Happy New Year

It has been awhile since we have had time to post. We all have had a different holiday this year. We were all sick and more home bound this holiday season. We like to get out and see lots of family during the holidays, but that just didn't work well this year.

The boys are busy growing and staying busy. Zac and Justin are doing well and enjoying school. Aaron is turning 4 soon and is very excited to have his birthday coming up. He has been counting the days since thanksgiving. Caleb is busy, busy, busy. He is talking more and doing many bigger boy things. He loves to run and play with his brothers. He and Aaron are very devoted to watching over Rebekah and making sure she is cared for. That brings me to Rebekah. She is doing well over all. We are looking to go back to Charleston (MUSC) this month for a heart cath. We are moving closer to surgery in a few months to hopefully repair her heart and lungs. Besides her heart problems Rebekah is changing and doing normal baby things every day. She is almost rolling over, babbling more and more, and playing with toys. She loves to touch faces, pull her brothers hair, and cuddle on the couch with Daddy. She sits up with a little help and enjoys watching all the things going on around her.

Mom and Dad are doing well too. We enjoy the time spent with all the kids. We love to watch them grow, ask questions, and try to figure new things out. Mommy tries hard to keep up with everyones busy schedules and keep things running at home. Daddy is enjoying his new job and working hard to provide for all this gang.

We are very thankful for all the blessings and many ways the Lord has provided and cared for us thru 2009. We look forward to what he has in store for us in 2010. We trust and know he will take care of us. There are a lot of uncertain things up coming for us with Rebekah's care , but we are confident that the Lord has already made provision for all of it. We look forward to his leading and guiding of our family.

D

A Little of this and a little of that!

Warning: This post might be a little all over the place as I attempt to catch you up on the last few weeks of happenings around here!

First, all of our boys are growing!! We are amazed at the amount of food they are beginning to pack away...literally, more than I eat most meals! These are some pictures of a recent Sunday afternoon when we opened our kitchen ice cream shoppe! :)

Zachary

Justin

Aaron

Caleb

We get comments all the time when we are out and about regarding the size of our family and the ages of the kids. One of the most frequent comments is how much the boys are like little stair steps. Well, we measured them yesterday, and there is a reason they look like little stair steps - because they are! Would you believe, each of the boys is exactly six inches shorter than his next oldest brother??!! In descending order, our children are 48" (Zachary), 42" (Justin), 36" (Aaron) and 30" (Caleb). How fun is that??!

Sweetly sleeping!

Rebekah did not have the greatest news at her weight check today. We will be meeting with a gastroenterologist (GI doctor) sometime in the next two weeks to decide on a new feeding plan. You can read all the details on Rebekah's blog here.

Yes, Caleb is in my pantry sorting and eating my potatoes!

Do any of your kids like to eat potatoes...raw? Apparently Caleb does! If we forget to latch the pantry door, this is what we inevitably find....a small pile of neatly sorted potatoes with a nibble or two taken from most of them. Last week, Drew even woke up to find a potato in our bed! We are still trying to figure out when and how Caleb got it there.

Yes, that is Caleb, and yes, he is in Rebekah's swing....

Along with potato-loving, Caleb loves his sister. And more than he loves his sister, he loves his sister's toys! We frequently find Caleb in the swing, in the bouncy chair, lying on her floor mat and in Rebekah's car seat. You know, when we don't find him in the pantry!

Eating breakfast on Zachary's first day of second grade.

The saying goes all good things must come to an end and that is exactly what this summer did! Today was Zachary's first day at Brushy Creek Elementary, and we were all up early to take him to school. Zachary's teacher is Mrs. Lewis, and we have been really impressed with her classroom management and organization. Zachary thrives on a schedule and routine, so we were very pleased about his placement in Mrs. Lewis' room. He had a good day overall and is looking forward to getting more books and learning something tomorrow.

Zachary is ready to learn!

At some point during the school day each of the students in Zachary's class had to give a brief "About Me" speech to the class. Zachary (who is never at a loss for words!) told me this afternoon that he told his class all about Rebekah and his brothers. He is such a sweet big brother! :)

I'm off to finish up a few chores and get ready for tomorrow. The alarm rings too early for our new school schedule!

