The Troyer Family Home Sweet HomePage

Lilah Crawled!

2012-02-08T21:53:00.000-08:00

Lilah has been getting up on her knees for quite some time now. She rocks back and forth, but when she wants to get something, it's back down on to her tummy and she scoots for it. What amazes me is that I think ALL of my babies have always started off crawling backwards. Not Lilah. She's determined. When she sees something she wants, she gets it. It's usually something paper. She loves paper. She loves EATING paper. But it makes her choke, so she can't have it. Today she got up on her knees and started real baby crawling!!! She only went a couple of knee scoots forward, but my goodness, she's not even 8 months old yet!! I was checking my blog for when Aaron started, and it appears he started scooting around the same time, but didn't start "real baby" crawling until March 21st...and, well, being that they have the same exact birthday, it makes keeping track of progress very easy! :) She's such a big girl!! I've also been putting her in the shopping cart at Costco with Aaron. It's so cute to see her sitting up all big. The only problem is that Aaron takes turns pulling at her hair, then kissing her, then pulling her hair, then HUGGING her like crazy (like not too fun hugs), then kissing...then pulling hair...you get the point. Thankfully she's very tolerant. I wish I could say the same for Luke...no tolerance for Aaron there. Well, no, I take that back. Either Luke can't STAND him and they're screaming at each other and hitting and biting and pinching...or they can't get enough of each other and Luke cries when Aaron has to go to bed. I'm just hoping that when Aaron is able to communicate better and stops being such a pest that they bond a bit more...because when they play together, they're so cute. Wait, I take that back. Tonight I had to clean up 2 inches of toilet water off of the bathroom floor. The boys thought it'd be fun to see how much toilet paper you can flush down the toilet. I wonder whose idea that was?

Iron Chef America

2012-02-08T17:34:00.000-08:00

You know what? I could be the next Iron Chef. Really, I'm a pretty good cook. Honestly, I think with my skills, a Sous chef (or 5) and a dedicated clean up crew, I could do amazing things. Okay, okay...so I can't make a crazy, 5 course gourmet meal in less than an hour with some mystery ingredient I've never heard of. Fine. I'll admit that, however, I'd LOVE to see Bobby Flay whip up a fantastic meal for 7 with a baby on his hip, a toddler underfoot who is cracking eggs and smearing them all over the floor. All the while making sure it's nutritionally balanced, tasty enough to please the pickiest (and I mean pickier than the pickiest of food critics), frugal enough to fit in our budget and have it all cleaned up and ready to eat BEFORE the babies both break down and start screaming from either lack of attention or hunger, or both. Yeah, try THAT, Bobby Flay. You wanna have a throw down?!?! I challenge you...in MY kitchen, under MY circumstances...yeah, good luck to you!

Project 365--Day 24

2012-02-05T21:18:00.000-08:00

Project 365--Day 23

2012-02-05T21:11:00.001-08:00

Big sister + Little brother + dry erase marker = this:

Project 365--Day 22

2012-02-05T20:51:00.001-08:00

Savannah has been making beautiful flower crowns out of flexible twigs and flowers, they are quite beautiful. Not as beautiful as the models here though!

Savannah's other "natural materials" project: Pippi Longstocking

I'm a slacker

2012-02-02T16:13:00.000-08:00

I have a sneaking suspicion that my Project 365 is going to take me 3 years to complete. Life, as usual, is very busy. Wonderful, but busy. It's actually not so much that it's busy as it is that every moment is filled. Not necessarily with productive work, mind you. But nap time rolls around and I need to rest. In the evening when babies are in bed, I'm just so ready to zone out for a short time and then hit the sack. I'm in no mood to do anything constructive. Yes, I am definitely lazy, but I don't care at this point. I was just thinking, Jeremy and I haven't had a quiet evening where we just don't know what to do in so long, I can't even recall the last time that happened. We were watching the movie, Courageous, and one of the men was spacing out in front of the tv at 10:30pm. I can't imagine being able to STAY up that late, let alone watching television at that time. I know there will be a time one of these days when our evenings aren't the time that the only thing we can think of is plopping our tired and weary selves into bed, but right now, we are still operating in survival mode. And that's not going to change any time soon. So for now, if I keep getting photos up a couple of times a week, I'm happy with that. And you're going to have to be as well.

She Slept Thru the Night!!!!

2012-01-30T21:25:00.000-08:00

At the rate we were going only a month ago, I never thought I'd have such wonderful news. Since birth, Lilah's regular pattern had been to wake every 2-3 hours, EVERY night. The ONLY time she slept longer was when I was at my parents house and she was in her own room, and I think that was just a fluke. As soon as we got back home, it was back to every 2-3 hours. I moved her into her own room and thought that'd be the ticket. It definitely HELPED, she wasn't waking every 2-3 hours consistently, but there were quite a few nights when I gave in around 3am and brought her to bed with me just so I could get SOME sleep.

But since I started bottle feeding her and stopped breastfeeding, it's miraculous. The poor girl was just hungry! First it started where she'd wake at midnight and then around 4. Not too shabby. I can do 2 wakings a night. Then she started going until 4-5 a few times. Hey, I liked that a LOT better. But last night she slept from 8:30pm until 7am without waking once!!! :) Of course, by the time 7am rolled around, I was convinced that something had happened to her and I had to go in and check on her, and there she was...on her tummy, pushing herself up on her arms. She saw me and gave me a big smile. She is still swaddled. I'd prefer that she not be, but she really sleeps better that way still. Even though she now sleeps on her tummy a lot, it doesn't seem to bother her that she's swaddled. One day she'll grow out of it, but for now, if I'm getting sleep, that's all that matters!!

Have I mentioned that she is the sweetest, happiest, smiliest little thing? She is just PURE SUGAR. Lilah is the easiest little thing to love, she is such an amazing blessing. The whole sleep thing always tainted everything else that was so wonderful about her. I have always appreciated that even though she didn't sleep well, she was still cheerful, but it was hard to fully appreciate her greatness when she had me up all night long. Now that she's sleeping so much better I have to say, she is an absolute angel baby. (as she screams from upstairs!) Oops, have I jinxed myself?!?!

Project 365--Day 21

2012-01-27T21:27:00.000-08:00

Aaron will often get out a toy and look at me and say, "Lilah" and pat the floor because he wants her next to him while he plays. Is it any wonder I wanted another baby? Having them so close together is challenging, but it's these precious moments that make it all worth it. I just love seeing the relationship they're developing...and it's very common for them to look at each other and both start cracking up. They can really get each other going!

"Hmmmm, I think I'll try this myself!"

Notice the toy she has in her hand...babies always have SOMETHING in their hands, it's so cute.

I heard a heartbeat!

2012-01-27T15:58:00.000-08:00

I went in for my first doctor appointment today. His ultrasound machine was broken, so I haven't SEEN this baby yet, and Jeremy still swears it's twins, but I did hear the wonderful, musical sound of the tiny heartbeat. What a glorious sound! No matter how many babies I have, that sound never gets old. I hope to post an ultrasound picture when I get one...hopefully next week.

Lilah's New Skills

2012-01-25T21:28:00.000-08:00

Lilah is now 7 and a half months old. She's exactly the same age that Savannah, Abby and Luke learned to sit up well and guess what?!?! She's sitting up!! Just a few days ago she was still rather wobbly, but now she can sit for a good, long while! Along with this new skill seems to have come the ability to be content for a while longer. I think it's nice for her to have this perspective on the world rather than being on the floor and worrying about who is going to trip over you. Aaron still tries to manhandle her and knock her over occasionally, but he's usually pretty gentle with her. When she does get onto her tummy, she is all over the place. Within seconds she can go from one side of the floor to another and she's getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth on a regular basis. I wonder if she'll be an earlier crawler?!?!

She is now 100% bottle fed. It's always a tough decision for me to stop breastfeeding, but the last time we took her to the doctor, she had only gained around 3oz in 3 or so months. She was waking up every 2 hours and although she was very content, I just knew she wasn't getting what she needed. She drinks about 5oz every 3 hours or so and gets very excited about her bottle. It took her a while to catch on to it and I was so concerned that she wouldn't take one at all. Her pediatrician just said, "Push solids", but she doesn't eat anything yet. She has no interest in food and I'm not going to "push" it on her, especially knowing that her body can't assimilate most of what she's eating at this point anyway. So when I found a bottle she'd take (Tommee Tippee), I was SOOOOOOO overjoyed! Now that she's getting the nourishment she needs, she's sleeping SO much better too. She generally takes 2, 2 hour naps a day, although the length of those naps can vary, her routine is now pretty consistent. 7ish wake up, 9:30 am nap, up by 11:30am and then nap from 2pm ish until about 4. She's finally able to make it through the evening without losing it too, so that's WONDERFUL. She's very tired in the evening though, and tonight when I gave her a bottle, she had her little eyes closed, but once the bottle was gone, she perked up and was happy until bedtime--which is usually around 8:30pm. She's been waking 1-2x a night, which to me feels like HEAVEN compared to what it was before. Some mornings she's up a little earlier than I'd like--like 6:40am or so, but I just use that as my "get up and get in God's Word" time. I drink my coffee, she drinks her bottle...we have some quiet snuggle time...it's very nice. Even if I would RATHER be sleeping! :)

Speaking of which...I'm 10 weeks pregnant now. I'm feeling pretty good, not too nauseous, not too tired, but definitely not my "normal" self. I go to the doctor on Friday, so it will be very fun to see this little one and make sure it's just 1 since Jeremy is ALWAYS convinced I'm carrying twins (his secret wish!).

Project 365--Day 20

2012-01-25T21:19:00.000-08:00

Luke was playing that Lilah was his "wife" because they were both wearing hats. I love when I leave the big children to keep an eye on Lilah and I come back into the room to see them playing nicely, and Lilah is all dolled up. How cute is that? I love that she's still just so little and silly that she goes along with whatever they want to do with her.

Project 365--Day 19

2012-01-23T21:05:00.001-08:00

How cute is she?!?!

Why we love homeschool

2012-01-23T12:30:00.000-08:00

While their public-schooled counterparts are languishing in their classrooms on this rainy day, looking forward to a rousing game of "heads up 7-up", this is what my children were doing:

Now they're in the bath and are going to put on jammies, have lunch, hot cocoa and finish up their work for the day, if they haven't yet. Yes, I have a much messier home than those who send their children to school, and I certainly have a lot more laundry, but as Abby yelled over and over while splashing, "THIS IS A KIDS LIFE!!!!"

Project 365--Day 18

2012-01-22T22:02:00.000-08:00

Project 365--Day 17

2012-01-22T21:53:00.001-08:00

Our children love playing Mancala. If you've never played it, you really should. It's a lot of fun, requires some serious strategerie and the games are pretty quick. Luke learned shortly after he turned 4 and does pretty good with it. The girls are actually a challenge and OFTEN beat me, they even beat Jeremy fairly often! Here is Luke and Jeremy playing with Lilah cheering them on, and Luke showing off his winnings:

Project 365--Day 16

2012-01-19T21:01:00.000-08:00

Abby's super-cool invention: a Tinker Toy vacuum cleaner.

The children were playing "Santa's Workshop" while I put the babies to bed today. They came up with some pretty clever toys using only Tinker Toys. I love the creativity of children.

Project 365--Day 15

2012-01-18T21:10:00.001-08:00

Cute little boy with a ball.

The Things We Take for Granted

2012-01-18T21:05:00.001-08:00

No, this is not going to be a deep, philosophical post. I'm too tired for that. This is one of those funny things that children say that gives you a little insight into their brains...and makes you realize that there are certain things that we just assume should be obvious, but to children, who see things so simply, aren't.

So yesterday Luke told me that he hopes our baby is a boy. A WHITE boy. I kinda laughed and said, "Well what other color would one of our babies be?" and he said, "Well some people are other colors." Yes, this is true, but as I pointed out, "Yes, but they have to have at least ONE parent who is a different color." At this point Abby chimed in and said, "Oh, so that's why Patton (her cousin) is white?" I was blown away. Yes, her little cousin is white...but his big sister and brother are not. Then as Jeremy and I were talking, we realized that they have a FEW cousins who have white parents, but they have dark skin. No wonder our children were confused! :) I also have a friend who has 7 adopted children who range from very white to quite dark...and their parents are both white. I thought it was rather cute that they just thought skin color was completely random. :) Children are so cute.

No Photo Today

2012-01-17T21:10:00.000-08:00

So again I didn't take a photo today. It's okay, I have SO many photos already for this month, and that was my main goal. I certainly like the idea of one a day, but I'm not going to be bound to it. I'll get 365 days...they just won't be absolutely consecutive.

