Adah is 2 years + 9 months!!

My sweet Adah-Cakes!  I don't know why we call her that, but we always have!  I love her fun personality and sweet smile!  I have been told so many times (and agree) that she could be a little model.  She should have on a prairie dress, frolicking in the meadow!  Everything about her screams peaceful and sweet!  Her hair has such a natural flow to it!  And quite often I have to have her repeat things she says because she is so quiet in her voice!

Adah adores her sisters and wants to do everything Kezzie and Austin do.  I forget that she is only 2 and find myself filling her plate with the same things/amounts, expecting the same understanding out of her, and asking her to do things that the older ones are doing.  She will always try, bless her heart!

Adah is in the book reading stage.  If she and I ever get a moment alone (and we are getting more of this with Kez in school) then she will grab a bunch of books.  I LOVE sitting in the chair just snuggling with Adah and a bunch of books!

Adah is still taking a good nap in the afternoons.  She will lay down when I put Eden down around 1:30.  She typically sleeps about 1.5-2 hours.  She wakes in the morning around 6:30/7:30.  She loves the idea of eating cereal with milk but rarely finishes it (and I only put a small handful)!  She is addicted to "samiches" (sandwiches) and will request it every time she is given the chance.  She also loves Kraft Mac-n-cheese (NO other kind will do-she seriously won't eat it) and pizza!  She isn't totally in love with any particular fruit but will pretty much always eat carrots, broccoli or sweet pea pods!  When Adah gets up from her nap she requires a great amount of cuddles.  It has taken me a while to get used to this because Keziah wasn't ever like that.  Adah needs it to wake up properly or else she is a bear!  After cuddles she wants a snack.  Her favorite things for snack time are fishy crackers mixed with raw almonds and raisins.  Supper time is a struggle though (maybe it's the snack that ruins it-who knows), she takes AGES to eat her supper.  We eat around 6 every night so I wouldn't think her snack is interfering!  She just piddles and pokes but eventually eats everything!  I hope this is just a phase!

At bed time (around 7:30/8) she gets out of bed a hundred times before she falls asleep.  She will claim she has to pee, needs a drink, needs a kleenex, and then needs to throw the kleenex away...it goes on and on!  If she isn't getting out of bed she is singing and talking to herself for an hour!  This too is just a phase, right?!

I love Adah's ability to pretend.  She will mother any stuffed animal or baby she comes in  contact with.  And she is so gentle and loving when she does it!  Sometimes I think she is nicer to her dollies then Eden!!  She loves to put them in their strollers and push them around the house, claiming to head to grandma's house or the doctor's office or library!  She is so tender and fun to watch!  One thing is for sure though, if you don't know where she is and it is QUIET...not good!  She is still holding on strong to that sweet but secretly naughty personality!

I love you miss Adah!  You are fearfully and wonderfully made by God!  What a wonder you are!

Austin is 14 Years Old!!!

 OH MY!  I cannot believe this day has come!!  I am the mother of a 14 year old!  A handsome, funny, kind and giving one at that!  How blessed I am to have a son who is as fantastic as Austin is.  We celebrated the day with a trip to Palmer's Family Fun in Waterloo.  We took Ethan and Keziah along so Austin would have someone to enjoy it all with!  We started out with a round of miniature golf.  I'm not sure why we even paid for me, but in the end it didn't matter because for the last putt I made the siren go off which meant I won a free game or free pass to any of the other activities there.  We used it for an extra round on the go-karts!

 

 

The go-karts were a HUGE hit!  Austin and I went together the first time.  It's not supposed to be a race but how can you not when he's taunting you!! Here is the course...it's not huge but it was still a lot of fun!  I didn't expect it to be that fun (this was a first for me)!!

 

 

Notice I'M the one ahead?!!

 

Somehow Austin got around me...aren't I a nice mom for letting him beat me a little?!  Ha! Ha!

 

He's pinching me out! 

 

Ooops!  We may have gotten a little rough, but I think that was Austin's fault...he just got too close!  A worker came to the rescue!

 

Back on track, but I am long gone by now!

 

The second time we rode we took Ethan and Keziah with us.  You were supposed to be at least 17 to have someone under 7 ride with you but since Austin just drove and since we were the only ones on the course they let Austin drive Ethan.  Ethan and Keziah LOVED it!  And notice the cars that each of them picked out?  Keziah of course wanted the pink Scratch Cupcakery one!  The car Ethan picked out must have been much faster than the one Austin had before because I didn't do anything different and there was no way I could keep up with them!

 

One of the fun things you can do there is a huge jumping pillow!  Ethan and Keziah had a blast!  It was sprinkling a little so it made for a really messy ride home (because of the sand), but they liked it anyway!  They were jumping, running and sliding on it...I really wished we all could have jumped but we got a punch card and only had so many punches to do all the activities.  It was worth it to do the go-karts twice anyway!

