Three

Marc-Adam~

You're three now!! You've grown up so much in the last year! Such a big boy now! You really understood the concept of turning three, because when I asked you how old you were you yelled, "THREE!" and when I asked you how old you were yesterday, "Two." You are convinced that this additional year has opened all sorts of doors for you because when you wanted to do something today, I told you to wait. You insisted you COULD do it (I knew you could, it just wasn't a good time) and you pleaded to me, "I can, Mama, I can! I'm three!"

(Marc-Adam at 3 years old)

This past year, you moved from your crib to a toddler bed, and now you share the bunk beds with Zachary. You love sharing a room with your brothers, and I can hear you talking or whispering to them when you are supposed to be sleeping, or at least being quiet.

You are still our little firecracker, and I'm convinced that if I look close enough, that one gray hair on the top of my head has your name on it. You had your first ER visit this July when you fell off the bunk bed ladder you weren't supposed to be on. No stitches, thankfully.



You are learning SO MUCH. You seem to soak up a lot of the lessons that I gear towards your brothers and you can say your ABCs, count to 20 (although occasionally you leave out 5-8 and throw in a few extra 15s), you know most of your colors and can even recite the planets for me! You LOVE to work in your workbooks for school and right now your favorite is the Thomas the Train book with the flashcards....I don't know if you ever actually seen the Thomas the Train show.

Speaking of shows, you definitely have favorites. Being the third brother, you've never really gotten to enjoy the toddler shows like your older brothers did. Your favorite show is Phineas and Ferb and I could listen to you say "Perry the Platypus" all.day.long. Arthur is another favorite that you watch because of your brothers. But if given a choice to pick something to watch when no one else will watch it with you, you'll pick Wow! Wow! Wubbzy. For a long time it was Yo Gabba Gabba and can I just say how glad I am that you're off of that kick now? :)

You're at the age when you want to do everything yourself, and you can not be deterred even when you do it wrong. You think which ever way you do it is right. If I tell you you're doing it wrong, you say in a sweet little voice, "It's okay, Mama, it's okay." You also pull out that cuteness when you get caught doing something you shouldn't. It makes it really hard to fuss at you when you say that to me. But I can fuss at you when you are being hard-headed, which you are. A lot. When you get it in your mind that you are going to do something or that you want something, you will not let down...and a lot of times will just keep doing what you want until I either raise my voice or physically stop you.

You are speaking wonderfully now. You talk in normal sentences, about 5-8 words, but I still have to translate for you once in a while, and sometimes even your brothers have to translate for me because I don't understand (but usually only when I can't get the context of what you are saying). One of your most used phrases is, "Mama? Can you come here for a second?" And if you keep saying it so sweetly, I will follow you where ever you want me to go! You have the same language challenge Stephen did at that age and you can't say a hard G or C sound and replace those sounds with a D or T (so you would say "tootie" instead of "cookie"). But you'll grow out of it, I know....hopefully before Evie starts to pick up on it!

Speaking of Evie, you became a big brother this year!! You love having a little sister, and you try to take good care of her. You are a little rough with her sometimes, though, but I don't think you are ever trying to be malicious. You are just curious. Many times, I have to tell, "Please don't make your sister be a pirate" because you think it's funny to close one of her eyes and yell, "Argh!! I'm a PIrate!" She's not so amused. You also like to pull her ears out and make monkey noises. Again, she's not so amused. One of these days, my dear, I think you are going to get payback. ;) Your brothers love playing with you now. You have finally become fun to them. You make them laugh and play right along side them during their pretend play. You'll run through house yelling, "I'm Hulk! HULK SMASH!"


You are still my most daring, and I HOPE we can get you into gymnastics sometime after the first year. You would be so good at it! You also LOVE to play games and can beat any of us at Uno! You are really good at Memory, too. You like to read, but rarely sit still long enough to finish a book and when you do sit still for a while to read, it's because you want to read to me. Your newest favorite book is your storybook bible and you read it to me almost everyday. You think every grown male character on every page is Jesus. And every other character is either happy to see Jesus or sad because he/she misses Jesus.

For a long time, you weren't very affectionate or cuddly, I had to sneak in my hugs and kisses when you weren't paying much attention to what I was doing. But lately, you've loved having me hold you and snuggle you. You give fantastic kisses complete with little growly noises. I think I do something similar to you, but I didn't know you paid that much attention.

My baby boy. I am LOVING getting to know who you are and who you are to become. You are so much fun and even on the days I think I could put you on the curb with a "Free to good home" sign, you still make me laugh and make me thank God that I'm your mom. I love you, boy.