Tonight I'm feeling rather blahee (as we say in my family). I've felt more nauseous today than any previous days. I have to remember that I just don't have the energy I had a couple of weeks ago...and that I need to learn to pace myself. As I've surveyed the condition of my home I'm just not happy with the way I've structured things. I don't have the order I'd like. Thankfully I have a husband who doesn't complain, but I know his big pet peeve is not having dinner on the table in a timely matter. Believe me, it's my pet peeve too, but evenings are not my forte, especially when he works late. I need to get more scheduled and plan my meals and stick with it. It's hard to do when I'm not feeling absolutely perky, but it's something that I cannot neglect...not with this many people depending on me. It's also been a goal of ours to spend less money--especially on food--especially on PRE-prepared foods. It's a work in progress and I don't expect to have this down pat for a while, but it is definitely something worth my time and effort. So today I started off highly motivated. Well, honestly, I had ulterior motives. A woman in the neighborhood just had a baby. I didn't know she was pregnant. It was quite surprising to me. Any time someone has a baby though, I always want to congratulate them and (if possible) see the baby too!! There is nothing quite like a fresh newborn baby. So I decided that the best way to get myself in the door, especially since this isn't a close friend or anything, is to prepare a meal. So as I lay awake last night, waiting for Lilah to wake up (she slept until 2:30am!!!!), I was planning what I could make that would be good, portable and family friendly. Okay, back to the story. So I woke up highly motivated (much unlike me, but I finally had a good night--AND I had my Bible time this morning!). I had some chicken bones ready to make stock. So I made 2 huge stock pots of homemade chicken stock (YUM!). While I was at it, I made 3 loaves of Ezekiel bread from scratch--even ground the grains myself. Well, I had a little "help" from Aaron too. I switched over a load of laundry, threw a new load in. Fixed my hair and put my makeup on. I vacuumed the entire upstairs (again, with the help of Aaron). I straightened Lilah's room (there is always stuff on her floor from the big children). I got my house straightened and had a play date with my 4 good friends and our 21 children. I put my babies to bed. I swept and mopped the entire downstairs and cleaned up the aftermath of said 4 friends, but mostly the 21 children. Then I made 4 homemade chicken pot pies (from scratch--including the crusts) and had to clean up the aftermath of THAT. I think that may have been worse than the aftermath of all of the people. I LOATHE kitchen chores. I actually had to sit down and take a break because all of the standing and working with food was making me feel not so wonderful. I can't imagine why. Now all of this I did with 2 little ones underfoot--or on the counter, or one on my hip and one on the counter (sometimes one on each hip). And I wonder why I'm feeling beat and didn't find time to take a photograph today. Hmmmm...weird. It's funny how I can have a day that is this busy and productive and still feel like I haven't made a whole lot of forward progress. It's going to take a few more days like this to start making a dent in my "to do" list...but I think I'll take it a bit slower from now on, at least for the next couple of weeks. As I like to constantly remind Jeremy, I AM growing another human being inside of me...so even if I do NOTHING, I'm still constantly doing something amazing! :) He loves when I say that. Hahaha!!

Project 365--Day 14

2012-01-16T20:03:00.000-08:00

Project 365--Day 13

2012-01-15T21:18:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know...I skipped 2 days. That's okay. It's project 365, not project 2012. I was busy, I was tired, I was lazy. I got some cute shots of my sweet little girls today though. I was putting Aaron down for his nap and I came downstairs and Savannah had set up the Johnny Jump Up and put Lilah in it all by herself. I tell ya, some of the things she does amaze me...she is such a big girl. Lilah is so cute in the Johnny Jump Up, she really seems to enjoy it. I thought for sure she was too small for it, but she's 7 months old today...I guess she IS big stuff!

Project 365--Day 12

2012-01-12T19:06:00.000-08:00

My little girl is getting so big. She spent a good, long while sitting on the grass this afternoon, just being part of the crowd. I wanted to get a photo of her and her newly (almost) perfected skills, but she didn't stay up too long on the hard floor of the living room. I have a good feeling that by 7 and a half months old (when all of the other babies other than Aaron had perfected it) she'll be sitting up like a champ too! I think she's doing pretty good considering she's not yet 7 months old.

Project 365--Day 11

2012-01-11T21:07:00.001-08:00

Savannah, intently readimg an email from Papa.

Project 365--Day 10

2012-01-10T15:03:00.001-08:00

Coming Late August 2012!!

I figured since we have finally notified the proper authorities, it's now time to share this here!! The Lord has been so good to us! Please pray for a healthy, uneventful pregnancy, and enough rest to care for the wonderful darlings He has already entrusted us with.

Roller Derby!

2012-01-09T21:22:00.000-08:00

Abby is getting very good on her blades!

Luke gettin' in on the action on a skateboard

Crazy lady!

Doh! It's bound to happen sometime, even when you're as advanced a roller blader as Savannah!

My Children are Amazing

2012-01-09T21:04:00.000-08:00

Today I was super tired. Lilah is in a weird phase with sleep right now...she's still swaddled, and seems very happy that way, but every time she's not completely asleep in her crib, she rolls right onto her tummy. This makes her VERY upset and she'll cry and cry, even though just the other day we were making such wonderful progress with her going to her crib awake and falling asleep with minimal fussing. I'd like to get rid of the swaddle, but she still really seems to enjoy it, so I just don't know what to do with her...but it makes it very difficult in the middle of the night when I put her back into her crib after a feed and she hears the floor squeak (her room is TERRIBLE, the floor is super squeaky right in front of the door) or she's not totally settled, she'll start crying and then flip to her tummy and freak out. So last night was a rather difficult night. It wasn't HORRIBLE, I just would have liked to have slept more. So today when the babies went down for their naps (both at the same time--YAY!!) I needed a nap. I told the children to be quiet and play nicely and if they couldn't do that, they would be lying down and resting as well. I got about an hour of rest--not as much SLEEP as I would have liked, but I did get to sleepy town a time or two (I'm a dysfunctional napper), so it was pretty nice. I heard my big children downstairs and felt very guilty and decided that I needed to get up and get some housework done. When I came downstairs, Savannah, Abby and Luke were sitting nicely at the table, coloring pages that Savannah had gone online and printed out for them and they were listening to Kid's Praise songs on Pandora. They were so quiet...there was no arguing. What blessed, blessed children. They never cease to amaze me with how wonderful they can be.

ON ANOTHER NOTE:
Jeremy told me I should start a "disaster of the day" post. I don't really want to because I like to think that there isn't actually ONE disaster a day, but who am I kidding?!?! There are usually plenty in a day's time. So this morning I was feeling irritable. As I said, I hadn't gotten enough sleep last night and I'm just feeling rather irritable lately, especially first thing in the morning. So the children had settled down to the table for school (it's the first day since before Christmas) and the girls had some questions about their math. I was trying to help them, but couldn't use the white board because all of our markers are dried out or just plain missing their tips. Gee, I wonder how that happened!??! As I'm trying to help them figure out a problem that I myself don't get without the teacher's guide, Luke is pestering..."Mommy, Mommy, what do I do? How do I do this??" Poor guy, I can't fault him, he was just trying to do his work too...Lilah is in the living room crying because she wants to be picked up (she had been out of my arms for 2 minutes, which is about 1:45 too long for her liking) and as I'm getting ready to go crazy, Aaron grabs onto a bin filled with art supplies, and dumps it onto the floor. Of course, this was the bin that happened to have an entire container of green glitter loose in the bottom of it. So glitter went EVERYWHERE. I am already not a fan of glitter and I was seriously second-guessing myself when I bought it in the first place...but now I as just mad at that stinking glitter. I think I used the "h" word a few times when expressing to my children how I feel about glitter. Now with all of this chaos going on, I had to grab the vacuum and clean up this horrendous mess...and as we all know, there is no truly getting rid of glitter once it has spilled. As a matter of fact, we had a bit of green glitter in our mac n cheese for lunch! So that's my FIRST disaster of the day. Then as the girls are cleaning up after dinner this evening and Lilah is crying because it's been a while since her last nap, but it's almost bedtime, I made the big mistake of leaving the step stool where Aaron could get to it. He stood up next to the dishwasher and was messing with the dishes. Usually that's not such a big problem, but he happened to take Jeremy's favorite travel mug and throw it on the floor. The mug shattered. UGGHHHH!!!! Yes, I needed that. Here is where I should write something about God's grace and mercy and how good He is to us and how blessed we are in spite of this craziness...and yes, that is all true...but I'm way too tired to be philosophical this evening, and I just heard Lilah squeak...and I really need to get to bed. Did I mention that I'm really tired these days!?!?! Thank you God for your goodness...and your mercy. And your blessings. I appreciate it all, even the disasters.

Project 365--Day 9

2012-01-09T20:55:00.000-08:00

The girls and their good friends, Amberley and Alden. They were doing a rollerblade giant slalom course down the neighbors driveway today using pieces of wood as gates. Those children are nuts!

The Other Troyers

2012-01-08T21:04:00.000-08:00

Today Jeremy's brother and his family came to visit. It was so good to see them. It had actually been over a year since we last saw them, even though they live about an hour away...we all have busy schedules and sometimes we just don't make the time to get together, so it was wonderful when they asked if they could come over for a visit! I really appreciate that they came to our home as it is always nightmarish travelling on the bay area roads--especially on the weekends. The girls had a great time playing together (their daughter is almost the same age as Savannah) and we grown ups had a great time visiting. My sister-in-law is a photographer and she snapped quite a few photos of the children, so I can't wait to see her photos. I almost didn't get any photos today. I was feeling lazy. I asked if I could use one of her photos instead, but that would have been cheating. I finally got my camera out after the sun had gone behind the hill...and somehow I managed to add up 111 photos on my card by the time I called it quits. I got quite a few good ones today, but I'll just share the ones of their family for today...I need to hit the hay.

It still amazes me when I see Jeremy's brother as a grown man...I've known him since he was 13 and it blows me away that he's a MAN now...weird.

By the way, this was their first time meeting Lilah, and the last time they saw Aaron, he was only 4 months old!! Time sure slips away quickly!

Proud Auntie with her baby niece.

The girls.

Luke loves schoolwork!

2012-01-07T15:39:00.000-08:00

Today Luke asked me if he could get out his school work and work on it. :) Of course I said yes! This is Singapore Earlybird Math. I usually have to tell him that he's done enough for the day because he gets so into it. I hope this is a trend that continues throughout his school years, but I'm not going to hold my breath!

Project 365--Day 7

2012-01-07T15:26:00.000-08:00

My pretty little princess is so ridiculously easy to photograph. I love this age when all you have to do is make a silly noise and you get the most wonderful, ear-to-ear grin. I'm going to take advantage of it as long as I can, because I know the stage directly following this one is the "run away from the camera" and the "turn your head as soon as you see a camera" stage!

I thought she looked so pretty with her striped outfit and the flag as the background. Then again, I think she pretty much always looks pretty!

Project 365--Day 6

2012-01-06T19:42:00.000-08:00

My Pioneer Girl

Project 365--Day 5

2012-01-05T13:26:00.000-08:00

My house desperately needs order. We haven't recovered from Christmas and there is way too much stuff in my way too tiny home. I tell my children to put things away and they give me a blank stare because they have no idea WHERE to put it! We're bursting at the seams here...so it's either ORGANIZE (big time) or move. At the moment, #2 is not an option, so I need to get crackin'. I really need a professional organizer. I'm almost at the point where I will willingly forego almost anything in order to be able to afford someone to come in, fix up our home and set up an organizational system that we can live with. It's not so much that I'm DISorderly, although I'm not particularly organized, it's more that I just don't have the TIME to get organized. I'm constantly interrupted and I leave projects half done and by the time I can get back to them, things are a thousand times worse than they were when I started because I wasn't able to put things away. I NEED HELP! Anyway...enough of that. I came here to post my photos. My original point I wanted to mention was that Jeremy took the 3 youngest children to the hardware store this morning so that the girls and I could work on getting this home more orderly...what a blessed, blessed man! :) We got some stuff accomplished, but certainly not as much as I would have liked--or needed to. But it was sweet of him nevertheless. Not to mention the fact that he brought home Subway for lunch because that's what I wanted. He's so good to me.

Here are some photos for today:

If only I looked this pretty first thing in the morning!

"What in the world is he doing?"

Silly girls all tuckered out after rasslin' each other down when they were supposed to be helping me organize

He's tracing his hand!! Awwwwwh! I have to point out that he is using his LEFT hand! Jeremy has been wanting a fellow lefty forever, I wonder if it will last?!?

Luke Loves Daddy

Project 365-Day 4

2012-01-04T19:16:00.000-08:00

I really hope the point of this project is not to choose just one photo for the day, because that would be waaaay too hard. I've got a few to share today...

The Princess and a flower:

Looking for rocks to make a tomahawk:

A boy and his wagon, it's a beautiful thing:

What a fun tricycle!

Meditation:

Loungin' around:

Hi Savannah!

Advanced reasoning skills: Using a stick to get something out from under the car:

Aaron the Clown

2012-01-03T21:23:00.000-08:00

My Baby Princess

2012-01-03T17:22:00.000-08:00

She's doing so good with sleeping! Last night she went to sleep so smoothly and slept until 1:30am, nearly a record. She went back to bed awake and went back to sleep with only a tiny fuss and slept until 6am. I put her back down -awake- after nursing and she woke up at 7:15, my ideal time. :) :) :) What a big girl!

