emotional wreck, Maya could barely make it 10 minutes without having a meltdown, and Michael kindof didn't know what crisis to deal with first when he would walk into the room to all 3 of us crying! It took us a while to get into a good groove. Now that the girls are older, I LOVE the age difference (21 months) ~ they play together beautifully, protect each other, fight an average amount, and are generally BFFs ~ but in the beginning, holy moly was it a challenge. The adjustment from 2 to 3 kids has been a breeze in comparison! Of course the girls have had a bit of trouble at times, but for the most part they continue to play together and are loving that they have a new person to play with! It also certainly helps that Milo is typically very chill and he is still sleeping quite a bit! :) I've already told Michael that I am definitely interested in having a 4th (just not yet ;)).

Of course, pictures. Chris and Penny came up to visit this past weekend (and Penny is coming back Thursday ~ yay!). We went to the "big red park" and Charlotte insisted that she must wear her red dress to match :)

Somewhat unrelated, but for some reason I have a really difficult time editing pictures that contain a lot of red. I'm considering slipcovers for my couch for this reason! I'll have to ask Sierra Hampl about this one...

Milo in the Beco...I'm planning on doing a post very soon on babywearing ;)

Milo's newest trick (only trick?) is his attempt to smile. I swear he smiled at me 2 days ago but so far, despite singing and dancing and being generally silly, we haven't been able to get a repeat. Here are some almost-smiles, though :)

Neck strength FTW!

And finally, sometimes when I'm snapping picture after picture, I catch some pretty amazing faces. The following two are the RAW, unedited versions of my favorite "oops" pictures from last night's photo shoot :) Normally these would go straight to the recycle bin, but I thought I'd share their awesomeness!

Princess Projects and Preschool

2011-09-07T23:35:00.000-04:00

The weeks with our new little man ("Bug") are flying by! He is 3 weeks old today, and is more fun with each passing day. The girls are still totally in love with him and I'm a little bit embarrassed to admit that I've calmed tantrums by offering to let them hold Milo :P

Although things have been very Milo-focused since his arrival, we've also had other fun happenings! Michael and I celebrated 8 years of marriage yesterday (holy moly, has it really been that long???) and my mom watched the girls for us on Sunday so that we could celebrate (with Milo in tow, of course :)). Also, Maya started her second year of preschool yesterday. She is looking SO grown up! I can't believe she's in "Pre-K" this year! We signed her up for "lunch bunch" and she is loving that she gets to eat lunch at school with her friends. Charlotte was feeling pretty left out of the whole preschool-and-lunch thing, so the plan is to "pack" her a lunch, too, that she can eat when we get back from dropping off Maya.

Finally, a fun story for you :) I was in the kitchen today and the girlies were playing in the dinette. I looked over the counter and Charlotte was laying on the floor, covered in a blanket. Turns out Charlotte was getting ready to deliver a baby, and Maya (who was, as usual, in a princess gown) was the "sparkly midwife". Maya listened to Charlotte's belly with a stethoscope, and Charlotte said that the baby was coming in "one minute". Then Charlotte lifted up her dress, and Maya exclaimed, "oh! The baby's coming!" She pushed on Charlotte's stomach and offered encouragement: "Push, Charlotte! Give me a little push!" When the baby was born, Maya held her up and handed her to Charlotte, who then nursed the baby. The game continued as Maya would run into the playroom, find another baby for Charlotte to deliver, and the scene would replay. All told, Charlotte delivered 7 girls (3 breech). Mom and babies are healthy, lol :)

Pictures...

My sister (Katie) passed on a bag of clothes and shoes to me. Since I wear 2.5 sizes bigger than her, the shoes were a bit, um, snug. So, I asked her if it would be ok to turn them into dress-up shoes for the girlies. A super fun project ensued!

My sister Mary visited this weekend while my mom was in town. Mom ~ this is the closest we got to a shot of all the grandkids together! :)

Charlotte was "hiding" back there, lol :)

First Day of Preschool pictures. As you can see, Maya wasn't excited at all :P

(Here is last year's first day of preschool picture for comparison :))

How To Bathe A Baby (A Picture Tutorial)

2011-09-01T23:19:00.000-04:00

Step 1: Gently and carefully undress baby

Step 2: Talk the bath up. Convince baby that this bath is going to be ahhhhhmazing. Compare bath to baby's former home. Prepare for baby to hate bath.

Step 3: Laugh at baby's funny expression upon being placed in a very tiny amount of water. Make sure to not get baby's umbilical cord wet. Remind husband to not get baby's umbilical cord wet. Stress the importance of the dry umbilical cord.

Step 4: Ignore the fact that baby's umbilical cord is now rehydrated, thanks to well-meaning but forgetful husband*.

Step 5: Watch in horror as same well-meaning husband (who clearly is used to bathing toddlers and not infants) dumps an entire cup of water directly on baby's head and face.