Nancy

Something's missing around here.....

Wow! I leave for an hour or two, and came back to find a very significant part of Justin was missing - his tooth!!! Justin lost his first tooth today, and was so very proud of it! I barely had time to get adjusted to him having a loose tooth, and now he has a lost tooth! We had corn on the cob for supper last night, and Justin kept complaining that his teeth hurt when he ate his corn. We checked and found that his tooth was VERY loose, and he hadn't even realized it! I wish that I had my camera in hand when it dawned on him that he was going to lose his first tooth. I don't think I've ever seen his eyes get so big! :) Anyway, he had a loose tooth for less than 24 hours before it came out (with a lot of wiggling on his part!). He was very excited about what the Tooth Fairy might be leaving under his pillow tonight!

Showing off our new smile!

In other news, our little turkey has taken to sand like he was born for it! For all of his issues with textures, Caleb loved playing in the sandbox this morning with his friends, Trevor and Peyton. When all was said and done, he had sand from his toes to his hair and loved every minute of it!

And if you are looking for an update on Rebekah, check out her blog here for the latest scoop. Just a month left until we get to meet our little girl! :)

Nancy

Just a little busy

It has been another  busy week here.  We had a great Memorial Day weekend with Grammy and Grampy at their house.  The boys got to get in their first swim of the summer season in Grampy's pool.  We enjoyed the time to relax for a bit.  

After the weekend, Mommy, Daddy, and Caleb headed home.  Aaron, Justin, and Zac stayed the rest of the week.  They had a great time swimming and playing with Grampy.  They wrote letters and did projects with Grammy.   I think all five of them were tired by the end of the week.  

The boys had one evening at home and then more excitement.  The cousins arrived to play for the day on Saturday.  Also, the ladies attended the surprise baby shower for Mommy and Rebekah.  Everyone played until they were worn out.  

Caleb had a great week spending lots of time with Daddy while the brothers were away.  He went to his first occupational therapy appointment on Wednesday.  He did very well.  They are going to be working with him for several months on eating a variety of different textured foods.  He has already shown some improvement in what he is eating thanks to Mommy's patience in helping him.  

The therapist also suggested that some of his problem could be physical. They want to send him for a swallow test to see if the valve that closes off his airways is working properly.  He can tell that this doesn't feel right, so he may be refusing to eat some things. So there is more testing ahead for Caleb.  But he is doing better, and we are trying to get him all the help we can.  

Nancy and Rebekah had a doctor's appointment this week that went okay. Nancy is measuring about 2 weeks small still.  One week from Tuesday we are off to have another ultrasound and growth check.  This will also be our last check up with the cardiologist here in Greenville before delivery.  Daddy also had time to get Rebekah's crib set up this week.  

We are off to see Nana and Papa this week.  We are making our last trips to grandparents for some much needed time together before we are unable to travel because of Rebekah's needs.  We are hoping to be able to travel again for the end of the year holidays to see everyone.  

I guess that is about all we have been up to this week.  I am sure if I forgot something Nancy will add to this post.  I hope everyone has great week.  

D

A Belated Birthday Post

I know, it has been forever, but here are the pictures and updates from Caleb's first birthday (finally!).  At Caleb's first birthday, he weighed 20.2 pounds and was 29 and 3/4 inches tall.  You can't really see it in these pictures, but he has the most adorable curls on the back of his head! I hope he keeps his curly hair! :)

I love my new sandals from Uncle Scott and Aunt Aimee!

What is in this bag??!! Can it be what I think it is?

It is! It is! It is a twin of Aaron's favorite bear, Slumbers.

Caleb now has his own favorite bear - Cuddles!

Look! I can tear paper and no one tells me "no!"

Because of Caleb's food allergies, his cake was kind of boring,

but he had fun "blowing" out the candle with Daddy.

Caleb promptly flipped his plate of cake onto the table and had

as much fun playing with the plate as he did eating cake. :)

By far the favorite present was a toy

lawnmower from Papa and Nana. 

Our living room grass carpet has never been so manicured!

The other favorite was Caleb's very own 

camp chair from Grampy and Grammy.

Caleb is so very proud when he sits in it like his big brothers.

Look at the big boy!