Project 365--Day 3

2012-01-03T16:46:00.000-08:00

I'm finding the hardest part of this is choosing just ONE photo! So I won't limit myself on here. Here's my precious Airy Bear...just up from his nap. I would have gotten a TON of great photos if it weren't for his bottle being in his face for most of the shots, but hey, this is real life, right?!?!

Bible Irony

2012-01-02T20:46:00.000-08:00

Last night, as I was sitting in the rocking chair, nursing Lilah at her second waking of the night at 4am, I was so frustrated. She would nurse and fall asleep. As soon as I went to get up to put her into bed, she'd start to squirm and fuss. I'd sit back down and start over again. You see, I HATE hearing babies scream at night. I really don't like hearing them cry during the day, but at night it's a BILLION times worse...especially when you have wood floors that echo like mad, AND another baby in the room right next door that you desperately do not want to wake up. So I did this ridiculous circus act not one, not two, but three times and she would NOT go into her crib without a fuss. I lost it. I told God off. I know, it's horrible and yes, I did ask for forgiveness, but at the moment, I was at my wit's end! If HE blesses me with these precious children, I feel strongly that He should also bless me with the REST I need so that I can care for them. I don't want to be irritable and tired with my children. I don't want to lose my temper with them because I'm running on less energy that I need. And I cannot afford to get sick because my immune system is compromised because I'm not getting the rest I need. I'm doing MY part. I'm going to bed early--well, as early as I'm "allowed" (Lilah has been screaming when I put her to bed at night and I usually don't get her down until close to 9:45pm). I'm sleeping in as late as I possibly can--which hasn't been very late lately. But I was very frustrated. I was tired, it was 4am and I just wanted to be back in my warm, cozy bed...sleeping *not* like a baby. I was thinking of the verse that says that He gives sleep to those He loves. I said to Him, "You must not love me then!" I put her to bed, let her cry and climbed into bed. She fell asleep within 5-10 minutes and slept until *gasp* just after 7am--exactly what I BEGGED God to allow me--a 7am waking rather than having to bring her into bed with me and struggling to sleep for the rest of the morning (which is my BEST sleep time of the entire night--when I'm not disrupted).

So today I was driving and listening to Nathan Clark George (who I HIGHLY recommend) and it was Psalm 127 he was singing. Ah ha!

Psalm 127:

2 In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to those he loves.

This is the verse I was thinking of...I didn't know WHERE in the bible this verse was located. But the irony is in what follows:

3 Children are a heritage from the LORD,
offspring a reward from him.

How interesting that "He grants sleep to those He loves" is followed by a verse reminding us that "Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a REWARD from Him"!! I need a renewal of faith and of trust in HIS plan. He will grant me the sleep I need...I need more faith. He is so good to me that even though I was so horrible to Him, He blessed me with sleep to the exact time I had prayed for...and I FINALLY had a night with NO baby in bed with me for the entire night for only the 3rd time since Lilah has been born. For the record: I am NOT a co-sleeper. I do NOT like co-sleeping. I've done it out of necessity and, other than seeing her darling sweet face when I wake up in the morning, I have not enjoyed it. She is finally in her own room so I don't hear every peep she makes and I'm working very hard on keeping her in there--full time, so last night was a huge blessing. I guess God DOES love me after all...even if I wasn't nice to Him. Thank you, Lord. I appreciate You and your blessing of sleep...very, very much.

Project 365--Day 2

2012-01-02T17:57:00.000-08:00

Today was really busy, so I just grabbed my camera and took a few shots. My ultimate goal of this project is not only to fully document this year, but also to improve my photography skills. Today's photo met goal #1, but goal #2? Not so much. Oh well, ya win some, ya lose some!

Bringin' in the Troops

2012-01-01T10:25:00.000-08:00

Oh my, when you're a child, everyday life can be a battlefield. My parents took the children to the tennis courts to roller blade and bike and within 15 minutes, we had not one, but two wounded soldiers brought in. Both were bleeding from fairly significant, albeit superficial finger wounds. You know how badly those surface wounds hurt--lots of nerves.

So here are my first Project 365 photos of the year-I know I'm supposed to do one a day, but they were both so pathetic.

A Wonderful Early Christmas

2011-12-17T22:06:00.000-08:00

Today my in-laws came over for a little early Christmas celebration. We had such a great time. My mother in law is super creative and she came up with some fun games to play that resulted in some fun gifts!! She had questions like, "Who in the Troyer family is the 'monkey-est', 'sweetest', 'stinkiest' and 'naughtiest'" and the gifts for who won (we voted by secret ballot) were, Plantain chips, candy, soap and "lump of coal" candy. How fun!! My children loved the gifts they received: Aaron got a Melissa & Doug car carrier truck, Savannah and Abby got "sing a ma jigs", Luke got a hex bug habitat which I have to say I think was the life of the party (and yes, we got more batteries, Karen!) And my personal favorite gift was Lilah's, a darling "Baby Stella" baby doll. I love having a baby girl again!! Oh and of course, my wonderful mother in law has kept up the tradition of getting me the annual Willow Tree ornament. She's done this for I think 5 years now. I just adore Willow Tree and it's so neat to be the only grown up that gets a gift! Makes me feel special! Thank you for coming down to visit with us, we really enjoyed having you, as usual!! I'll post photos soon!

Downplaying the Husband

2011-12-17T20:41:00.000-08:00

I was having a conversation with some friends of mine at the park yesterday...we get together on a weekly basis to have our children get some proper socialization (insert eye roll here). Honestly, it's more so we mommies can get some proper socialization! Usually it's me and 3 or 4 of my good friends. The great thing about this group of ladies is that they're all Christians. Not just "Christian" ladies, but practicing, God-fearing, seeking to please Him in all they do Christian ladies. We all homeschool and we're all what you would call "like-minded". Whenever we get together, it's a time to uplift, admonish and encourage each other. We share gripes and struggles, but we also do our best to lead each other back to the Lord we serve and are striving to please by walking this challenging path we walk. There are times when we all struggle with WHY?? Why am I doing this? Why is this so hard? Why won't my children just do what they're supposed to do and give me some peace...and the big one: WHY ISN'T GOD LISTENING TO ME?!?!?! It's definitely a struggle living this life. Having children home 24/7 is a blessing I wouldn't trade for anything. Having MANY children is a gift that is as humbling as it is wonderful.

So what does this have to do with husbands, you ask? Well, the thing is, although I would consider my group of close friends a godly group of women, we are just as easily drawn into secular sentiments as anyone else if we aren't on guard. So, the conversation that sparked this post went a little something like this:
One of the ladies in this group of friends announced that she is pregnant, yet again. What wonderful news, right?!?! Well of course!! Everyone was very happy, but then the conversation took a bit of a turn. "My husband is SO happy, he'd like us to have a dozen more!"
One friend says, "Of course HE would, he's not the one who has to deal with them all day long!" Now, let me just say, this wasn't said in a way that many similar sentiments to this are said...as I said, we all homeschool, we all think that children are a blessing and we all feel blessed beyond belief to be able to have the privilege of being home with our children. It was said more with a feeling of, "Children are a LOT of work, they're hard on our bodies, and when you're already not getting much sleep, they can be downright exhausting." And to this statement, we all laughed, and nodded in agreement. But then I got to thinking. No, our husbands have no idea what it is like to be pregnant. The nausea, the exhaustion and the reality of still having to "get it all done" no matter how you feel. They don't know what it feels like to be up all night nursing a newborn, or the stress of trying to teach children while a baby cries and a toddler yanks at your leg and your preschooler announces that they accidentally pooped on the floor and need you to clean it up because although they did the best job they could, they couldn't quite do it! The stress load can sometimes be seemingly more than we can bear...and while we're doing all this: still keeping a clean home, cooking meals, trying to look attractive, keeping a good attitude AND maintaining a healthy desire for our husbands (PSHEW!!). Sometimes the thought of another baby isn't as joyful to us as it may be to our husbands because we're the ones who have to bear this burden. But wait a minute!!! Don't our husbands have a burden to bear? I mean, beyond the obvious bringing home the bacon, making sure we've got a roof over our heads, a bigger car for our ever-expanding family, doing well at his job so he HAS a job to afford the lifestyle he has chosen. Yes, he has THAT burden. But beyond that, he has the burden of being the SPIRITUAL leader of the family. He is responsible for what I do as far as the upbringing of our children is concerned. Of course, I will stand before God on Judgement Day and answer for what I've done (or haven't done as the case may be), but my husband will be held responsible for how HE lead his wife and his family. That is a huge burden to bear. I realize that many husbands may not even KNOW that they are responsible for this, but look at Adam and Eve. It was EVE who sinned first. Yet God doesn't address her, he addresses Adam and his failure to watch and protect his wife. To this day sin is found in the "seed of Adam", not Eve, which is why Jesus was the only human being born without sin, because He was conceived absent of the seed of Adam. God punished Eve for her sin, but the responsibility was put on Adam. Our husbands have this same responsibility not only for themselves, but for their wives and for EACH child the Lord blesses them with. So yes, it may be "easy for him to say that" since he doesn't have to stay home and take care of the children, but if we look deeper, each child the Lord blesses us with is yet another soul that he is responsible to "train up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." I have to say, as I have an 18 month old and a 6 month old who keeps me up all night long...in many ways, I have the easier job. I tend to their needs, he must tend to their souls. Thankfully, by God's grace, neither of us have to do it alone. Thank you, Lord.

2011-12-11T21:05:00.000-08:00

My sweet little Airy-Bear

Aaron loves to have Savannah read to him. He'll grab a book and plop himself on her lap, it's SO sweet!

Actually, EVERYONE loves for Savannah to read to them! Savannah loves to oblige them!

Pfefferkuchen!

2011-12-08T22:07:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year....
Pfefferkuchen is a traditional German Christmas cookie that my Oma made for us each year. That, along with the little chocolate advent calenders just SCREAM Christmas for me, so I've started the tradition of the advent calenders, but also Pfefferkuchen baking with my children each year. They just love it and we have such a fun time! This year we have a very special reason for baking so early. My beloved brother and his family are moving far, far away. We've always been very close...both relationionally, but also geographically. The sad thing is that he has a baby now...a darling son that I adore...he's 11 months old. And they're moving away. :( But I digress...today we baked like maniacs so that we could send my brother off on his cross-country journey with a trailer full of Pfefferkuchen. We'll definitely have to bake more as it gets closer to Christmas. It's just so tasty!

Pfefferkuchen

Melt together:
8oz honey
1 c. sugar
1.5 stick butter

Combine:
5 c. flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp dark cocoa
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg

When melted ingredients cool to room temperature (cool enough where it won't cook the eggs when you add them), put into stand mixer and add:
2 eggs

While running mixer on low, slowly add dry ingredients until well combined.
Take dough from mixer and knead a couple of times on a floured surface and roll about 1/4 inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters. I prefer small-ish shapes.

Note: dough is WAY easier to work with when it's warm.

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes, just until the underside is lightly browned. When cookies are nearly cool, use pastry brush to glaze with mixture of powdered sugar and lemon juice (this takes practice getting it just the right consistency...not too runny, not too thick--it should leave a thin, crunchy crust on cookies, not a frosting. If it's too thin, or if cookies are too warm, it will absorb into cookies, not what you want!)

Does he think we won't know who did it?!?!

2011-12-08T21:45:00.000-08:00

This is Luke's handiwork. This is not the first appliance he's written his name on in sharpie. He looked at me and said in complete earnest, "The sharpie was sitting on top of the dryer!" I had to explain that just because it was sitting there does NOT mean that he HAS to pick it up and write his name on the appliances!!! His reply was, "well, it'll come right off with magic eraser!" He was singing a different tune after a good, long while of scrubbing--with a magic eraser. Do I think having him scrub it will keep him from doing it again? Nope. Not at all. Sharpies are SO tempting.

Rolling Over!

2011-12-05T21:30:00.000-08:00

Lilah is still 10 days away from being 6 months old and she is officially a pro at rolling over from both tummy to back and now back to tummy!! She had done it before, but it wasn't anything really consistent, but as of today, I put her on the floor and there she goes, right to her tummy! She is already getting all around the living room as well, just wiggling along. When I put her on her back, she'll do sit ups to see what's going on...she's extremely strong. It really is amazing how quickly babies start to become mobile!! I wonder if this is any indication of her being an early crawler?!?!? I sure hope not...but hey, what can I do!?!?

5 Months, 1 Week and 5 Days old.

2011-11-27T21:46:00.000-08:00

And Lilah rolled from her front to her tummy tonight when I was getting her dressed after her bath. She is SO strong, I would not be surprised if she were my earliest crawler. She also chatted and smiled all through church today, other than while she took a little snooze in my arms (while nursing, of course)

Aaron had been doing okay at church, but I've got to have one of the girls go with him. I feel bad that they can't be in children's church, but I know he would not do well being left there. He gets SO hysterical. Are my children the only ones who absolutely LOSE it when left in the nursery at church?