Step 6: Comfort baby while trying to complete the bath as quickly as possible.

Step 7: Apologize to baby for the bath.

Step 8: Give extra cuddles to baby to make up for the trauma. Quickly put diaper on baby to avoid being peed on.

And that, my friends, is how to bathe a baby in 8 easy steps.

*"well-meaning husband" is actually pretty awesome at taking care of babies. Also, he has been bathing Maya and/or Charlotte pretty much nightly for almost 4 years now, so clearly this post is meant in jest <3

Babies are AWESOME!

2011-08-31T23:28:00.000-04:00

I'm a part of an online community of attached parents (called "AP Cleveland" for any of my local crunchy mama friends who are so inclined to join!), and recently during a discussion about who-knows-what, one of the members exclaimed (well, as much as you can exclaim in an online forum), "Babies are AWESOME!" And you know what? She's totally right. Babies, or at least *my* baby, is pretty much amazing 100% of the time. Okay, at least 90% of the time. And the most awesome thing about babies is that they can do things that are totally inappropriate for adults or even older toddlers and children, but babies are so freaking cute that you DON'T EVEN CARE. For real. Also, I know that the super amazingly cute things babies do are only cute to that baby's parents (*maybe* close friends and grandparents/aunts/uncles, too), but since this is a mommy blog ~ I mean seriously, the tag line is "a blog about life with littles" ~ I get to talk about all the cutely inappropriate things my baby does.

He burps. But these are not cute little baby burps. These are ridiculously loud man burps. Often followed by equally loud passing of gas. Makes me laugh every time :)

He eats crazy loudly. He nurses with such ferocity that there is gulping and gasping for air and sometimes he even squeaks a little. He unlatches equally ferociously and then immediately falls asleep with milk all over his face. Sometimes he wakes up to spit up his food and repeat the process. It doesn't sound cute, does it? Totally cute.

He pees on himself constantly. I swear, I cannot change this kid's diaper without having some sort of malfunction. If I somehow magically make it through the diaper change itself without having to use multiple diapers and/or change his entire outfit, he will inevitably pee out the side or top of his diaper. And don't talk to me about which way his boy parts are pointing ~ it doesn't matter. North? Pee out the top of the diaper = outfit change. South? East? West? Pee out the side of the diaper = outfit change. Kiddo's got talent. Or his diapers are too big. Either way :P The best (and least interesting story to anyone but Michael and I) was last night. I was lovingly and carefully changing his diaper. I even remembered to use a wipe as a homemade "peepee teepee" (a real product!). But, as soon as I removed the wipe to fasten his new diaper, he peed. Onto his face. Told you he was talented! Anyway, so he is understandably freaking out, Michael is frantically trying to wipe out Milo's eyes and mouth (ok, that part is not as cute as it is gross :P), and I literally fall onto the floor because I am laughing so hard. I'm snorting and crying as Michael is trying to reassure Milo that I do, in fact, love him...I'm just bad in "emergency situations" and I "laugh when people get hurt". Michael gets him cleaned and diapered, and I (in my almost-can't-stand-up-because-I'm-laughing-so-hard state) pick him up to reassure him, and realize that he was laying in a puddle. His head was literally dripping. I think Michael knew this and left it there on purpose to get me back for my neglecting Milo in his time of need, but of course it only made me laugh harder. Good thing my "hold on to your baby at all costs" instinct kicked in! So we get him cleaned up again, wipe down the changing table, secure Milo in jammies, climb into bed, and pray that maybe, just maybe, we can make it a whole night without having to change the sheets. But you know what? If we do, NBD. He's still cute <3

Also, he just burped. And I'm laughing :)

Of course, pictures...

We have had lots of visitors, and since Michael was able to take about 2 weeks off of work, we have been spending lots of time outside with the kiddos. These pictures are from the past 2 weeks...they aren't all captioned because there are a LOT, but I think they are mostly self-explanatory :)

~~~~~~~~~~Larry and Steph~~~~~~~~~~

Bet you'll never guess who did Steph's hair...

New barrettes! Thanks Grandpa and Steph!

~~~~~~~~~~My Dad, Dona and Katie~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~Penny~~~~~~~~~~

Have you noticed Maya convinces people to read books to her and Charlotte whenever they visit? You should see the stacks she has piled just outside of the frame!

~~~~~~~~~~Beth, Asad, Adam, Simon and Sarah~~~~~~~~~~

They let Maya borrow their balance bike for a few days! She's pretty excited to practice!

Sarah kept trying to run down the hill! She keeps her parents on their toes :)

~~~~~~~~~~Bath Time!~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~Random~~~~~~~~~~

Maya's new "upcycled" dress. I'm so excited by how much she loves it!

Night all!