At a year old, Caleb can say mama, dada, gac (Zac), something resembling Justin (ju-di?), ah-duh (all done), bye-bye, nigh-nigh (night-night) and a ferocious grunt while simultaneously standing on his tiptoes which means pick me up!

We still have some eating issues that we are working on with the help of our occupational therapist, Becci. We are hoping to see some good progress in the coming weeks! Because of Caleb's allergies, his menu is quite limited, but he still loves to eat! Some of his favorite foods include cantaloupe, strawberries, apples, bananas, mango, carrots, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, cheerios, graham crackers and Club crackers. Caleb is still eating all of his vegetables and meats (when he will eat meat!) in a pureed form, but we are working to transition him to more solid textures. He has made great progress with his fruits! Our other big goal is for Caleb to start drinking his milk (He can only have hemp milk due to allergies.) from a sippy cup rather than a bottle. We have struggled with the transition from bottle to cup with the formula and milk.

Caleb's favorite playthings are still his brothers! :) He loves to follow them around and try to copy what he sees them do. Caleb also loves to "read" books, play with cars and trucks, swing and slide, play peek-a-boo and recently has become fascinated with the Leap Frog Learning Town Farm which Aaron got for Christmas last year. We have had so much fun dropping the blocks in and watching them slide down to the bottom! :)

We are so thankful for Caleb and his happy personality in our house. He is truly our little ray of sunshine! :)

A Long Week

Well where to begin.  We have had a very long week.  I guess first of all since everyone has been asking. 

 

My interview of a couple of weeks ago.  I did here back from the company.  They are unable to do anything right now.  They are still interested and told me they are waiting on securing a couple more contracts before they would be able to bring me on.  They also mentioned some staff changes maybe will be coming up in about a month.  They have an intern leaving soon that i know about.  So we are going to wait and see what might or might not happen.  We did get some good news that we have a new house to start on Monday at the company I am currently working at.  So I should have rough framing work for another 3 or 4 months.  

It has been  a long time since I have done any rough framing, but it comes back to you like riding a bike.  At least I am not stuck in an office or store some where.  I have always enjoyed working outside in the fresh air.  I also have the privilege of working with some very good friends. 

Now for the rest of the family.  Justin and Zac are working hard at finishing up school soon.  They also are enjoying memorizing there verses and key truths for kids 4 truth on Wednesday nights at church.  Especially Justin.  Mom and I are very proud of them.  Justin had a good report from school and is more then ready for K5 next year.  He is also very excited about going into K5.  

Aaron got to keep Mommy company on all the many doctor visits this week.  He is doing well and growing like a weed.  He is enjoying riding his big boy bike and we tried playing catch last night for the first time with his new ball glove.  

Mr. Caleb has had a very busy week.  He is getting taller and into everything.  He is a very busy boy who loves the outdoors, now that it has gotten warmer.  He is talking more and more.  He loves to play and chase his brothers.  Caleb had a good one year check up this week.  He also saw the Allergist this week and had allergy testing done.  Not so good news there.  He tested positive reaction to most of the tests.  He is allergic to soy, wheat, milk, and a whole bunch more.  They are doing some more testing to confirm that the 1st test was accurate.  He had to have blood tests done to do this.  I guess this in its self was an adventure.  He had to have blood drawn from his arm.  Nancy had the joy of wrestling him to be still while they did this.   Hopefully we will not have to do this to often.  

Nancy was very busy as a taxi service this week to get to all these doctor appts.  She also saw her regular baby doctor this week.  She had a good check up but is still measuring small.  So far Rebekah is still growing at a normal rate so they are not to concerned.  We are now down to every two weeks check ups.  It won't be long now and Rebekah will be here.  Time flies.  

Mom is also enjoying sleeping in today and badly needs the rest.  She is getting excited about Rebekah coming soon and trying to think of all the things she needs to get done by then.  

I think the boys will have a little slower week this week.  Nancy, I and Miss Rebekah will be taking a trip to Charleston on Wednesday and Thursday this week.  We will be meeting several new doctors and the staff at MUSC.  We are hoping to learn where we will be for delivery and surgery and make any final arrangements we need to to prepare for Rebekah's coming.  

I am sure if i missed anything Nancy will correct me with her version.  I hope you all have a great week.  