Some Photos

2011-11-21T21:33:00.001-08:00

Aaron blowing "raspberries" on Lilah's tummy, she goes absolutely crazy and it makes him laugh, too cute!

My 3 stooges, getting crafty.

Abby, making decorations for their fort at Papa's house.

My boys in their super secret hidey spot.

My Bear, dressed as a lion.

"Are they all yours?"

2011-11-21T20:58:00.001-08:00

It's funny how often I hear this. The children and I enjoy counting how many comments our family gets when we go out to the store. Today we didn't even make it out of the car before the person next to us made a comment. He was saying, "Wow, look at all of these children!" and I hadn't even gotten Lilah out yet! :) He smiled and said, "1, 2, 3, 4...5! I'm the middle of 5 boys!" We chatted for a few moments then went toward the store. We had barely said good-bye to that person when another man looks at us and says, "Are they all yours?", I said, "Yes!" and he said, "You're amazing! I have an 8 day old and we're having a hard time." I assured him that newborns are VERY difficult and that the first baby in particular is a challenge. I wish I had more time to talk to him...I really feel for first time parents because I remember very distinctly how hard it was, how I felt like there was no way I could handle it all, let alone think of ever having more than one! Later we went to Whole Foods (generally not the place you expect to get POSITIVE comments on a large family) and when we were loading up the car, I turned around and an older (probably in her 60's) woman was standing there and she said, "I just wanted to tell you that you have such a beautiful family!" She proceeded to tell me that she was the 2nd oldest of 8 children (she was Catholic), and she and her older sister are 18 months apart, very similar to Savannah and Abby. She said she loved it so much and she misses that part of her life. She was only able to have one child, but she said that she loves to see large families and that all of my children looked so wonderful and healthy.
You know, living in a culture that does not appreciate children as the miracle and blessing that they are can be difficult on a larger than average family. I've heard of some people getting some very negative comments and to be honest, some people have said some things that are less than encouraging...mostly things like, "So, you're done, right?", but in general, I've been greatly encouraged by the people I've come into contact with. We met a young man who was one of 9 the other day, then that same day we met a woman who was one of 11. I haven't heard anyone say, "Oh my goodness, it was HORRIBLE!", everyone we've talked to has been so kind and polite, although it is rather funny to see how many people check us out and don't say anything. I guess some people take the old adage, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" to heart! :) If so, that's fine...everyone is welcome to their own opinion...but after hearing some of the things people I know have been told, I'm very thankful for the experiences we've had--especially since my children are with me wherever I go. I think of it as one of God's ways of telling us that yes, we are doing the right thing by letting Him have control over this area of our lives. Knowing that having more than the average number of children has it's challenges, we choose to embrace the fact that God knows what is best for us. He knows better than we do what we need, what is right for our family and what life situations will further refine us and build character. One person said, "Wow, you must have a whole different level of patience!", to which I replied, "Patience is a process". And it is. Sanctification is a process. When we choose the more difficult path of trusting in the Lord, it is going to be more challenging, but it will also be more rewarding because of the fact that character is developed through the trials of life, if we choose to surrender to God's Spirit. Believe me, there are plenty of days that I fight and those days are miserable...for me and my family. I hope that as I walk this path the Lord is leading me down, I am more and more able to yield to His will and His Spirit, because truly, that's where the sweetness of life happens!

Soooo...

2011-11-18T21:31:00.000-08:00

...guess what?!?! No, I'm not pregnant. Not yet at least. Yes, we are hoping for more blessings. No, we are not crazy. But that is neither here nor there...what I was talking about was the fact that I got a NEW computer!! :) My poor laptop. Actually, it wasn't even MY laptop, it was Jeremy's, and he let me use it. That was a very big mistake. It became the "family" computer as the other computer is in the basement (and for some strange reason is not currently working--hmm, odd) and the laptop was conveniently on the dining room table. Well, yes, it was convenient...for everyone, including Aaron. Convenient to color on with dry erase markers (how DOES he reach those things?), convenient to bash on the keys and see which ones come popping off...oh yeah, and a convenient receptacle if you happen to spit up! Eeeeewww, yes, it was nasty. I honestly had thought that someone left a cheese puff under the laptop, but strangely, we hadn't had cheese puffs in the house for quite a while. I was in denial, what can I say? Any hoo. It was time for a new computer. My time is very limited and thus, I don't like to spend my "spare" time sitting at the table on the computer. But the fact that the battery on the laptop was non-existent made it impossible to do anything BUT sit at the table if I wanted to do anything on the computer. Mind you, I really don't spend a TON of time on the computer, but I do a lot of my shopping online, as well as researching new recipes and a bit of time keeping in touch on Facebook...so for me it's nice to be able to sit down and do what I need to do online while nursing. Although I try not to do that TOO much as I really like to just look at Lilah while she nurses, it's so sweet.
It's just so much fun to have a computer that is all my own. I just downloaded the first batch of photos onto my computer using my OWN organization system. When I download files, I know exactly where they are. The best part though, is that the computer is little and easily put away, up out of the reach of the little "Tiny Tot of Terror"! Oh, and it was on sale for only $250! What a deal! So I'm so happy that I am sitting on the sofa posting this rather than sitting in a terribly uncomfortable chair at the dining room table...oh, AND my dining room table is no longer cluttered with various and sundry computer stuff! Praise God!

Tiny Tot of Terror Face:

New Stuff

2011-11-05T14:30:00.000-07:00

Life is keeping me busy, busy, busy. This is definitely a good thing, but it usually leaves very little time for anything other than the necessary tasks. I manage to get it all done, within reason--I mean, who REALLY needs their clothes folded always? At least they're clean--and dry! I've been trying to cook more from scratch so we only have to buy the staples. The prices of groceries are getting out of control and we're really trying to tighten our proverbial belts in order to save some money in case we ever need it--you know, like if one of our children breaks another window or something?!?! Just sayin'. With children, things happen...and it's nice to have a bit of a buffer. So between cooking and cleaning, diaper changes and homeschooling, life is very full. It's a good full for sure, especially at the end of the day when I'm tired and I look into the lovely eyes of my darling children and they tell me they love me. It's all worth it. Another thing that's all worth it...let me just say, having 2 babies one year apart is VERY difficult. Especially with one very strong-willed one. It is crazy chaotic and at times overwhelming. But when I am nursing the wee one and her sweet brother comes up onto my lap and she stops nursing to giggle at him, oh my goodness, it just melts my heart. The more she laughs (she's a SUPER giggly guppy anyway), the more he tries to make her laugh. It is SO absolutely adorable. They can go on for a good 10-15 minutes just cracking up at each other. Of course I don't have it on video because as soon as we get the camera out, Aaron is more focused on seeing himself in the camera than anything else, but take my word for it, it's SO cute!

One of these days soon I'll get on a photo posting roll again. Naps haven't been our strongest suit lately, and usually around a half hour after I put Lilah to bed, she's crying again, so my quiet evenings have been pretty non-existent. And unfortunately, my evenings are usually the only time I have to get anything on the computer accomplished--in fact, the only reason I'm blogging right now is because Daddy is upstairs with a very grumpy, teething little guy and I just happened to get Lilah into bed...although I really should be folding laundry, I decided to do this instead. I haven't been taking enough photos. I'm still trying to encourage Jeremy to grab the camera more often and snap a photo here and there just so we have some documentation of this crazy time in our lives. One day we'll look back and say, "Hey, how come there are no photos?!?!"

So last night was a big deal. Although Luke is 4 and a half years old, we've allowed him to have his pacifier up to this point because I was willing to do just about anything for a good night's rest, and to me that meant that if we had to get braces for him, so be it...sleep is more important. But I digress. So last night I told Luke that it was time. Jeremy bought some balloons, we tied the pacifiers to the balloons and Luke let them go. There was a little fussing at bed time, but really not much. I was so proud of him. When I went to check on him around 20 minutes after he had gone to bed, he was sound asleep. What a big boy. Today we went to Powell's Sweet Shop and got him a special treat (and some candy for everyone else!). And we went to the library for the first time in a very long time--getting out for anything but the necessities is challenging these days with all of the required naps, schooling, cleaning, cooking, etc., etc., etc.

Lilah is now just over 15lbs, grabbing at everything and making the cutest squeaks. She absolutely refuses to take a bottle and sleeps like a newborn still. She almost always wakes at midnight, I nurse her and put her back to bed, then she usually wakes around 3am and I'll bring her into bed with me and we usually get some good sleep until just after 7am. When we went to my parents house and she had her own room, she slept FANTASTIC. I actually had to WAKE her up to nurse her. I wonder if it was sheer coincidence?!?! One day she'll have her own room and maybe we'll all get some longer stretches of sleep, but for now, I'm just trying to enjoy this time.

Aaron is teething like mad, running all over the place and picking up new words like crazy, his latest being "Shoes", "Doggie" and "Apple". He's SOOOOOOOO cute, and soooo challenging, but I love the little guy to pieces. Oh, he's CONSTANTLY giving kisses too (and biting too, you never know if he's going to kiss or bite--how fun!)

Okay, despite my procrastinating, the laundry has not done itself...I must run. Thankfully dinner is already in the crock pot!

Finding the Time

2011-10-05T21:01:00.000-07:00

This weekend I'm going to have Jeremy take some "back to school" photos of the children. It's just not so easy to find the time to get the camera out and get some good shots. Things are running pretty smoothly here with school and household management, I really can't complain. Jeremy is still working long hours and that makes it a bit more difficult to get dinner on the table at a reasonable time--especially since during nap time we try to do the reading part of our school work (where I read to THEM), and I've been exercising in the afternoon as well. It's a very quick workout, but 20 minutes in a PACKED schedule is precious time. So if you ever wonder why I'm not blogging as much as you'd like me to, don't wonder. My life is VERY full--wonderfully full.

Lilah has been a stinker when it comes to sleep. Up until last night, she had been waking every 2 hours during the night. UGGH! Last night it was every 3 hours, although I didn't sleep very well as I was anticipating her waking at any given moment. This too shall pass, right?!?! I thought that perhaps if I could give her a bottle, just a little supplement, she'd do a little better, but she wants NOTHING to do with a bottle. On one hand I really don't like that idea, on the other hand, this is what I've been praying for...being able to breastfeed for the entire first year. Yes, it's "inconvenient" in some ways, but what a blessing to feed her God's best! She is so amazingly strong. She will not stay on her tummy anymore, she rolls right to her back...but it's very rare that she get's put down on the floor anyway due to the fact that she has a very "doting" big brother. He just LOVES to give her kisses, but sometimes gets a bit rough. She is at the age where she MUST be strapped into her swing, or she'll wiggle right out. She is taking 2 pretty good naps and one cat nap most days. Usually her morning nap is a really good one, and the afternoon may or may not be a good one. It's nice to see a routine forming though, even if it doesn't necessarily coincide with Aaron's...they usually nap for at least an hour at the same time, so I guess I really can't ask for more!

Aaron is growing in leaps and bounds. He's officially running. He's certainly not very fast, but it's also not a walk! We just got squeaky shoes for him so that when he's outside with Luke during our school time, we always know where he is! It's quite handy! He is saying more and more....his latest word is "shoe", go figure! :) He is always asking to go "night night", which actually means OUTSIDE. He can open our front door from the outside, what a smart little cookie. He's really come a long way. He's generally quite happy now (PRAISE GOD), and is sleeping wonderfully. In fact, he's usually waking around 5-7am, but in the past couple of days, the girls have given him his bottle and I haven't even known that he was awake. Talk about the blessing of older children, they are SO wonderful! He's got a TON of teeth now. He's got almost 4 on the top front and 2 molars on the top...and he's got the bottom two front and 2 molars on the bottom. Such a strange tooth pattern, but hey...whatever! They're all individuals.

The girls are doing well with school. There are days that I wish they'd stay focused a bit more and not be such lolly-gaggers, but mostly it's my fault for not being on top of things because I have things I have to get done. When I buckle down and set the timer for their work, they breeze through it. It's when I get busy doing housework and letting them work independently that things don't go so well. They've been helping Luke with HIS school work too, it's very sweet to watch. Abby is getting very excited about her birthday coming up so soon. I can't believe she'll be 8!! I still have to decide what to get her for her birthday. Her wish list changes from day to day, so I try not to get a gift until the last minute. She amazes me with her aptitude for math. I've got her in 4th grade math and she is breezing through the majority of it. She also wrote her first paper in English the other day, and although it certainly wasn't "perfect", it's so cute to see her creativity come through in her written word. She is also very diligent and neat with her handwriting. She doesn't know how to make all of her cursive letters without looking yet, but she sure works hard on doing it as neatly as she possibly can, and it is definitely neat indeed!