 

Ethan and Kez enjoying the jumping pillow!

 

We celebrated with the rest of the family after church today.  The kids all swam for a while and then after naps we had Austin open his gift that we all went in on to get him.  It's something he has really wanted!  It's going to be a challenge to figure out how to actually run the thing, but it will be worth it!  He is super excited!  He told me it was something he wanted a while ago and little did he know I actually ordered it!  We didn't want him to have an idea that we got it for him so I put a few random things in gift bags for him to open as if he had several gifts.  One of the bags had cans of pop in them (he thought this was a true gift since he never gets pop), another had a miniature car in it that was similar to the one he got.  I asked him, "is that the kind of car you were talking about?"  He sadly said, "no."  I said, "oh, well open the next one then."  In the bag was a car just like his but it was a toy one the kids always play with that has a bunch of buttons to push.  I asked him the same question and again he sadly said no.  I said "Oh, hmmm.  That's too bad.  Maybe it's down stairs."  I went down and got his actual car.  He was thrilled and of course wanted to get it running right away.  Unfortunately, it wasn't that easy.  We are going to have to recruit the help of his old science teacher who is very much into this kind of thing.  He will know exactly what gas to use, etc.  In the meantime, Austin is going to have to learn some patience!

 

I am always writing reports on the girls and how they are coming along, but seldom do I write about Austin.  He is becoming such a young man.  He really takes to heart when you need his help with something and feels quite accomplished when he is done.  We will often put him in charge of keeping up with the campfire at the river and he takes it seriously (and it helps that he loves fire!).  I have noticed this with helping when something heavy needs carried.  He will step in for me so I don't have to do it!  He is an AWESOME big cousin and big brother.  I cannot believe the amount of patience he has with all the little ones on Sundays and how nice of a job he does at keeping them entertained and [not fighting]!!  He is very responsible in the way that he sets his own alarm and gets himself completely ready in the mornings (this is something he has been doing for a few years now but surprises me every time the new school year starts how easily he picks that responsibility back up)!  He enjoys basketball, football, track, RC cars, youtube videos, history and getting ice cream with his mom!!  If he isn't doing one of those things then he is working on a project.  He gets big ideas and I usually have to try to talk him down a bit.  He loves to build things (with wood or electric).  He always watches youtube videos on how to make random things (ie. potato launcher, miniature cannon that shoots peas, etc.).  He also recently got the idea of building some loft beds in the tree house.  That's one thing I am trying to talk him down a bit on because something like that really needs to be safe and done right!!  He is so smart and creative though...I can't take that away from him and wouldn't want to!

He is and always will be my baby...Happy Happy Birthday Austin!  I can't wait to see what God has planned for your next year!

Keziah's 1st day of Preschool!!

School starts today!  Is it possible that I have two in school now?  Despite my efforts to want to home school, Brian really wants Kez in school so I am sadly sending her off today!  Just for a half day though.  I get to pick her up around 11:15!  She is going to LOVE her teacher and LOVE school and the consistent schedule it offers.  She is going to miss Adah a lot and she has no idea how much Adah will miss her!  I am so proud of Keziah!  Happy First Day of Preschool sweetie!  Love you!

One word...ADORABLE!!!

Sunrise Preschool, here she comes!!

Keziah is 4 years + 9 months!!

My beautiful Keziah!   She got herself dressed today!  Pretty good, huh?  She insisted on the pink shiny belt!  She will wear pretty much anything that sparkles!  She is my glamor girl!  But refuses to ever have anything done with her hair.  She is extremely strong-willed but like my Aunt always says, "the world needs people like that too!"  She's right and I try not to squelch that personality!  Keziah loves to play with mommy.  I can't believe how much she follows me around just begging me to play with her.  I love her to death and try to remember that someday she will be grown up and won't want to play anymore!  She is so sweet but sometimes her persistence is exhausting!  With school starting tomorrow I keep thinking her teacher has no idea what is coming to her!  Something tells me that her teacher is going to love her though!!  Keziah is pretty excited about this new adventure in her life and is already asking if she can stay full days instead of just half!  For now we are going to keep her at MWF half days.  I'm sure I won't be able to resist letting her stay all day especially if she is really enjoying it.  Keziah is super smart too and the afternoon is when they do more school type stuff like math and science.  We went a couple days ago for a 'meet the teacher' type thing and Keziah insisted on bringing her walkie talkies that she made out of colored pencils and duct tape (she laid them all out on the floor in the shape of a walkie talkie and then just started taping)!  Her teacher was really impressed with her creativity!  She is a creative one, that's for sure!

I can't believe my baby is getting so big and already ready for school!  She has a few great Christian friends that will be in class with her and I am so looking forward to seeing her shine!  God has great things in store for her, I can't wait to see what the school year brings!  I pray that she puts that leadership personality to good use for the glory of our Heavenly Father!  What better place then in the classroom!!

River Relaxation...