Milo

2011-08-26T23:08:00.000-04:00

The past week and a half with our new addition has been so amazing. He is small and cuddly and squishy and calm and so freaking cute. He sleeps about 22.5 hours of the day, and when awake he mostly just looks around and is cute. He's kindof like a puppy except he doesn't bark and he wears diapers, so no housetraining required (we'll work on potty learning in a few years ;)). I know that this amazing newborn stage will not last long, so I am savoring every second. He is already growing and changing so much and he is only 9 days old!

As you can imagine, I have quite a few pictures to share! I'm working on sorting and editing them, so for tonight, here are a few from the last couple of days :)

Milo's first trip in the sling ~ he was comfy cozy <3

Milo is eyeing that Diet Coke...he may have inherited Mommy's addiction...

Daddy and Milo

If you look closely, you can make out who Milo is looking at (hint...look at his eye!)

It's Aunt Laura!

Laura and Patrick came to visit yesterday and told me they had been talking Milo up to their friends...

I hope he lived up to their expectations!

Well, that's all for now. But, here is a little preview for next time...Milo was pretty excited about the bath before he got in. I bet you'll never guess how he felt about it once it started ;)

Yes, his umbilical cord is normal, it just looks gross. It is thisclose to falling off...hopefully tomorrow!

Otherwise Known As Thing 3

2011-08-18T21:37:00.001-04:00

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday sweet baby boy,

Happy birthday to you!

Introducing:

The girlies made him a cake while I was in labor, and tonight they sang "Happy Birthday" to give him his name <3

Milo Frederick Haren

Born August 17, 2011 at 12:10pm

7 pounds, 9 ounces

20.5 inches long

We are in love <3

Charlotte Charlotte Charlotte Charlotte Maya

2011-08-16T15:05:00.001-04:00

At 39+ weeks, I'm not feeling super creative or motivated (though I did have a super amazing idea that will hopefully be featured in a future post...now you're intrigued and will keep reading ;)). But, a friend requested another post...so here you go!

Sidewalk chalk FTW!

Maya drew a picture of herself (far left), "daddy's mommy" (middle) and Charlotte. They are holding hands at the beach <3

38 Weeks and Counting

2011-08-08T15:53:00.001-04:00

As I sit and wait (and wait and wait and wait!) for baby #3 to arrive, I've been finding myself having trouble focusing on what is going on *right now*. 38 weeks pregnant, I'm finding, is a hard place for me to be. It's not that I've not been here before ~ Maya was almost a week past her "due" date and Charlotte was born 1 or 2 days before hers, so I should not expect anything different this time around. But, for some reason, I'm having a lot of trouble being patient!

A friend of mine wrote an amazing blog post about this, which you can read here. Her adorable baby girl arrived a little over 3 weeks later.

I know that God knows when this baby will arrive, and I know that there is nothing I can do about making it happen any sooner (at least nothing that I'm interested in doing!) so I sit. And I wait.

And I take pictures :)

This is an outline of Maya's foot, including her toenails, which are painted (obviously :))

Katie is Married!!!!!

2011-08-01T23:10:00.000-04:00

This past Saturday my baby sister (ok, "baby" by 1 year...but still!) got MARRIED!!! Yay for Katie and Eric! I was a bridesmaid and looked 14 billion months pregnant, the girlies were adorable flower girls, and Katie was SO BEAUTIFUL. I mean, she was elegant! The rehearsal was fun, the rehearsal dinner was fun, the wedding was fun, and the reception was amazing! Good food, fun music, a superb speech given by Mary, dancing, cupcakes (the girlies' favorite part! :)), a photo booth (!!!), and much more that I am almost certainly forgetting :) I am so glad that we got to be a part of their special day!

We didn't get as many pics as we did at Cait's wedding last month (and due to lighting restrictions, most were taken with a flash :P) ~ Michael had the camera most of the time as I did my bridesmaidly duties and he was also in charge of corralling the girlies. BUT, my awesome friend/photographer Sierra Hampl was the wedding photographer and I know she will have a ton of amazing shots for them to remember their special day :)

Here is a sampling of what we got...

My step-brother Pat did all the bridesmaids' make-up, and it looked amazing! Thanks, Pat!

"There was a little girl, who had a little curl..."

Maya gettin her hair did

Is the longing not palpable? :)

Pretty sure Mare just told everyone that Katie never got to sit in the front of the bathtub :)

and then she made everyone cry :*)

Maya with my cousin Lauren. I am pretty sure 90% of Maya's clothes from her first 3 years of life were hand-me-downs from Lauren!

I think she's telling Jim to "step off"!

After taking this picture, Michael sent me a message (to my phone) that said, "The feelings of love felt while watching you dance with worn out Charlotte are awesome" <3

Katie with the photographer and her assistant

Charlotte was doing her best to stay awake by eating ice :)

Congratulations to Katie and Eric!!!