I've noticed a lot of maturing character-wise in Savannah lately. Yes, she still does very silly things, like hitting her sister over something silly, and fussing because her sister is being nicer to her friend than to her...but in her ability to have a bit more self-control and really set her mind on obedience and pleasing US, she is improving. I often find myself expecting a whole lot out of my children and being disappointed when they don't conform to my ideal of what they should be doing. I have to remind myself that they are still rather young and character takes time, so it's very encouraging to see things slowly taking shape.

Luke has been our designated Aaron-watcher while we're doing school work. I usually send them outside together in the back yard so I can keep an eye on them while we work and he is doing really good with making sure Aaron stays close by. It's so cute to see them playing together. Luke LOVES, LOVES, LOVES Lilah. He kisses her and talks sweet to her all the time. He's never said anything bad about her, he thinks she's the greatest thing. He's also been AWESOME with helping out around the house. He's a wonderful "garbage man". He takes all of the dirty diapers from me as SOON as I change them and throws them into the garbage for me. Then he even took the garbage out of the kitchen can and took it out to the big can on the curb! What a wonderful helper. He's quite diligent at housework when he actually gets into it. I really need to train him to do a few more things because he's getting to the age where he's really helpful. Today he helped me rake outside and got the gutters nice and clean! The children have a "Dog Fund" that they're putting all of their money into (I think it's so sweet that any money any of them earns goes into the "pot" and if they want to buy something, they ask each other), so that when we live where we can have a dog, they can use that money to buy things for the dog. :) So every time he helps with something, he's super excited that he has money to add to their jar.

Well, it's time for me to go take a shower and get ready for my evening beckoning. Lilah has been waking up shortly after I put her to bed because she wants to nurse again....cruel little taskmaster! :) But a cute one, indeed!

My Big Baby Girl

2011-09-18T14:06:00.000-07:00

Last night was an amazing night. I put Lilah to bed at 8:30pm as usual, but I was completely shocked when I woke up at 4am and she was STILL snoozing. I of course had to check her to be sure she was okay, and she was, of course...but then I did something I never thought I'd do. I woke her up. I'm not a big fan of waking babies up in the middle of the night, but for the sake of my milk supply, I needed to feed her. I woke her up, nursed her and put her back into bed and she slept until 7am! What a GLORIOUS night. It was the first night since she's been born that I could stretch and roll over and sleep with no one snuggled up close to me. To be honest, I KINDA missed her. Not so much that I would RATHER have her in bed with me, but it is kinda sweet to wake up and look over and see her sweet little face. It really amazed me though because up until this point, the longest she's EVER slept was 4 hours. I wasn't expecting this...but we did have a bit of a tiring day, I suppose (shopping and a bit of driving).

Aaron now has 6 teeth--they're arriving in such a weird pattern. He has the top 2 and the bottom 2 of course, then that random molar...and now he's had the top, left tooth next to the middle ones pop through. He's also talking up a storm. Of course, no sentences or anything, but it seems like he says new words every day. He says "help", "baby", "more"--while signing "more", Lilah, of course, Abby, Mama, Dada, thank you and more I can't think of right now. Such a smart little guy!

First Day of School

2011-09-07T07:34:00.000-07:00

We had our first day of school yesterday. It was mostly an overview of what we'll be doing this year, looking at our books and stuff, but the girls and Luke were all eager to jump in. Luke did great with his workbooks--he's got Get Ready for the Code, Singapore Earlybird Kindergarten Mathematics and Developing the Early Learner (or something along those lines, I'm not sure of the EXACT title at this moment--my coffee cup is still half full, so my brain is not quite functional yet). He did a few pages and really enjoyed it. He's so funny, when I asked him to tell daddy what letter he was learning about today he said, "FISH!". Hahaha...uhhh, fish is not a letter! :)

Abby got her math drill done in about 6 minutes and 25 seconds, Savannah took just over 9 minutes, which is typical for them. Abby is stronger in math, Savannah in language/reading. It's interesting to see where their strengths and weaknesses lie. They're both in 4th grade math because of this. I'm really loving our curriculum so far. I never thought I'd be more of a workbook kind of person, but I think it's going to work for us because not only do my girls LIKE workbooks, but it gives me something tangible to evaluate where we've been and how we're coming along. So I'm pretty excited.

The only thing that didn't go smoothly yesterday was Aaron...he was quite disruptive, so it'll be interesting to see what I can do with him in order to minimize the craziness!! Speaking of which, he's awake...better finish this cuppa quick!!

I'm ashamed of myself!

2011-09-07T07:28:00.000-07:00

Lilah laughed for the first time about a week and a half ago. I was holding her and being silly and she laughed! She did it quite a few times. It, of course, was as darling as can be. She's always been a big smiler and squeaker...she'll smile real big and then give you a HUGE squeak. The girls told me she was "laughing" for our neighbor and I was disappointed that she gave her first real laugh to a stranger...but when she started laughing for me, I asked them, "Is that what she was doing for Scott?" and they said, "Oh no! She was squeaking at him". So I didn't even mark it down that she did her first REAL laugh for me! It wasn't until this morning when Facebook showed my status from a year ago today that Aaron had HIS first real laugh that I was reminded that I didn't record hers. Boooo, as Luke would say!

Very Strange

2011-08-31T07:09:00.000-07:00

So in my last post I said that Aaron has been waking me up. It's normal for him to wake up once a night and have a bottle (on his own) and sleep in until around 8am. He's been doing fantastic actually...until the past few nights. I kinda figured he was teething because, come on, he's only got 4 teeth...he's BOUND to be getting more, right? But I hadn't really seen anything going on lately...but every time he gets like this: fussy during the day, sleep not so great, shorter naps...I KNOW that's what's going on. So I had him laughing the other day and saw that the tooth next to his left top tooth is starting to show. It hasn't popped through yet, but I can see the outline of it. Good, it IS teething. But then I saw some white spots in the top BACK part of his gums. I felt one...it didn't really feel like anything, I felt the other and lo and behold...it's a TOOTH! I'm not sure if it's a molar or one of his bicuspids, but it's definitely NOT part of the "normal" tooth pattern. I'm excited though because the sooner we get these teeth in, the sooner things will smooth out. I'm not a fan of teething!

Making Progress

2011-08-31T07:04:00.000-07:00

I've been working on putting Lilah in her crib and then when she wakes, nursing her and putting her BACK into her crib, rather than being lazy and bringing her to bed with me. Let me first say that I am a lot more tired these past couple of days then I was before...but it's part of the price one pays, I suppose. I really don't think the tiredness has to do with Lilah though, because she's been great...I think it has to do with her brother waking me up too!! But that's a different post!

So last night she went from 8:30pm until 1:30am (GREAT stretch!) and then from about 1:45am until 3am! I brought her into bed with me then and actually forgot she was in there with me until I was awakened at 6:30 by a crying Aaron. He was soaking wet and thankfully seems to have gone back to sleep because a day starting at 6:30 with him would not be a good thing!! Thankfully I managed to sneak out of bed without waking Lilah! :) So yes, we're making progress. Something that gave me a kick in the pants was that my Facebook status from a year ago said, "Aaron slept from 8pm-2:40am and then from 3-7am!" I thought, "WOW! I thought Aaron wasn't the best sleeper...Lilah NEEDS to be doing better!" Time to stop being so lazy and work on her night time sleep so I can get more sleep!

If I were sleeping, I'd be dreaming of sleep!

2011-08-29T07:16:00.000-07:00

My baby girl is NOT the greatest sleeper in the world. I sometimes wonder, did I just get lousy sleepers (other than Luke) or is it something I'm doing wrong?!?! Lilah is almost 11 weeks old, and the longest stretch of sleep she's had to date has only been slightly over 3 hours. I put her to bed (as usual) around 8pm last night...and by just after 10, right when I was FINALLY climbing into bed, I saw arms flailing in the crib. Have I mentioned I really don't enjoy sharing a room with a baby? She had unswaddled herself. I re-swaddled her, nursed her and put her to bed. 5 minutes later, she's grunting and fussing. I got her up, nursed her again and put her back in bed. FINALLY, at 11pm, I went to bed. Aaron wakes at 1am for a bottle--I have to go potty anyway, so rather than wake Jeremy up, who, incidentally, fell PROMPTLY to sleep at 10pm, I get up to get his bottle. 2am, she's awake again. I don't even bother to nurse her...what's the point of sitting up for another 30 minutes to an hour at this hour when I FINALLY went to sleep 3 hours ago?!?! I bring her to bed with me. We sleep for a while...until I decide to get comfortable. My movement wakes her up and she starts grunting/fussing. I turn over and nurse her again and succumb to sleeping on my side and trying to ignore the ache that's starting in my hips and back. I don't know how many times this happened...I think she slept reasonably well--it seems that the more tired I get, the less I realize that I'm really uncomfortable. Aaron woke up at 6:45am. Quite early for him...he's teething, plus he DID have his bottle at 1am! I give him his bottle (what's left of it) and he is quiet. There is really no point of TRYING to sneak back into bed, amazingly Lilah did NOT wake up when I got up...so I come downstairs to at least enjoy some coffee and computer time while it's quiet--and to try to figure out what in the world I'm going to do about getting Lilah to sleep better...shouldn't we be well on our way to sleeping thru the night by this point?? At least sleeping in a couple of large chunks? Sleeping in her OWN bed would be fantastic! Oh, did I mention that her naps are rarely more than 45 minutes too? Unless, of course, it's in her swing. I'm sure all of this is related and I'm perpetuating the problem...but at 2am, all I want is sleep...no matter how lousy it is...I take solace in the fact that in approximately 9-10 months, she will probably be sleeping mostly through the night. *sigh*

My Boys...Caution: Photo Blitz

2011-08-24T22:10:00.001-07:00

Aaron LOVES Lilah!

2011-08-24T21:46:00.001-07:00

Aaron was filthy dirty. He likes to eat dirt.

Even though he was filthy dirty, he still wanted to show his little sissy a little love.

As usual, he got a little overly exuberant with his "love".

Lilah was not feeling the love!

Who? Me?

Bro's

2011-08-24T21:29:00.001-07:00

Brothers are so wonderful, and there is nothing quite like the bond between brothers. They love each other soooooo much...

And NEVER think of doing ANYTHING unkind toward each other...

There is always something interesting going on when you've got a brother around...

And sometimes you just have to accept that they can sometimes be a little pesky!

The Many Faces of Lilah Troyer

2011-08-24T21:20:00.000-07:00

Single Parenting is for the Birds.

2011-08-24T20:51:00.000-07:00

Jeremy had his last night of watch this evening. It was more stressful than usual because he didn't come home when he was "supposed" to, so I was outside way too late with the children, which meant that we had 2 SCREAMING babies while I was trying to bathe them and get everything done. He still was not home when Aaron was losing it and in NEED of bed. I did what I had to do, and what I usually do when I'm home alone--I go to my big helpers. I tell you, if I didn't have my older children, this would be far more difficult. Yes, it'd be easier in some ways because I wouldn't have 3 other children to care for...but honestly, the help my girls offer is priceless. I swaddled Lilah and handed her, screaming, to Savannah. Savannah got a pacifier and by the time I got Aaron settled, she had her sleeping in her arms. I went to take her to bed and Savannah said, "Oh, don't take her yet, she's so cute!". I think it's so absolutely precious how my children love each other...and how the girls care for the babies. By the way, I was informed that I gave credit to Savannah for diapering and jammy-ing Aaron the other night, when it was in fact Abby who did it. Impressive!! Especially for a 7 year old! :) I'm so proud of my girls. I know it's hectic and crazy, but all I can think is: they will be so well prepared for when they have children of their own. They already know how to care for babies a lot better than most young ladies who are having children. As crazy as this life can be, and as frazzled as I get sometimes...my children don't seem to mind. They just roll with it. It's such a blessing that God gives them the ability to cope with all of this craziness because they don't know any different...but even better is that they seem to love it. Very few things make me happier than when they tell me that they want to have lots of children when they grow up...because then I know that their lives aren't so bad after all! :)

So maybe I'm not as light a sleeper as I once thought!

2011-08-19T21:35:00.000-07:00

Having children has turned me into a deeper sleeper, apparently. Not only was my car stolen out of my driveway while I slept...my baby was also snatched out of my arms while I slept--by her daddy, of course! She was not settling and grunted and carried on from around 5am on. I was almost ready to give up and get up with her, but it was still a bit early (around 7am), so I unswaddled her, let her "play" and rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. And sleep I did. I woke up at 8am and about had a heart attack when I looked over and Lilah was not there!! Man, what a way to start the day! It only took me a second to realize what happened, but it sure scared me! I guess when you're tired, you're tired! Jeremy was making fun of me saying, "I thought you were like a Momma bear...and you just let me snatch her right out of your arms!" I think if it were anyone other than Jeremy, I would have noticed--at least I hope so!

My Children are Such a Blessing!

