4 months old

Last friday our little man turned 4 months. I guess I really shouldn't call him a little man, cause he's slightly huge.:)

He has blessed our lives and I'm amazed that this guy is my baby boy, how lucky am I?

He's healthy, and happy and getting bigger every day. I just love everything about him!



At his Dr appointment he was 18lbs 2oz, which is the 95th percentile. His length is 26", 84th percentile, and his little head was only in the 25th percentile. Luckily, his head does not look small compared to his body. Hopefully this doesn't mean he'll be a dumb jock. (although Kevin says that as long as he's a jock that's all that matters:) 

For now, I'm just trying to soak him in and enjoy this baby stage, all the while trying not to stress too much about the fact that this kiddo is not the worlds greatest sleeper. at all.

So, he spends a good portion of his days here....

Hopefully sleeping peacefully, but if Lexie is anywhere around, he's usually not.

Ahhh, someday, he'll nap quietly in his crib and sleep through the night. someday. Luckily I just can't help but love my sweet JJ despite it all!:) 

Sleep

I am thankful today for Sleep. I love sleep. I miss sleep. I'm thankful for the limited sleep I am getting right now, and am looking forward to the day when I get more. Sleep makes me a happier mom. When my kiddos sleep, it makes them happier kiddos, which in turn makes me a happier mom. See, there's absolutely nothing bad about sleep. I am grateful for sleep, and someday, I'll be grateful for a full, uninterupted nights sleep. I sure do hope that's soon!:)

I may not have posted, but I am still thankful

I know, I'm REALLY behind now. What can I say, sick kids, and a painting project will do that to a girl.:)

#12 ~I am incredibly thankful for the sweetest baby boy that joined our family a mere 4 months ago. It's amazing how quickly a baby can come home and feel like they've been there all along. I'm thankful that he's 4 months old...and getting a little easier every day, well, most days. Hopefully he'll be sleeping through the night soon, we're almost there!  He is such a happy boy, with a contagious smile, and a love of his paci. I just realized the other day that he almost never yawns. That's a little weird for a baby, but he really doesn't. Thought you might enjoy that interesting tidbit! I love sweet JJ, and am incredibly grateful that he has joined our family.

#13 ~ Not to be forgotten, I am so grateful for my adorable pixie daughter, Peyton. She is so sweet and adoring, and really loves her little brother. She's amazing at keeping him smiley and happy. She's so good natured and is generally content to do whatever we ask her to do, and play whatever her sisters are playing. Really, she is an incredible and beautiful little girl. I can't believe how fast she's growing up, and I often feel bad that because she's so good natured, she gets lost in the mix of these 4 kiddos. I hope I can always let  her know just how amazing I think she really is!

#14 ~ This one may seem weird, but I am thankful for Photoshop. I'm grateful for the creative outlet it gives me, and helps to keep me sane. I'm especially grateful that I can have that outlet without it causing a huge mess, that's one thing I need less of in my life, that's for sure!

#15 ~ I am super duper thankful for books. I LOVE to read, I love getting lost in a good book. I've always been that way. Kevin hates it when I get into a book, cause I'm pretty much useless till I've finished it. and I'm so thankful that that same love for books is being passed down to my girls.

#16 ~ Last for this post, I'm thankful for craigslist. I buy alot of our furniture off craigslist. I've gotten some amazing deals, and I've been able to refinish the furniture how I like it. I love that I can look at "yardsale" stuff from the comfort of my living room, and get some awesome deals on stuff you won't fine anywhere else that helps make our house feel like our home.

A busy homebound weekend

We've got sick kids at our house...again! I swear, this has to end at some point, right? The two little girls both threw up on Thursday night. Peyton had a fever all day friday, and luckily, once Lexie threw up, she wasw pretty much done with it, thank goodness for that.

With the kiddos being sick, and some not too fabulous weather (which caused both of my sessions to be canceled on saturday), we found ourselves with some free time on saturday. So, we decided it was finally time to put together the nursery for our four month old baby boy.

We started bright and early saturday. Peyton's fever was gone by now, so the kids had free reign of the house while Kevin and I locked ourselved in the room to paint, without three girls who REALLY wanted to help.

We got to this point and I loved the darker paint on top. But I had something else in mind too, I just wasn't sure I wanted to go to all the work to get to the end point that I had in mind.

So I decided to do just one wall to see if I really loved the look, and if I did, then I would finish off the rest of the room.

 Yeah, I kinda REALLY loved the stripes. But I SO did not want to do the rest of the room. Measuring, and taping, and more painting.

