Fun

I'm so busy these days that I rarely get to spend one-on-one time with Ella. When Lilly was little we spent time outdoors every day. We laughed, ran, climbed, jumped, went on tons of walks and adventures, and always had one-on-one time of course, since she was my only. I have this underlying guilt that I don't get that same quality time with Ella. We are together every morning when Lilly's at school (and all day for that matter) but it's not the same quality time. Ella plays with her toys and I juggle babies and clean. We read books while I'm nursing a baby. We play chase while I'm holding a baby (or two). We do laugh a lot (she's so funny). Ella's completely happy and well-adjusted and plays independently but it's my guilt and it's always nagging away at me.

Today it was unseasonably warm outside and as I took the trash out Ella followed me. Suddenly I found we were running through the yard, I was pushing her on her various bikes, we were laughing, playing in the leaves, exploring, climbing, sliding, and having a great time. The boys were both asleep and at one point when I went in to check on them I realized I still had 45 more minutes before we had to leave to pick Lilly up and I was thrilled. I went back outside and we continued to play.
It was awesome.

Playing together outside was a great start to our day. The house was a mess this evening since I didn't keep up with it during the day but those couple hours with my baby girl were priceless. I'm so thankful for the fun we had.

4 Months!

Baby boys are 4 months old today! I can't believe it! They are getting so big and so fun. They're miniature men. They're happy. They're sweet. They're good sleepers. They're good eaters. They are patient. They don't mind loud noises. They couldn't be anymore perfect.

Luke

Gabe

Lilly and I were trying to make them laugh or even smile. The minute after I would take the picture they smiled. So I waited and it didn't matter, they thought it was funny to smile after the picture was taken. Oh well! Here are our big boys in their monthly chair shot...

Death by Cornucopia

This was an email I just received from one of the room moms in Lilly's preschool class. When I read the title I got nervous. I can't help myself; she says and does some very far out things that I will not mention here for fear of Lilly reading this one day and feeling humiliated. Eh hem, let's just say she can be very inappropriate in talking about her body parts...

Email titled: "Lilly is so funny..."

"Favorite comment from all the kids today (I was in the class for their mini Thanksgiving party).
Mrs.S: "Ok class we will be going down to the church in a bit to look at the giant cornucopia there on display."
Lilly: "But...what if it falls on me and I die and my family won't have me around anymore?"

So cute..love her! Heather"

I asked her why she thought she'd die from the giant cornucopia and she said, "If something that huge fell on my head it would die me just like this..."

Baby Boys' Baptism

Today our boys were baptized.
They were the most handsome little boys I've ever seen (if I must say so myself).

Hi my handsome baby boys!

The closest we could get to smiles...

Yay! Look at Mommy!

Bonnet picture. My little Amish boys. Hee hee.

Pastor George baptized the boys and the boys did a wonderful job.

The girls were also amazing. They stood by watching their brothers receive the grace that will work in their lives before they are aware of it, bringing them to faith. Baptism is so beautiful. It always makes me choke up.
Two babies equals double the choking up.

Once again, Kat made a beautiful *and delicious* cake.

You have come into the world so tiny,
Yet with such great promise for the future.
Before you were even born,
God planned wonderful things for you.
As you are baptized,
May you feel His love
And the love of those around you,
And may you always follow in His way.

Ella's 2nd Birthday

Our sweet baby girl turned 2.
She enjoyed pancakes for breakfast and blew out a candle on her donut.

I ended up waking Ella up before Lilly left for school so Lilly could give her her gift. Lilly waited patiently all morning for Ella to wake! Lilly picked out Ella's gift months in advance. She saw it on a commercial and announced, "I'm buying that for Ella for her birthday with my own money." We didn't make her use her own money but she did indeed buy it for Ella and it was a huge hit.

The boys watched as the girls unwrapped the gift.

Weebles wobble but they don't fall down!
Ella also opened a monkey from her great-grandmother. She spent a good portion of the morning dressing and undressing the monkey. It was a perfect gift Ma-maw!

Andy took a half day so he could come home and help out with the boys. I took Ella, Lilly and Lindsay to meet up with the Swaney family (and the Tola's would have come but Chessa was sick) at My Gym. Ella's never been to open play at a kiddie gym and I thought she'd love it.

My baby girl.

Ella was very cautious at the gym. She's quiet and thoughtful and careful. She enjoys watching other kids take risks but never feels inclined to take one herself. I love this kid.

Lilly was in her glory. She is super physical and coordinated and loves taking risks! What a joy to have two kids who are so different. I love it.

Jumping with joy...