It's been a long time coming!  We finally got back to the river!  Austin's birthday isn't too far (and neither is school) so he got to bring a friend along.  It wasn't until I was getting ready for the trip when I realized our back seat was broken (the back rest is crooked so a car seat won't sit on it).  So instead of having Adah and Kez in the back seat and Austin in the bucket seat so he could talk to Logan in the front, we had to have one of the boys sit crooked in the back with Keziah and one all the way in the front with me.  Either way was uncomfortable for Logan but that was the only way we could go! Although it was chilly at night, it was pretty comfortable during the day! 

Austin and Logan caught a huge clam on a three prong hook.  The clam bit down right on one of the hooks.  The boys had to pry it out of his mouth!  And a sink full of fish can only mean one thing...fish fry!  Love these summer days at the river with family!

Our Big Win!!

 

This is our newest 'toy'!  We went to the Harvest Church pool party on August 10th and at the door we put the kids' names in to win a door prize.  Keziah's name was called!  She was so happy!  She has bugged me every day to use it.  Every time we have a chance to use it it's been rainy or too cold and even today was sprinkling and cool.  But the girls couldn't be happier!  I couldn't hold them off any longer!  Oh the memories!

 

We could certainly use a better hill then what we have it on but it will have to do!  Actually we will probably take it to my parent's house since they have some pretty big hills!

Eden is 8 months!!!

Here is my baby 8 months old!!!  The picture in the bottom corner is from today (I didn't have very much luck getting a smile out of her), the rest are from yesterday (the 13th).  Purple is probably my favorite color and she looks adorable in it!

 

This is one of my favorite so I separated it out from the others to make it bigger!  Love her sweet smile!

 

 

This month is going to be pretty brief and listed...I have been keeping track of some things but in a list form so it isn't going to flow as nicely!

Eden started sweet potatoes 7/15/12. (not a huge fan but did ok).  I kind of feel like they were sour for her tummy...she spit up a lot after.

We tried green beans next and she seemed to love them.

Next we tried bananas, again not a huge fan.

Next we tried sweet peas and she didn't seem to mind them.

We did apples at the same time and she loves apples.

Then we tried carrots with a little oats mixed in and she loves them!

We have also tried putting apple in the mesh bag thing that they chew on and she doesn't like that.  I then tried bananas and she didn't like that either.  She just sat there and squished it in her hand!  I think it's the texture of the mesh bag that she doesn't like.  Oh well, she will just eat them mashed.

Eden started sleeping in her crib all night on Friday 7/27/12.  Prior to this she was napping in her crib but sleeping next to me in the pack-n-play in my room.  And even now that she is sleeping in her crib upstairs I have been putting her to bed in my room after her 7:00 feeding and then when I wake her for a dream feed before I go to bed I take her upstairs and nurse her in the recliner before laying her in her crib.  This will soon end as I am sure she is ready to do without the dream feed.

At 7.5 months here is Eden's schedule:

Between 6:30/7 Eden wakes and nurses

Eden goes down for a nap at 9ish and sleeps until 10/10:30

Eden nurses around 10:30/11

Eden sits at the table while the girls and I eat lunch and she eats a half of a container of #1 veggies.

Eden nurses around 1/1:30 and usually almost falls asleep on me.

I have started swaddling just her arms as doing no swaddling was causing her to wake often.  So I swaddle her arms and lay her in her crib.  When I wasn't swaddling her for a few days I would always lay her in one spot in the crib and she would wiggle herself to another.  So now I just lay her in the spot I know she likes.  She is pretty particular about this as she will use her legs to adjust herself perfectly if I don't do it just right.  She loves to have her head shoved in the far left corner of the crib and the rest of her body coming out at a 45 degree angle!  She is sleeping so much better since I started swaddling her arms.  I think for the week that we weren't doing any swaddling she was up 3 times in the night and always woke at least once during a nap or would take a much shorter nap. One thing I have noticed about Eden is she doesn't quite have the sense of something dropping and where she might be able to find it.  When her paci would fall out she wouldn't think to just grab it from beside her head.  It's like she just thinks it disappears.  And with her arms out she would grab onto her paci when she was upset and then drop it and not be able to find it.  It is just easier to have her arms contained so she doesn't get a hold of her paci.

Eden wakes around 4/4:30 and nurses. 

She will sit at the supper table with us and have the other half of her veggie jar around 5:30.

Eden nurses again around 7/7:30. 
And then nurses again around 10/10:30 before I go to bed.

 

Here is a video of her in her exersaucer.  We just recently discovered that she loves it in there!  But this video is mostly of her interacting with the girls...they make a burp noise and she just laughs hysterically!!

 

Here is another physical therapy photo.  "The Ladies" brought these rice bags this month to help support Eden while she is strengthening her core for sitting up.  They have been a tremendous help.  I now feel like I can put these around her and leave the room for a couple minutes at a time...and she is getting a work out in the process!