Love,
Mama

(Marc-Adam at 3 months)

Look! A post! And a video!

I know. It's been a while. But I've been thinking about you all and my little blog here. I'm going to be back to blogging real soon, but in the meantime, here's a clip of Evie having her first taste of food. Avocado! (Doesn't it seem like just yesterday when I was posting pics of Marc-Adam's first food?)

Ya shoulda seen the other guy

So by now, most of you have heard about the nasty fall Marc-Adam took on Monday. He fell off the bunk bed ladder that he's not supposed to be on. He hadn't climbed on it in a while, but he made the attempt again and quickly learned why I won't let him on it. He fell and busted his head on the nightstand.

So here's the battle wound.

If you look closely, you can see the huge bruise all the way around the cut. This is actually two days after it happened. We took him to the ER and they fixed him up with some Dermabond. It looks a ton better in this picture than it did the day it happened.

He then started throwing up on Tuesday so back to the ER we went. It's unrelated to the fall. He's still dealing with a nasty tummy bug and as a result I've seen things and cleaned up things in these last few days that I wish to never think of again. *shudder*

And that's why Evie's two month post was late again.

Two months!

Here we are again...Evie's two month post and I'm late again.

So. Our girl is just a dream. Since we've gotten past that six week mark, she's really opened up and mellowed out. Here's what she's up to:

• The smiles are coming freely and sweetly. She's got the most beautiful smile...she grins for a split second and then opens her mouth wide, wrinkles her nose and it's like her whole face is smiling. I'm pretty sure it's just the most wonderful thing to be on the receiving end of her smiles.

• She's a talker. She's been cooing at us for a couple weeks now, and just this week she's started making all different kinds of sounds. This is totally fun for me because none of my boys were this verbal this young. Even as older babies, they were never babblers or made noises just to hear themselves. I can tell Evie will be very verbal....she already is.

• When I'm holding her, but not paying direct attention to her, she'll make little gurgle and cooing noises to get my attention. And then when I look at her, she just grins at me like she's either so happy to see me again, or she's so proud that she controls me that way. :)
  

• She is SO STRONG. She's lifting her head up when she's on her tummy so well and just holds it there. And not only is she bearing weight on her legs already, but she will push up to standing when I sit her on my lap facing me. It's amazing. Oh, and she's turning from her tummy to her back pretty consistently, but I'm sure it's not on purpose.
  

• Sleep is getting to be pretty good. She's napped really really well the last two days, and the last week or so, she's been consistently sleeping 5-7 hours at night, wakes up to eat and then sleeps for another 3-4. I've actually felt more rested this week than I have since before she was born.

• Her 2 month check-up was Tuesday...she weighed 10 lbs, 5 oz and was 22 inches long. I forget what her head circumference was, but she was 50%ile for head, and 25-50%ile for weight and length.

• She likes her swing better these days and she loves to play on her play mat, but her favorite place is in a lap talking and playing with someone. It doesn't matter who, but a person is her favorite toy.

• I really can't find anything to say about her that's not a positive thing. Things are going really great with her these days.
  

So on to our tiara pictures. This month went about as well as last month only this time, I had 3 little helpers to make it better. :)

It's hard to catch her being still.

And the tiara is still too big.

And the funny faces pop out just as the camera takes the picture.

And she still has problems staying upright. :)

But we get halfway decent ones, I guess. It's the best Mommy can do. This one's kind of funny because it looks like she's slightly annoyed at something one of the boys is doing behind me.

July 4th!

These are for those of you that aren't on Facebook (MOM) or that I'm not friends with on Facebook yet.

The best picture I got all day of all 4 kids.


My sweet Evie in her first major holiday ensemble.



The bow I made for Evie, close up. And the bows I made for my cousin's little girl for her piggies.

Photo Shoot!

I'm not sure if you've seen these yet, but here are some more shots from Evie's photo shoot. If you live in the Houston area, be sure to visit the Evermore website to see the work of the photographer that did these photos. She's really talented and we enjoyed working with her...can't wait to have her back out again to get shots of all our kids. I can't imagine how cute those will turn out (she has some REALLY cute subjects to work with)! (Oh, and Evie's featured on her website as well, which makes me just puff up with pride for my baby girl!)

Here are just a few of my favorite shots...there's more that I may post later.

Catching up...a picture post

I finally uploaded some pictures from my camera to the computer. So here's the story of the big things going on in our lives since Evie arrived.