D

Weekend Fun!

The weather this weekend was beautiful, and we took advantage of it! Caleb ventured outside for the first time as a walking baby (not just being held or in the stroller or crawling), and he did very well keeping his balance in the grass. He loved walking to the fence and looking through to the neighbor kids down the hill from us.

This was also the weekend that Justin decided the training wheels were coming off his bike! Once Drew took them off, that was it....Justin was gone, never to look back. He is loving having the training wheels gone just like his big brother! :)

Aaron was being his cute little self and posing for a picture. He is also doing well riding his bike (with training wheels). He is also very good about remembering to wear his helmet without me having to tell him. Most times, he's better at remembering than Zachary is!

Aaron, Caleb and I have all been struggling with allergies this weekend, so I stayed home with the two little boys today. They had enough of a runny nose (and Caleb has a low-grade temp) that I did not feel comfortable putting them in the church nurseries. Aaron did a lot of cuddling, and we read a lot of books.  We spent almost an hour looking at his favorite - Where's Waldo. (Remember this post?) Aaron has been studying that book and can find most things faster than I can! He usually can find Waldo, Wenda, the Wizard, Od-waw, Woof (which is just a tail, by the way, not the whole dog!), the camera, winnokwers (binoculars), the key, the bone and the stroll (scroll). He also likes to spot the Waldo watchers on each page. I enjoy looking at the book with him just to hear his comments and watch him study the pictures. It's fun to see it from a three-year-old perspective!

Zachary and Justin decided to get in on the posing, as well, and wanted to show off their new haircuts. Zac said short, so I cut it short, and then he told me it wasn't short enough! He said if Caleb could pull his hair still that I didn't cut it short enough. So, we went for Round 2 with the clippers and cut it as short as Mommy will go. It is kind of fun to rub his fuzzy head now. :)

We are headed for a busy week and a trip to see Papa and Nana by the end of the week. Drew told the kids today, and they are beyond excited!! I'm fully anticipating Aaron waking up in the morning ready to pack his suitcase! :)

Nancy

This 'N That

So this post is a little all over the place, but I had some cute pictures to post.......

Two Saturdays ago we went to the park for a picnic lunch.  This was Caleb's first park visit that he was really old enough to do anything more than sleep in the stroller! :)  He is addicted to slides, and we found that he really loves the swings, too.  Big surprise there.....all of his brothers love to swing, too! :)

Don't you just love that cheeky little grin??? (Caleb's, not Daddy's! :)

Justin completed his first school report about two weeks ago.  His teacher assigned each of them a different animal to research.  Justin had to answer questions about the cheetah - what it eats, where it lives, how it moves, what it looks like, and what sound(s) it makes.  He then colored some of the cheetah pictures and cut all of them out and glued them on the paper.  He was SO proud of his project!!

As you can imagine, we have no lack of bicycles around this house, and there is a bike for every size!  Aaron was getting a little big to be riding the Big Wheel plastic "bike," so Drew recommended that he try the little "big boy" bike.  He loved it!!!! He can pedal all over the cul-de-sac all on his own power. He is so proud to be riding a "real" bike like his brothers!! Of course, Zachary and Justin had to show off their bike skills, too....complete with gunbelts and six-shooters!  :)

Two very fast-pedalin' little hot shots!!

And our happy boy....little Caleb.  He loves to play (especially when his brothers leave him alone long enough to play with his toys!).  He is officially walking now - meaning he walks more than he crawls! Talk about proud of himself....his grin stretches from ear to ear.  Drew even found him "running" from one end of his crib to the other tonight after we put him in bed!! No lack of energy and activity at this house! :)

Miss Rebekah has some activity of her own this week.  Tomorrow morning at 9:15 we will meet with her cardiologist for a level 2 ultrasound (mainly of her heart) so the cardiologist can view it for himself and give us his opinion of what is going on.  We will be sure to update you all with any news he gives us.  For now, she is content to continue gymnastics practice with her flips and wiggles.  :)

Nancy

It's SNOW!!!!!

You know that it doesn't snow here much (if at all!) when the Sunday evening entertainment was lining up by the door and watching the snow fall....and fall....and fall!  In all, we got between 3 and 4 inches, which by the boys' standards, was enough for a blizzard!! :-)  They especially enjoyed the ride home from church in the snow.