2011-08-19T21:28:00.001-07:00

Tonight Jeremy is working. I really don't like this schedule, and I really should be in bed...but alas, the quiet evening calls to be enjoyed! So when he works, he leaves at the crack of dawn--before 5am, works all day, spends the night at work and then works the next day until 6:30pm. He gets home that day at 7:30-ish, just in time to help me with baths and bedtime--very much wanted and needed after the night before doing it alone. Well, I can't really say I do it "alone". My children are such wonderful helpers. Tonight all 4 of the "older" ones bathed together. They played house and pretended that Luke and Aaron were the babies. Savannah bathed Aaron, put his diaper and jammies on him and got him all ready for bed. Once he was ready for me, she took Lilah from me and held her while I put Aaron to bed. I get asked quite often how I do it with all 5 of them, but honestly, it's so much easier now than it was when there were only 2 of them. Yes, there is more work now--especially laundry--but with 2 big helpers, things go so much faster and more smoothly. Luke is even getting in on the action and is quickly becoming my dedicated vacuum-operator! He did the stairs the other day nearly PERFECTLY! Tomorrow he will be vacuuming out the car. He really enjoys using the vacuum!

The girls had the privilege of going to Discovery Kingdom today with our friends. It was nice to have some special time with Luke and Aaron (Lilah still sleeps a lot). I was hoping to have a bit more time one on one with Luke, but Aaron decided not to nap well today. Oh well. I took LOTS of pictures today of my precious boys, so I'll post soon...but probably not until Jeremy gets back home and I have a bit more back-up, but we'll see...maybe I can get it done tomorrow! Okay, my bed is calling...I'm hoping Lilah sleeps well tonight...last night she went from 10pm until 3:30am without waking...unfortunately, she was in bed with me, but hey...I was able to stretch out and sleep well, so I can't complain!

My Big Girls

2011-08-15T21:37:00.001-07:00

Just being cute & silly...

This is Savannah wearing Daddy's clothes...

2 & 14 Months! :)

2011-08-15T21:20:00.000-07:00

My babies are getting bigger by the second! This photo of Lilah was taken a week or so ago, so I DO need a more recent one...but this one of Aaron was tonight, when I decided to give him an early bath so I didn't have to juggle 2 baths with Daddy not here tonight. I tell ya, I'm going to be VERY happy when Jeremy is home EVERY night again. This kind of schedule is for the birds!

Not my PREFERRED way of cooking...

2011-08-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

...but a Momma's gotta do what a Momma's gotta do! Rather than get caught up in cooking, I decided to get them involved, which is wonderful with a 4 year old, not so much with a 1 year old! :) It was going great until he decided to take a bite of a tomato and then throw it into the muffin batter. Hmmmm...

And the finished product....very tasty!

I want to post...but....

2011-08-14T21:28:00.000-07:00

I'm just SO busy these days. There is very little time for the computer, well...little time that can be spent using my brain. Usually if I'm able to be online, either it's late, or I'm nursing...and I really don't feel like doing a blog post with one hand, that'd take forever!

I've started cooking and baking more because I've issued myself a challenge: I'm going to try to feed my family on $400 or less for the next 30 days. I have quite a bit of food in the freezer and pantry, so I'm kinda cheating, but I'm really working on cutting back on packaged food and cooking more from scratch. Yes, it's wonderful, healthier and less expensive, but it also takes a lot more time. I think once I get a system and get some big things out of the way (big batches of soup and breads), I'll have a bit more time. I'm currently looking for good time and money saving tips to help MY family. There are a lot of great ideas out there, but not everything works for every family.

I've discovered Pinterest.com. Wow, there are a LOT of wonderful ideas and recipes on there....and thankfully it's something I CAN do one-handed! :)

Aaron is officially a toddler...walking most of the time. It's SO cute! Lilah is smiling like crazy all of the time...not sleeping very well though. She's in bed with me for most of the night which I do NOT love. I have to keep reminding myself that she's only 8 weeks old (well, 2 MONTHS old tomorrow!), and she'll figure it out. And on that note, I'm off to bed to hopefully sleep without her for a while.

8 weeks old!

2011-08-10T09:38:00.000-07:00

Lilah is 8 weeks old today and making strides!! Today I put her on her tummy on the floor and she rolled over! I thought it was a fluke, so I turned her back over again and she did it again! She is SUCH a strong little girl. Then I put her in her bouncy chair and she reached up and pulled the little toy that plays music. It was pretty amazing. She's looking more like a baby and less like a newborn.

When it rains, it pours.

2011-08-06T21:43:00.000-07:00

My goodness! I've been to the doctor 6x in the past week now. Lilah just finished antibiotics for her cough. They worked WONDERS and it's all gone--praise God! :) Aaron is still being treated for thrush, but now he's got this crazy mystery rash. It is all around his mouth and look HORRID...especially now that it's become impetigo. The doctor has no idea what the original rash is...we were thinking hand foot and mouth, but it's all over and he doesn't act sick. Then she said perhaps chicken pox, but again, no sickness and the rash is at different stages on his body. She said she thinks it's some kind of viral rash, but it has probably become worse with the impetigo and of course he has the thrush because his immune system is struggling for some reason. The funny thing is that he's been more cheerful and wonderful than usual lately--talking up a storm and walking everywhere. He's been saying, "Abby" a lot and the other day he crawled up to me and said, "Hello!" in the cutest voice! He's such a little doll. I'll have to get a photo of this rash though, it's really quite funky. I just keep praying that no one else gets it and that it's nothing serious. We missed out on a visit with my brother and his family (the last visit for at least 5 weeks while he goes to school), so I'm quite bummed about that...but we just really didn't want to share cooties. It seems like lately, every time Jeremy is home, I'm off at the doctor's office. We avoided the doctor for quite a long while, I'd like to go back to that again soon, please?!?!

Aaron's new word.

2011-07-30T21:50:00.000-07:00

Aaron has not only been practicing walking, he's also been practicing talking. He says quite a few words, but has recently started looking at me and saying, "Mama". It's so sweet. He's said that word for a while, but now he's definitely associating ME with "Mama" which is VERY cute. Also, he's been practicing his "Thank You"'s, and at this age it just cannot get much more adorable with the sweet little "Tee-To" sound he makes when he hands me something. But...all of that is cute and wonderful and adorable...BUT, today he pointed to Lilah and said, "Dat?" (one of his favorite phrases--"what dat" or just plain "dat"), and I said "Lilah". He looked at me, stuck out his tongue and said, "LILAH"!!! It was a very "tonguey" Lilah, but it was definitely Lilah...and he said it over and over. I LOVE it!

So I said she's chunky...

2011-07-30T21:48:00.000-07:00

...well, I wasn't sure HOW chunky until she was weighed today. I was thinking somewhere around 10lbs. Boy was I shocked (as was the nurse) when she weighed in at a whopping 12lbs5oz at 6 weeks old. For someone who has had milk supply issues, this is a WONDERFUL blessing to have such a "fat" baby! I still pray that my supply keeps up past the 3-4 month mark when I normally have issues...but for now, I'm very happy!

6 Weeks Old!

2011-07-27T21:20:00.000-07:00

Lilah Bean turned 6 weeks old today. She is such a little blessing, so sweet, so snuggly...just all around wonderful. She's been smiling on occasion, but today she really outdid herself. I was holding her up in my bed room while Luke and Aaron played and I was talking to her and she started to smile...it was one smile after another after another, each one bigger than the last. Luke actually called her a "smile machine"! It was so sweet. She tried to give me a few coos too, but she's still just a bit too little...but I know they're coming soon! I'm very excited about that!

She's growing like a weed. She's SUPER chunky. I'd definitely say she's my chunkiest baby yet. She's a great eater. She's been sleeping pretty well...she seems to be doing even better with going to bed awake and falling asleep on her own. She occasionally wakes up and fusses, but often she'll put herself back to sleep. Night time is one of those things that I know takes time, but I'm really looking forward (see, here I go again living in the future--I think it's okay when it comes to sleep though!) to being able to put her down and having her sleep for a FEW hours in her crib. She's still coming to bed with me once she wakes for the first time...the main reason is because I'm not willing to lose more sleep than necessary sitting up with her when there is a distinct possibility that I will be awakened by Aaron sometime during the night too. I need my rest. Even though I really am NOT a fan of co-sleeping, right now it's what works best for me to ensure that I get the rest I need. One of these days soon I'll have to bite the bullet and hope that she starts sleeping REALLY good during the night.

Aaron has been having a rough time with his teeth. He now has 4 teeth--two bottom and two top. Poor guy though, he really has a difficult time teething. He gets very fussy, very uncomfortable and it seems to take him a while as well. Last night he had a fever and woke at 3am, drenched with sweat. I had to put him in his crib and let him cry (thankfully it was only a couple of seconds) because I really have no options with Lilah needing me. I was able (by God's wonderful grace and mercy) to snuggle him for a while though, so that was a blessing. This morning his fever continued and finally broke, but he was fussy and grumpy most of the day (really not a HUGE change for him--poor guy), he took a 2 hour nap (interrupted though) and woke up and almost fell asleep on the sofa, until his noisy big sisters and brother came in. Then it was grump, grump, grump...until he ate dinner. Poor guy must have been starving because as soon as he ate, he was SUPER jolly! He was so cute. We were commenting on how nice it would be if he were like that all of the time. He is so cute and so sweet and such a wonderful little guy...he is just a very fussy guy. I'm really hoping that it's just this age with all of the stuff his body is going through and that as soon as all of this crazy teething stuff is done, he'll be much happier...because when he's happy, he is absolutely DARLING! Okay, even when he IS grumpy, he's still darling...just a bit hard to bear!

He's now taking a good 8-10 consecutive steps. The other night he was practicing pivoting and turning the other direction. It's funny though, he doesn't walk very much. He gets the urge from time to time to practice...and he'll do it for a while...then he grabs his walker and takes off running with that...or he'll crawl. I guess walking is still more difficult than useful! :)

Well, that's it for now...I MUST go to bed. Tomorrow I head to the DMV to get a new license. Oh yeah, I never posted about my car getting stolen...I guess I'll have to do that one of these days!

Good night!

First Steps!!!

2011-07-20T20:59:00.000-07:00

I have to keep this quick because I had a long day with 2 babies--alone, while my big kids and daddy went to Discovery Kingdom (free tickets thanks to the Read to Succeed program!).

This morning Aaron took a couple of steps between Savannah and I. We were so thrilled for him!! This afternoon he did it a few more times, taking probably 3-4 consecutive steps at the most, but we're on our way!!!! I tried to get it on video, but as soon as he saw the camera, he wanted NOTHING to do with walking because he just wanted to play with the camera! Maybe tomorrow if he does it more, I can ambush him with the camera and post his new skills!

I've been negligent.

2011-07-14T21:27:00.000-07:00

I know, I know...it's been 10 days since I last posted. A lot has been going on...and I'm going to have to keep it short due to the fact that I'm ill. Darn mastitis has struck again. I don't know why I get it...but I've gotten it with all of my girls, but not my boys--strangely. With Aaron I had a clogged duct that never materialized as mastitis...although after I stopped nursing, I did end up with a breast infection that had me very worried!

Anyway, so I'm feeling very lousy. I've started antibiotics and hopefully will start feeling much better very soon.

All of us, including Lilah have gotten some crud. Stuffiness, coughs, just general misery...not enough to make you feel ill, just enough to be annoying. Mine is more of a head cold, Lilah has super goopy eyes (Aaron did too for a couple of days) and Jeremy and Savannah and Abby all have super annoying coughs! How fun. We've had the weirdest weather...cold then hot then cold...RAIN even in June...like RECORD rain. Like 2+ inches of rain! Weird. I attribute the colds to the weird weather.

Aaron is FINALLY getting some more teeth. One on the top right has popped through and the top left one is following suit.

Lilah is a fantastic little baby. She's fallen right into a wonderful routine for naps. Nights are still a bit touchy, but she's doing great so far.

Today the girls took good care of me while I wasn't feeling well. Savannah made Aaron malt-o-meal for breakfast and fed it to him and they kept him entertained while I napped. It's so nice to have older girls. Then they made a chocolate cake--all by themselves! It was delicious! :) They insisted I not get up and just rest. Easier said than done, but I do appreciate the small amount of rest I got.

Okay, Lilah has been in bed now for a little while, I'm hoping to get some good rest before she wakes up. I need it. Tomorrow she is 1 month old and Aaron is 13 months old! Wow, where does the time go?

Aaron and his bottle.

2011-07-05T21:29:00.001-07:00

Aaron cracks me up with his bottle. He now says, "Ba-ba" quite often, although he says it with the intonation of a little Spanish boy calling his Papa...emphasis on the last syllable rather than the first. He is the only baby I've ever seen that can drink a bottle without tipping it in the slightest. The bottle can be straight up and down, in his hands with his hands by his tummy and he'll just suck and suck and suck until enough suction is created that he can get to the milk. Granted, this would NOT work if we didn't use the bottles we use--the ones with the plastic liners in them which allow for this to work. It might be sad if he ever picked up a regular bottle and tried that trick. One day he fell asleep in the car with his bottle in his mouth. When I got him out, the bottle liner was actually INVERTED because he had created so much suction. On that same note...this silly boy will not allow a pacifier anywhere near his mouth, but he'll suck on an empty bottle for a good, long while when he needs a little comfort. Silly baby.