Ella with her little adorable friend, Justine. They played beautifully together.

First they had to check one another out. Ha.

Hi baby girl.

Ella was petrified of the ball pit. Her whole body trembled when she went down the slide that landed her there. I helped out by getting in myself.

The gang!
*Justine, Ella, Lindsay, Lilly, Abby, and Nate.

The girls having a great time.

After My Gym we took the kids to Chick Fila.

Jackie's family and Kristen's family came over for cake.

Ella is completely dog-obsessed. Kristen gave her a Build-A-Bear dog and leash. She said, "From one dog lover to another" since she too has a child who loves dogs! Kristen totally gets the obsession. I am still getting used to it. Ella was in heaven.

Ella and her dog cake.

Finally ready for bed at 9 p.m.! A late ending to a perfect day. Happy birthday Ella!

2 Years

Happy Birthday baby girl...

...more pictures and thoughts to come.

Big Boys

Our boys are growing so big!
I can't believe in 3 short months they are already little people and not helpless newborns. How did this happen?

More on their development on their 4 month birthday.
For now, just enjoy looking at these smiley sweet faces.

Frazzled

We're running on fumes around here.

I feel completely frazzled yet still love my life and family. The holidays are always a busy time. Add in 4 very small children, fall/winter illnesses, traveling, being Marcel's guardian, and forever changing infant schedules and it becomes busier than busy. The funny (sad?!) thing is, I'm always home. I never leave the house except to drive to Lilly's preschool to drop her off or pick her up. Otherwise, I'm stuck in the house every single day due to naps, naps, naps, and the challenge of going out with all 4 kids alone. You'd think I would get so much done but the most frustrating thing is that I have a to-do list but don't have the ability to do anything on the list because I run around like a crazy person all day long meeting the needs of our kids.

An hour can often look something like this:
Feed a baby while trying to entertain or watch the big girls, change the baby, tell the girls to hang on I'm almost done only to have the second baby start to flip out, feed the second baby while walking around and straightening a few things or feed the baby while reading a book to Ella or making a phone call to schedule/change a doctor's appointment (good thing no one comes to the door because I am often half dressed due to feeding). I finally get both babies fed and changed to have one of the girls crying or one of the babies crying because they're tired or it's time to pack up to go get Lilly. That involves putting one baby in the car seat (he flips out), soothing him, putting in the second baby (he flips out), soothing him, packing bag, soothing crying baby(ies), making a juice cup for Ella and packing more wipes/diapers and Ella's pinky, getting Ella dressed/shoes/jacket, putting Ella in the van, running back inside to get crying baby, soothe baby, take baby #1 out to the van, run back inside to get baby #2, check to see if I forgot anything, put baby #2 in the van and oftentimes taking one or both babies out to change a blowout which means going back inside and doing it all over again.

That's just one hour.

Anyway, none of these are complaints, it's just the way it is right now and we're sort of riding the waves hoping we make it to the sandbar so we can rest a while.

Yesterday Luke was having a hard time falling asleep. I was playing with the girls in the basement and kept running upstairs to put Luke's binky in (he was in the swing - "Thank you God for the swing, Amen") and in the process of going back and forth Ella tumbled down the bottom basement step. According to Lilly it wasn't a big fall. The carpet is shag and very soft. When I got to Ella, she wasn't even crying but was trembling. I picked her up and held her and then ran upstairs to get the vacuum cleaner and proceeded to vacuum the basement. After I finished I did a few more things and played some more with Lilly before realizing Ella wasn't putting weight on her right foot and she was whimpering and crying every time I left her side.

Fast forward three hours and Ella was still limping and whimpering so I took her to the ER for some x-rays.

She had a great time in the Emergency Room. I'm not sure if it was because she had 1 on 1 Mommy time or if it was because she was up past her bedtime or if she simply thought it was a really cool place but she was happy and the nurses loved her.

Her foot is fine. The doctor said her heel is swollen and bruised so I'm assuming that's what's causing her to continue (all day) to limp. I was grateful for no broken bones to add to the craziness of our life. Not to mention our little girl is turning 2 in two days and I would have hated to see her in a cast on her birthday!

Here's to health, happiness, and time to smell the roses.

Pumping

I pump for Luke so he can have breast milk since he only takes a bottle. Gabe won't take a bottle. It's frustrating but it's the way it goes so I've (semi-) accepted it.
The girls are used to me pumping. Today I was trying to get Luke to sleep and when I returned to pump Ella was already using the pump. Ha!

The cell phone pictures aren't great but they definitely capture the moment. I am still laughing picturing Ella's belly being sucked in and out, in and out.