What can you do but start? I got the tape up last night, and finished this morning.



and I LUUUVE IT!!!! Oh my goodness, I love how the stripes look in the room! We moved some of his furniture in, and the crib, now that Lexie is officially done with it. That's what happens with kiddos get sick. Halli wanted to be seperate so she didn't get it, so we put her in Lexies room, and Lexie with Peyton. She's been in the big girl bed since!



I also repainted the dresser that had been in the girls rooms when they were babies. I'm still trying to decide in the stripes on the front are too busy with the stripes in the room...hmmm.



All in all, I'm glad it's done, and I think this little guy LOVES it too!



Thankful #10 & #11

Since I missed yesterday, again, I get to do two again tonight. So first, I'm incredibly grateful for the most stubborn, exasperating, fiesty, little two year old I've ever met. Yes, Lexie is all of those things, but she is also so incredibly adorable and loving! I have SO many stories I could tell about her, but I won't take up your whole evening.
She doesn't like to listen, folds her arms and bows her head with her bottom lip sticking out when she's upset and doesn't want to do what I want her to do. She loves to suck her thumb...all. day. long. I'm going to have a very hard time breaking that habit. She is very back and forth, completely, blissfully happy, or steaming mad and biting her sister. Only one sister, poor Peyton.

But how could you not just love everything about a sweet little girl with curly hair that's about as blond as anything I've ever seen? Her laugh is absolutely contagious, she had us all laughing at dinner the other night when all four of us were copying everything she did and she ws cracking up about it, and her smile brightens the room, and someday I hope to have the patience I need to really be able to handle this girl!

Now for #2, I am over the moon grateful for our Halli. She is suprising me every day with how old she's getting. I think everyone can imagine having a baby, and what it's like in some ways to have babies and little children at home. We can picture it, and love it, and that's why we have children. What's been harder for me is imagining what it'll be like to have older kids. Can I just say that so far, I am loving it!

Just today Kevin and I noticed that she doesn't have to climb on the counter anymore to reach the bottom shelf of the upper cabinets to get a cup. That was kinda shocking to me that she could reach that high. Then, after dinner as we were all hanging out together, miss Lexie threw up...so fun, I know....and as I was cleaning her up, and Kevin was cleaning up the mess, JJ started crying. Thank heavens for Halli, she pulled him out of the swing, took him over by her on the floor and kept him happy so I wouldn't have to touch him. She even barricaded them both in with toys so Lexie couldn't come near them. She does NOT want to get sick!:)

In fact, she's getting so old, that when I drop her off at school on the rare occasions Allie doesn't take her (like tomorrow), she won't even say goodbye to me as she gets out of the car. Heaven forbid you talk to your mom as you climb out of the minivan! She's way too cool for that!:)

I am constantly amazing at this girl and how responsible, happy and caring she is. Yes, there are days when our personalities clash a little, the teenage years are gonna be fun! But I truly love this sweet girl and am so grateful that she made me a mom just over 7 years ago.

ANOTHER blog, and going private

In an effort to somewhat simplify my life, (HAHAHA), I have a new blog! I know, you'd think if I really wanted to simplify I would just delete them all, but no,  I'm just deleting taffy apple and the photography blog, and am making them both one blog, Hopscotch Studios. It's mostly done, and maybe I can post on it more than once a month, but we'll see.

Also, because my blogs are all linked together, and I don't need people from all over the world reading all about my kiddos, I think I'm going to go private. So, if you wanna keep reading, cause we're so very interesting,:) send me your email!

Ever so thankful!

So I missed yesterday. I kinda have a feeling that's gonna happen more than once, what can I say, I'm a slacker that way!:)

So, I've got a couple things I'm thankful for today, you know, to make up for yesterday. So today, I'm so grateful for the health of my family and myself. So often, we aren't thankful for our health until we're sick, and having recently been there I really am grateful for good health. Not only that, but Thank goodness we have modern medicine to help us recover quicker, or at the very least, ease our pain while we are sick. I can't help but think of mothers way back when, who had to watch their children have fevers, and not be able to do anything about it. It's awful to have to watch your children suffer when they're sick, and not know how to help them, seriously, motrin can be my best friend some days!

Now, this next one may seem a little shallow, but to me it's such a big deal! I am SO grateful that the yucky spider I smashed tonight with Peyton's bike, was outside. Cause when I smashed that yucky spider, about a hundered yucky baby spiders scattered!!! I have heard that happens, but haven't actually seen it. OH MY GOSH! I have the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it. I may have a nightmare tonight. I can't imagine what I would have done had that thing been indoors. I probably couldn't sleep here. Okay, that may be an exaggeration, but I would have used a whole can of raid. So I'm grateful that bugs are generally outside, and I may start rethinking smashing spiders in the house, just in case.