We were all dressed up to go outside!  We had to get hats, scarves, gloves, mittens and the whole nine yards.  We so rarely get to use all of this stuff that the kids wanted it ALL!!

I just LOVE the little footprints in the snow........

Aaron had so much fun "shoveling" snow and pushing it around in his wheelbarrow. 

Justin's biggest thrill was throwing snowballs at us....very sneakily, I might add!!

Aaron was just so excited to be out in the snow.  I think this is really the first time he remembers snow, and definitely snow of any measurable significance.

Zachary's biggest dream was to have enough snow to make a snow angel.  It was really kind of crusty, so the angel didn't come out great, but he was thrilled to be able to do it!!

Daddy showed the boys how to make a snowman.  They have never had enough snow to make a snowman before, so they had a lot of fun.  Justin named ours "Mr. Snow Manny."  I know - how original! :-)  He was about two feet tall, he had black jelly bean eyes, a baby carrot nose, some icicle hair spikes and a blue scarf.  The kids considered him the coolest snowman ever!

And after fun was had by all, Mommy made a warm bubble bath in the big bathtub for us all to play in.  Caleb was napping through all of the outdoor activities, but he did join the boys for a bath.  Unfortunately, Drew didn't get a really good picture of all four boys in the tub, but this one of the older three was pretty cute!

Lest we leave Caleb out completely, I'll put in this picture I took last week.  The older boys were outside playing, but Caleb was just about to lay down for a nap, so I didn't take him out.  He stood at the window for ten minutes or more just watching his brothers play.  :)

Justin doesn't know yet, but school is cancelled again for tomorrow.  He will be thrilled, but it's back to the books for Zachary!  One snow day is enough for any homeschooler!!! :-)

Nancy

Happy 10 months!

While I knew that Caleb's 10 month birthday was coming up soon, it didn't occur to me until around dinner time tonight that it was today! I just hadn't stopped to look at a calendar...

Anyway, our big boy is getting bigger and bigger! He is over 19 pounds and is 28 and 3/4 inches long.  He is almost walking on his own, and if he doesn't think about it, he will take a step or two without holding on to something.  It seems that when we are trying to get him to take steps then he realizes what he's doing and plops down to crawl! :)

Caleb waves bye-bye almost everytime you say the word now.  He also starts waving bye-bye when we walk up the stairs for naps and bedtime.  Caleb loves to shake his head "no" and even if someone mentions the word no in a sentence, Caleb is likely to start shaking away! It is really funny!!

This is how Caleb is playing peek-a-boo now.  He sometimes will cover his eyes with his hands, but a lot of times will scrunch up his face and close his eyes waiting for you to ask, Where's Caleb?

Then he pops his eyes open and starts laughing while waiting for you to respond  There he is!!

In other news,  all of the boys are thoroughly enjoying a Western/cowboy phase right now.  Papa and Nana gave them Roy Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy DVD's for Christmas, and they choose those for every movie time. Uncle David gave the older three cowboy pistols and holsters for Christmas, and I probably buckle and unbuckle gunbelts more times in a day than I can count! Aaron races through the house shouting "Woy Wod-gders, where are you?"  And then, "I just put the bye-guys (bad guys) in jail then locked the door so the bye-guys won't skape (escape) away! (To bad guys: The rule is - you can't come out!)  Justin can't be outdone, so he rounds up his bad guys and tells them "You're going to prison and they have guard-er people to make sure you don' get out!"  Yep, the Wild West is alive and kickin' here at the Ellis Dude Ranch! :)

Some other common sayings from Aaron these days: "Come here! I wanna have a cummersation (conversation) with you!" and "It's not meeeeee! I didn't do anything!"  And we know that he was probably up to something when the first answer to our question is "It's not my fault! It's just not my fault!!" I wish I could follow Aaron (well, all the boys, really) around with a recorder because there are so many other cute things they say that I know I'm not remembering.

And, not to be outdone by her older brothers, Miss Rebekah has started getting in on the action with a few definite flips and wiggles of her own! The boys haven't been able to feel her move yet, but I sure can!!  Maybe I see gymnastics in our future! :)  Our next check-up is this Thursday.