Biggest Baby Ever?

2011-07-05T21:26:00.000-07:00

You know they say that your older baby looks so huge when you have a new one, but this is ridiculous. I think he actually GREW when Lilah came to join the family...he can be called nothing BUT a baby...he's just a really, really BIG baby! Funny thing is, he's always been in the 50th percentile for height and weight...kinda frightens me to think of what kind of babies we could run into when out and about! :)

Beautiful Eyes

2011-07-02T20:21:00.001-07:00

I took these photos today while Aaron, Daddy and I enjoyed this gorgeous evening. Aaron gives me so many awesome photo ops, but I don't often have the time or ability to take advantage...so today, since our big children are up at Grandma and Papa's house, I got the camera out and took some shots. It's very fun having a light-eyed child because, in my opinion, light eyes are more interesting in photos. Don't get me wrong, I love my dark-eyed children (and husband), but to me, there generally is more depth in light-eyes. Just my opinion. These photos are straight off the camera...his eyes don't need any touch-ups, they're naturally gorgeous! The only difficulty in getting good photos of Aaron is getting him to hold still long enough!

Cute Children, Cute Photos

2011-06-30T21:20:00.001-07:00

Look at these BEAUTIFUL eyes!

Showing off his "TWO-fers"

Instant fun, just add water, an umbrella and a sibling!

Abby and Lilah...finally got a photo of them together!

My Sling FINALLY Gets Some Action

2011-06-30T21:13:00.000-07:00

I bought this wonderful sling last year at the recommendation of my wonderful friend, Faith. She is quite the expert in babywearing and had given me some fantastic tips I was hoping to utilize with Aaron in order to make my life a tad bit easier. Aaron wouldn't have it though. He HATED to be worn. When I'd put him in this sling, he'd arch his back, straighten his legs and scream. I don't know what he hated about it, he just didn't like it. He didn't care for the Moby either...and when I finally dropped the $120 on the Ergo, I was disappointed that he merely humors us with a quick tolerance for it before he decides he wants out and tries to climb out on his own. He tolerates it a lot better for Jeremy or the girls, but he will not let me wear him in it. I guess he prefers the closeness that comes when Mommy holds him and has to do everything with one hand and him precariously perched on my hip. Typical! :) So today I put Lilah in the sling to see what she'd do. She slipped right in...just as I'd seen Faith's baby do. She easily went into the "froggy" position and fell right to sleep. Ahhhh...what a blessing. I threw Aaron on my hip and had both babies in my arms quite easily (other than the fact that Aaron is REALLY heavy!) At least I know I can take them both from one place to another without much difficulty if necessary! And I'm very glad to finally be able to use this rather pricey sling!

First Bath

2011-06-30T21:10:00.000-07:00

Lilah had her first bath the other day. At first she was crying, but as soon as she felt that warm water over her sweet little body, she was very, very happy! She is a true princess.

Sleep Training x2

2011-06-30T14:39:00.000-07:00

I was thinking the other day, if sleep wasn't such an issue with little ones, I'd be a very happy momma. Sleep has always been a big issue with me. Starting with #1, sleep was something I never knew I needed as badly as I do until I was seriously deprived of it. I had never been in such physical pain due to lack of sleep. When she DID sleep (which wasn't very often), I was such a nervous wreck that I couldn't sleep. Every little sound jolted me awake, thinking that she was waking. It was horrible. I had always been around people that would basically say, "MAKE HER STOP CRYING, I CAN'T STAND TO HEAR A BABY CRY!!!" I always felt like saying, "Well gee...maybe I should stop pinching her then because I thought EVERYONE loved to hear my baby cry as much as I do!". Seriously though, people...who DOES like to hear a baby cry? My first cried incessantly. Honestly. It NEVER stopped. Well, okay, it did...at 8 weeks, but 8 weeks of incessant baby crying, especially when your husband is deployed and it's your first baby and you have NO idea what you're doing is enough to drive you crazy.

Okay, I digress. I did what it took...and now that she's 9 years old, she's a light sleeper, but a good one. Along came #2. I didn't have time to fawn over her sleep habits like I did with #1, mostly because I was STILL catering to #1's needs while letting #2 figure it out on her own. Needless to say, #2 was a better sleeper. Not fantastic...but better. I still didn't really know what I was doing, I just knew that I didn't want #2 to be like #1 in the sleep department. She still wasn't sleeping thru the night until around 2 years old though...way TOO old as far as I'm concerned. Along came #3. He was a dream from the beginning. He was the quintessential "slept thru the night at 2 months old" baby. I didn't have to do much with him...he just slept. He is 4 right now and he STILL is a great sleeper. He's the only child I've ever heard of who, at 4 years old, will put himself to bed when he's tired...whether it be noon, 5pm or bedtime. I knew better than to think that it was anything I had done...God had just blessed us with an easy baby (maybe to convince us that we should continue having more!) and for that we were VERY grateful. #4 has been a challenge. I've blogged a lot about it. He didn't nap well, he hasn't been a good night sleeper. He's been a challenge in many ways--he's a strong-willed child, a very cute strong-willed child. Now that we have #5, we're having to figure things out so that we don't go crazy. Sleep training started about a week and a half ago. Jeremy has been sleeping in the room with the little guy and letting him cry himself back to sleep when he wakes. Jeremy is taking a very gentle approach and it's really paying off. Nights are still a bit tricky, I'm not sure why other than perhaps he's teething. At 1 year, 2 weeks and 1 day old, he still only has 2 teeth. Naps, however have improved dramatically. He's been taking close to a 3 hour nap every day. It's been WONDERFUL.

Soooo...I've decided that I need to do something different this time around. I know that there are many, many mommies who have more children than I do, and they're not walking around like zombies, and I refuse to believe that the majority of mommies of many children are simply blessed with wonderful sleepers. I've been "talking" with a woman on a website I visit who has 10 children. She's been giving me some advice on how to sleep train a baby from birth. I also re-read Babywise (which is coincidentally basically the same thing this woman has told me)and started implementing a sleep training regime (if you want to call it that) a few days ago. It goes a little something like this: Make sure baby takes a FULL feeding. Keep baby awake so that she can eat as much as she needs (she's doing GREAT in the eating department...she's a fat little thing!). Let baby have a short "activity" or awake time and when she shows signs of being tired...get this...put her to BED! *GASP* What's that you say??? Put her WHERE??? Wait, where is the "nurse her to sleep" or the "bounce until you've both passed out", or the "put her into the swing and pray she stays asleep"?? No...there is none of that. It's that simple. Put her to bed. I'm swaddling her...she likes it, all of my babies have. I bring her to bed, I swaddle her and I put her in her crib and leave the room. Sometimes she cries, usually if she wasn't OVERtired before I put her in there, she's fine. I've been amazed at how quickly she drifts off into a nice, peaceful, sound sleep and sleeps for 1-2 hours at a time. Let me state for the record, however...she seems to be a rather easy baby so far. I'm not sure if this is working so well because she's easy-going or because it's really that simple. I do believe that babies NEED sleep, DESIRE sleep and need to be TAUGHT to sleep...and to sleep WELL. I'm hoping that doing this from a very young age is going to help her develop good sleeping habits from this point forward...sleep is such an essential thing, especially for a growing baby that it really should NOT be rocket science.

I'm really not sure if doing this from the beginning with any of my more "difficult" babies would have worked so well...of course, there is no way of knowing. One thing I do know is this...unless you have a lot of time, patience and don't need a lot of sleep, sleep training has to happen at some point...why not start from the beginning instilling good sleep habits and not stress about a little bit of crying...hey, newborns cry a fair amount no matter WHAT you do...better to do it in the crib where they have a chance of falling asleep independently.

I'll keep this updated as I pray that Lilah continues to sleep as well as she has been. Oh, and for the record, she sleeps with me at night still. I put her in her crib in the evening and let her sleep as long as she will. When she wakes up, I bring her to bed with me. I don't have the energy yet to work on night feedings. That will come soon though because I really miss sharing my bed with my husband--and being able to stretch as I please without the fear of waking a baby!

2011-06-20T20:47:00.000-07:00

Sweet big sister...she is SUCH a huge helper!!

Big brother wanted in on the action. Notice his legs...very colorful!

Aaron thinks he's a toy! Cute toy, too!

Beautiful baby girl

Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do!
I definitely have my hands full! :)

Lilah's first doctor appointment

2011-06-20T16:54:00.000-07:00

I took Lilah to the doctor today for her first appointment. She has already gained 3oz over her birth weight--way to go little girl!! She is an amazingly efficient nurser because she really doesn't seem to nurse too much, but if she's gained that much already, that's fantastic! She's also been sleeping pretty well. The past 3 nights she's done a good 3 hours of sleep in her own crib--in our room. She'll wake up, nurse and usually I wake up a couple of hours later and we've both been snoozin' for a while. So far she's a wonderful baby. I still consider that she's only 5 days old and a lot can change when she starts to wake up more...but for now I'm enjoying the fact that she seems to be a WONDERFUL, easy baby. I can only pray that it continues as I need God's grace as much as possible to get through these next few weeks of adjustment and sleep training of Aaron. We're going to give him a little while longer to get used to having his life disrupted and then we're going to work on getting him used to sleeping on his own...because there is no way I can do this when Jeremy goes back to work. But I praise God for the fact that he's been home and able to care for Aaron during the night so that I can get the rest I need (as much as one can rest with a newborn).

That's all I can manage for now...Lilah is waking up (after a nice, long snooze in her swing) and I'm sure she's hungry...and I KNOW she has a very, very full diaper--I can hear her working on it from here! :)

Baby Smiles

2011-06-17T16:29:00.001-07:00

Lilah is like her big brother, Luke...smiling from the first day she was born! :) I just LOVE the sweet baby smiles!!!

I had to add this one because she just looked so cute!

Birthday Boy

2011-06-17T15:38:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo of Aaron in the adorable Birthday Boy shirt out neighbor gave him!

What a sweet, big boy!

Lilah Faith is Here!!

2011-06-17T15:20:00.000-07:00

I will most likely have to keep this fairly short, as we've been very busy as of late--for some odd reason!

Lilah made her appearance after an uneventful induction on June 15th. Of all the days to have another baby, I did NOT want Lilah and Aaron sharing a birthday, but when you're 9 days overdue, have been having stop and go labor for a week and are just READY to have your baby in your arms, that becomes a lot less important! I got to the hospital around 1pm. They started pitocin and I had my first contraction at 2:15pm. It went VERY quickly from there. It went from painful but bearable in one contraction. I was having a conversation about families with my mom and the nurse while Jeremy was grabbing a bite to eat and all of a sudden I had to get up and could NOT participate in anything anymore. I was leaning over the counter--the most comfortable position for me and breathing through the contractions. I tried to keep my focus, but I was having a TON of pressure with each contraction. I was feeling like I was headed toward transition because I was getting shaky and the pressure was getting out of control. I thought for SURE I must have progressed extremely fast, but when the nurse checked me, I was only at 5 cm. I just could not understand how I could possibly be at 5 when I was feeling so much pressure. I felt like I was ready to push at any time. I got so frustrated I decided to ask for an epidural. The anesthesiologist came and put it in. She did a fantastic job and had me lie down while she was doing it...MUCH more comfortable that way. The thing is, the epidural didn't seem to do much, if anything. The pressure continued to get worse in the next couple of minutes when all of a sudden I was like, "OH MY GOODNESS, I HAVE GOT TO PUSH!!!!!" There was no doctor there, they told me not to push...I had to breathe so hard to get through those contractions. The nurse checked me and kinda panicked and went to find a doctor. They got me set up quickly and they FINALLY told me I could push. I pushed for a VERY short time--maybe 5 minutes and out popped our precious baby girl! It was such an amazing experience, so intense and so joyful. She was born at 5:56pm--4 minutes from Aaron's ACTUAL birthday. We got our Irish Twins by 4 minutes! :)

We took guesses on her weight--we were all guessing in the 7lb range, but she looked awfully chunky to us...so we automatically thought she must be short then. When they weighed her, we were SHOCKED. 8lbs 7oz and 21.5 inches! What a big girl!
So far Lilah is pretty quiet. She sleeps a lot (like newborns should) and nurses well, although she doesn't stay awake all that long. She looks to me like she's going to have brown eyes, but we really haven't seen her eyes much yet.

I'll post more photos soon, but she needs to be fed.

Update on the never-ending pregnancy.