Stephen had a big weekend last weekend. Saturday was "Mayfest" at the gym we go to for gymnastics. Mayfest is really just a time when the kids get to show off what they've been learning. Stephen's been working extra hard, so he was really excited to show us what he can do. (I apologize for the quality of the pictures...it's hard to get good pictures of moving kids and I also wanted to avoid posting pictures where other kids' faces are clear which cut down on my options.)

Stephen stretching...he's the one in the middle of the picture. I show this picture only so you can see just how flexible this kid is...he's almost in a full split with his head down.

"T"-what they do after they've landed and stuck it.

Salute

Rings

Pommel Horse

Mayfest Trophy

I love looking at these pictures because in the pictures of him actually doing something he looks so intense but in between he's all smiles. I think he really enjoys gymnastics. Jonathon Horton (winner of the silver medal in the all-around at the Beijing Olympics) trained at this gym way back when and is coming back to train for the 2012 Olympics...I heard that he may even be working with some of the boys. Stephen thinks that's cool and I'm super-excited about it.

Zachary and Marc-Adam performing their own little routines while watching Stephen at Mayfest.




Stephen also had his first performance in children's choir. He even had a line, "Look at that old shoe!" He did great and loved being in the choir. Again, not a great picture, and I have a ton more, but don't want to post faces of other kids.


Also happening this week, Evie's first bath. Her umbilical cord finally fell off so she got her first good bath.

As you can see, it was a family affair. The boys were so excited for her and kept telling her how brave she was....as if a bath were something to be afraid of. :)


And just for fun, Marc-Adam, wearing some kind of Batman scuba goggles.


And Evie and I were left alone for a little while last week, so we played dress-up. I started trying all her bows on her. They are all still a little big for her, so we're sticking to the little bows that I stick to her head with Karo syrup, but she still looks awful cute with these big ol' bows on her head.

Must share!

Evie had her first photo shoot today...we got a deal with a photographer wanting to expand her portfolio, so this shoot was free! I think we'll be inviting her back for a paid session to take shots of all 4 of our kids. She was great!

So, she sent me the link to a couple of the shots on her blog. They are so precious. If it's possible, I think these pictures make our girl look even prettier! I can't quit looking at them! Check it out!

For Alison (and everyone else, too)

I've been instructed to post more pictures...so I'm popping on quickly to show Evie off a little more. I think I have more pics that haven't been uploaded yet, but those will have to wait. So here's a few from the first few days:

I changed this picture from the one I had up originally...I hated that picture and it's been bugging me all day knowing it was up here...so here's the first picture Evie and I took together, just a few minutes after she was handed to me for the first time.


Couldn't you just eat up those cheeks?

Going home dress...such a pretty girl.

The proud brothers (Big, Bigger, and Biggest).


Pretty sweet, huh? :)

At last

We are home!! Just wanted to give a quick update. Evie's here and perfect and we're so overjoyed with her and all of our children.

More details and pictures to follow, but I'm tired and hurting a little now, so I'll just leave you with a picture of her. Jury's still out about who she looks like.

Love all around!

Evie's Room

I posted this last month, a few weeks before Evie was born, so I just linked to this post for Kelly's Korner Tour of Homes. Evie is our first girl after three boys and we had the best time fixing up her room. Enjoy!!


Here's the big reveal of Evie's room finally. My mother-in-law helped decorate, add the accessories, and painted the flowers on the wall. My mom bought the bedding and lamp (lamp not shown in the pictures because we hadn't gotten it in yet) and everything else is stuff we already we had (the crib, dresser, mirror) or that we bought cheap from Walmart or IKEA.








This last one's a little blurry because of the weird angle at which I had to take it, but that door you see there is the closet. It turned out really cute.

I'm just so pleased with how it turned out. I find myself in there several times a day just looking at everything and thinking about her and wondering if this beautiful room will match her personality. I can't wait to meet her.

20 days and counting...

Makeover

Well, we painted the outside of our house yesterday. Actually, we just painted the front of the house because we ran out of time, so we'll have to do the sides and back next week, but that should be really easy. The hard parts were the fronts with all the trim, shutters and garage doors. Last week, Sweet Hubby moved the shrubs to open up the porch a bit. So here's the before:


And the after:


The shutters on the windows to the left look striped because of the glare off the sun, but they really are just black.

Proof there are kids at my house

This is what greeted me when I crawled in to bed at 11pm last night.


So of course I had to get a picture. :)

Sneak peek

It's not done, yet, but here's what's been happening in Evie's room this week.




More pics to come when it gets finished next week.