2011-06-15T07:11:00.000-07:00

So, here I am--9 days overdue and STILL pregnant. We've tried nearly everything to induce this baby naturally as I really, really wanted to go into labor naturally, but this baby is happy as can be in my tummy and shows no signs (well, other than lots of contractions and a few other tell-tale signs that labor is impending) of coming any time soon. I thought that if I just waited, eventually it was bound to happen. I guess there is no real "reason" for her to be born--just because I'm uncomfortable and want to meet her and want to start life with another baby (the sooner we have her, the sooner we can get used to our new routine. I honestly didn't think that I'd still be pregnant at 9 days past due. I thought that maybe, probably, I'd be a few days overdue and I was okay with that...but as the days have gone on and I've had so many sleepless nights due to intense contractions that lead to nothing, I'm having a hard time continuing on in this present state. Yesterday I went into the doctor, he checked me and I'm at 4cm...so he decided that we could schedule an induction for today. I'm not particularly thrilled that I'm being induced on Aaron's birthday, I was really hoping they'd have their own birthdays (although, depending on how long the labor lasts, she still COULD be born tomorrow--but I really hope it doesn't take that long!). I also feel a bit bummed that I'm going to be induced after waiting this long, but as I said...there is only so many sleepless nights one can endure without actually having a newborn baby to care for. If I'm going to be losing sleep, it had better be because I've got a sweet little blessing in my arms!

Last night Aaron had one of his "episodes" of inconsolable crying. He woke up at 11pm and was just screaming and screaming. Jeremy was trying to get him back to sleep, but it just wasn't working. I went in and held him and he continued on. During this, I was having contractions (boy, was that fun!) and thinking, "Oh my goodness, what in the world would I do if I had Lilah right now?!?!" But I know that it will all work out okay in the long run. He finally settled down (I think he does this due to digestive issues and once his tummy is settled, he sleeps just fine). The thought of having another baby is definitely a bit scary to me...but it's also going to happen, no matter what...so we might as well move on with it! So that's that. Today I go to the hospital at noon and hopefully we'll have a very gentle, uneventful induction/delivery.

My Baby is 1!!!

2011-06-15T06:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, sweet Aaron!!
One year ago, our lives were blessed with the birth of our precious Aaron. This has honestly been the fastest year I've ever experienced--it's been an extremely busy one. First we moved into a new home, we found out we were expecting another baby and life has gone on--very quickly.

Aaron can say a few words...his latest thing is to touch my coffee cup and say in a whisper "HOT!". It doesn't stop him from trying to grab it, but at least he recognizes that it's hot. The other day, he was rubbing my moms leg and apparently she hadn't shaved recently because she thought her leg was "hot" as well! He's just learned to sign (and say, kinda) "all done" when he's done eating. He doesn't consistently talk and say specific words, but he definitely babbles a lot, it's very cute.

He is not walking, but he can push his little cart around like a pro. He also likes to push the step stool--or anything that he can get his hands on and push. He can also stand up spontaneously in the middle of the floor, although he doesn't choose to very often. He hasn't even tried to take a step yet...which is fine with me because I know as soon as he can, the chase is on.

Aaron is very spunky, he's fairly quick-tempered, but also very sweet and snuggly. He has not been my easiest child, but who said that easy is necessarily better?? He is such a wonderful addition to our family...we've been so blessed to have him in our lives for this past year...and today, he will become a BIG brother! :)

Slow Progress

2011-06-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

I went to the doctor on Wednesday and was disappointed. I was 1.5cm dilated and 30-40% effaced...so not really even favorable for induction if I chose to go that route. He told me to come in today (Friday) to be checked again and to schedule a non stress test for Monday in case Lilah chose to stay put a bit longer. I was looking forward to Jeremy being able to take today off, so I scheduled my appointment for today and went along my merry way. Well, Jeremy couldn't get today off (God forbid I should actually go into labor!), so I was going to cancel my appointment because, after all, what is the point of having yet another appointment with 4 children in tow for the doctor to tell me that nothing has changed?!?!

Well, last night I had quite a few contractions. They had no pattern to them, but they were fairly long, stronger than they had been...but still not really anything to write home about. I thought, "you know...maybe they're actually doing SOMETHING. I think I'll go in." So today I packed the children into the car, went to my appointment and much to my surprise...I'm 3cm dilated and 60% effaced. So something is DEFINITELY going on. He was able to strip my membranes, which remains to be seen if that does anything, but hey...I'm willing to try almost anything! He said he would not be surprised if she was born this weekend--and he's on call, so this weekend would be fantastic.

I've been having contractions off and on all day, still no real pattern or anything, but I guess we'll just have to see how things go. At least I didn't leave the doctor's office feeling depressed again.

The Difference Between Men and Women

2011-06-08T07:21:00.000-07:00

There was MUCH more to this conversation...including how he would sleep in and how I'd be awake all night with either contractions or Aaron...or just not able to sleep due to my pregnancy mass and discomfort...all of which came true. For every 1 good night I have these days, I have about 4 HORRIBLE nights.

Jeremy: "what are you doing tomorrow?"
ME: "taking 4 children to the OB with me to have a pelvic exam and hopefully have my membranes stripped"
"How about you?"
Jeremy: "in lieu of going to work, I get to go to a going away bbq...eat bbq, drink beer, ya know...all in a day's work".

Hmmmm...I'm trying NOT to be jealous. I really wish he could just stay home so I could go to the ob ALONE!

It's my due date.

2011-06-06T21:13:00.001-07:00

And that's about all I have to say about that. Another one, come and gone...and no baby. You'd have thought I would have lost hope of having a baby before or ON my due date...but I haven't. Maybe next time?!?!? Hahahaha!
Oh well, here is my belly...all ready to pop!

My Life.

2011-06-04T13:40:00.000-07:00

At this point, I feel like I'm muddling through my days. I'm too tired to fully engage, I'm too disorganized to really have something of value going on for my children (other than television/video games and/or Playmobil). Thankfully my children are, as all children are, happy to just go with the flow. They definitely thrive on a routine and a schedule, but of course, they think it's great fun when we shirk the routine and play wii all day long instead of accomplishing ANYTHING.

I, however, am not faring so well. I love having a routine, a schedule. I love accomplishing things and keeping my home in order. So when I'm in this position (or condition), I really struggle. I see so many things around me that NEED to be done. My window sills and built in shelves are COVERED with junk. You know all those random do-dads that just build up in corners or any flat surface of the house if not taken care of? Right now there is a ham radio, a cd, a jar of money, a glass bottle with dead flowers, a lid to a sippy cup, a packet of tissues, a pair of scissors, a binocular case, a sock and half of a child's toy on my dining room window sill. The only reason I listed everything on THAT sill is because it's the flat surface that contains the LEAST number of things in my house right now. I've got a few loads of laundry to fold, I don't even want to THINK about what kind of critters are living under my sofa right now. I have a few shelves that are right in arms reach of Aaron, so not only do I find squished watermelon in the construction paper drawer, but it's a full time job to pick up the messes of crayons, playdoh toys, books and binders he's thrown onto the floor. Oh, and did I mention that my pantry does not have the capability of holding all of the weight of my canned goods, so I've got a laundry basket in the corner of my dining room overflowing with canned items...just sitting there, staring at me. Our rat cage stinks to high heaven because the weather hasn't been nice enough to take it outside for a thorough cleaning in over a week...oh, I should probably stop there. Strangely, listing this is not as overwhelming as it is cathartic. As I list these things and think about them, I can see that really, there isn't that much falling apart around me as it feels like there is. Once I can move and bend over again, it won't take long at all to whip everything back into shape--including myself and my children!! :)

Speaking of which, the baby is awake...time to run (or waddle, as the case may be).

Luke...again.

2011-06-03T21:19:00.000-07:00

Tonight Luke and I were playing around and he said, "You have a hundred thousand eyes". I said, "Wow, really? That's a LOT". He replied, "Yeah, like sixteen!"

Yes, a hundred thousand and sixteen are VERY close! Hahaha...remind me to review numbers with him! :)

I AM going crazy!

2011-06-03T21:12:00.000-07:00

As I said before, the closer to my due date I get, the more I cannot believe that I'm having a baby at all. All day long, I go between "no way, I'm having a baby?? Soon???" and "Oh for heaven's sake already...let's HAVE THIS BABY ALREADY!!!". I think maybe it's because although my due date is in less than 3 days, I know that I tend to go overdue and the fact of the matter is that I could very well be pregnant 2 weeks from now (I SURE hope not).

Today I took the children out to the toy store to buy them some Playmobil they had wanted to spend their allowance on. I was feeling particularly guilty, not only because we haven't done much fun stuff lately (the weather has NOT been cooperating AND I don't feel well), but I've also been quite the beast of a mommy. I'm not very nice these days. Really, I'm probably one of the most unpleasant people to be around--ever. Having a whiney baby and older children that seem to be doing their best to test my patience doesn't help either. Top it all off with the general discomfort of pregnancy and I'm just a bear.

I've been having some contractions here and there and I'm trying not to get my hopes up TOO much, but I thought I had better do something productive today. So we went to the toy store...I baked cookies, I made pizza from scratch, I scrubbed the front porch, refilled the bird feeder, restocked and cleaned the bathroom, among other things. I want my home to be ready in case we have guests sometime soon. My sister asked if I was having a burst of energy...all I could say was, "I guess 'energy' is all relative". I certainly didn't FEEL like doing anything...but I want things in order. I'm SO glad Jeremy is off this weekend...now would be a GREAT time to go into labor.

Progress?!

2011-06-02T20:01:00.000-07:00

I went to the doctor yesterday. There is nothing exciting to report, not that I expected there to be...but I've been having a lot of twinges and pains and tightenings that are not "normal" for me...so I'm going to TRY to remain hopeful about this baby arriving sooner than later. Last night I had gone to bed...I could NOT fall asleep (could it be the 2 "naps" I took yesterday?!?!). Around 1am I started to have contractions. They were very regular, coming every 3-4 minutes. I started to get excited and started to time them and pay attention just in case this was the real deal. Obviously it was not. As soon as I got up to use the bathroom, they stopped. I could NOT sleep most of the rest of the night. I kept hoping for more contractions and kept thinking that if they DID continue and I needed to go to the hospital, what in the world would I do with Aaron?!?! He did wake up around 3am and he had a bit of a hard time settling back down...I can't imagine if that happened and we had someone here he didn't know. I just don't want to think about that. However, I'm hoping and hoping and hoping that contractions would start again...that something would start to happen and that we'd get to meet this little one VERY soon. I'm starting to get very impatient and irritable (moreso than normal, if you can believe that!). Jeremy was asking me if this is new...I tried to explain how UNCOMFORTABLE I am and how everything is so hard and how I'm so tired and achy and to top it all off, our weather has been horrible. We haven't had a warm, sunny day in quite some time...at least not one that wasn't WINDY too. And I checked the forecast today and it says it's supposed to be rainy for another 5 days or so! This is NOT helping!!! Aaron needs to get outside...I need to get outside. Thankfully the big kids CAN get outside (when they choose to).

Look what sister did with me!

2011-06-02T19:53:00.000-07:00

I often assign one of the girls to care for Aaron so that I can get SOMETHING done around the house without him clinging to me and fussing at me (he does that a lot--gotta LOVE this age!). Sometimes he's more than happy to oblige and other times it takes a bit more cajoling than others! This is one of the things they've come up with to keep him entertained. He sat in this bin for a good half an hour this evening while I was cleaning the kitchen. I see he was learning about "Self-Control" and "A Positive Spirit", two things we really could use more of around here--admittedly mostly from me!

Ham.

2011-06-02T19:51:00.000-07:00

I need a companion.

2011-05-31T12:02:00.000-07:00

I remember thinking this (and perhaps even blogging it) a year ago at this time. A heavily pregnant woman should have a person designated to her for her pleasure--to serve her and to keep her company. I have my husband home for 2 weeks and although he wasn't at my beck and call (completely!), it was so nice to have him around. Now that he's back to work, I miss his company...and his help. I was telling him last night that before his leave, I was doing just fine, but after him being home for 2 weeks, I no longer feel capable of doing all of this on my own. I know that I am, but seriously, the last days/weeks of waiting for a baby--along with all of the bigness and soreness and all that goes with it, are so difficult to sit and wait through. It would be so nice to have someone (my MOMMY would be great! Or my sister!), just to be here with me. As it is, the day is rainy and dreary...we cannot go outside and I don't feel like doing anything anyway...and it makes the days drag. I've already taken a nap...and honestly, I could probably easily go back to sleep again if given the opportunity!

But alas, that's living in dream land...it's back to reality. Time to wake the baby, correct and continue school work and just enjoy my children.

Luke is hilarious!

2011-05-29T20:05:00.000-07:00

Tonight Luke said, "I like easy jokes...like, 'what's 5+5?'".
Jeremy looked at him and said, "What? You think math is a big joke?" and Luke started cracking up. He's such a goof ball. Then he said, "Why did the frog cross the road? Because it had a knife sticking out of his eye!" and he started cracking up again...oh how wonderful it must be to be able to crack yourself up like that! He said another whopper, but I don't remember it now.

A bit later he told me that I'm the "meanest mommy he ever had". That's totally okay with me though because I'm also the "nicest mommy", "prettiest mommy", "sweetest mommy", etc. he's "ever had" at any given moment. Fickle boy!