I think that's about all the news from this ranch. Hope you all have a good weekend!!

Nancy

Catching up with Caleb

This afternoon, being that it was frigidly cold (well, okay, below 30), I let the boys set up what they refer to as their "tent."  It's really a series of pop-up rooms and tunnels that they love to play in and would probably get out on a daily basis if I wanted my living room to look like this every day!  Anyway, this is the first time since Caleb has been mobile that the tent has been out while he was awake.  I loved his reaction to it!

You want me in there??!?

Okay, I'll think about it...

Ha, ha, ha!  Yeah, that is so not happening!

Boy, how time flies the first year!  Caleb will be 9 months old tomorrow, and he is way into cruising right now.  Anything is fair game - around the toy chest, down the couches, even a wall or door works for balance!  He has been braver about taking a little step here or there without holding on to something.  I've seen him step between the couch and toy chest a couple of times without having something to grab on to.  

Caleb isn't really into talking that much (too busy trying to walk and keep up with three older brothers!), but he does say "ah duh" (all done), "dada" (daddy) and "uh oh."  We (I) keep trying to get him to say "mama" but nothing yet.  He does spontaneously say "Mmmm" when he has a bite of something he likes (such as the cherry popsicle he tried a few days ago!).

Caleb likes to play peek-a-boo.  He "covers" his eyes with his hands (covering usually means that one eye is covered and he's peeking with the other eye!).  Then he waits for someone to ask "Where's Caleb?" and he throws his hands in the air and giggles.  He also is waving more and clapping anytime someone says "yay!"  As in "Yay, Caleb, you ate all your food!"

Our tooth count has gone up quite a bit this month...and we're still working on more!  Caleb has seemed to spread out getting his teeth much more than his older brothers.  Each of the older ones seemed to get 5 or 6 at a time and then we had a break before the next round of teeth.  Caleb seems to get one tooth at a (painstakingly slow!) time.  He now has all four teeth across the top in various stages of growth, and his two bottom front teeth are in.  We are working on the other two bottom teeth in the front to round out the four.  So at nine months, our total tooth count is six!

We have a nine-month check-up coming up in a couple of weeks, so I'll have all the pertinent stats then, but the last time we were at the doctor's (for Justin's strep throat), he was 18 lbs. and 10 ozs.!!  Pretty unbelievable when I stop to think about all the foods that he can't eat because of his allergies!

Happy nine months, Caleb!  You're growing into such a big boy!!!

Nancy

Catching Up!

I know it's been a few days since my last post, so this post will probably be all over the place catching up on what has happened. 

Sunday, we all made it to church in the morning, but Caleb refused to willingly stay with the nursery workers (without screaming loudly enough to be heard through half of the building!), so I ended up spending Sunday school and church time in the nursery with him.  He never did take a morning nap, which only compounded his grumpiness!  When he finally did fall asleep at 2:30 in the afternoon, I also took a nap.  Drew realized how tired Caleb and I were and decided to let us sleep through evening church.  Justin also wasn't acting like himself, so Drew stayed home to watch the bigger boys and let me sleep.  Good thing, because by late afternoon on Monday, Justin was complaining of a bad headache, a bad sore throat, and had a 101.5 temp.  When we got into the doctor on Tuesday morning, my suspicion of strep throat was confirmed.  :(  Since being on antibiotics, he is doing much better, although I can tell he is dragging a bit by the end of the day.

Yesterday was Drew's birthday (Happy Birthday!!), and Zachary decided that Drew wanted a carrot cake.  So, the boys helped make a yummy carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.  Mmmm!  We also (finally!) finished packing away the remaining Christmas things yesterday and are ready this weekend to set up the office for home schooling.

This morning, Justin was well enough to go back to school, which he was very excited about.  He said that he had a great time and that at playtime he and Sara Kate and Austin and RJ played football.

After dropping Justin off at school, we headed back to the pediatrician for the second time this week.  Today was Aaron's 3 year check-up.  He was a very big boy and only cried for just a second when his finger was pricked to draw blood.  Everything else checked out just great.  Aaron was born with two heart murmurs, and today the pediatrician said he faintly heard one, but the other is gone altogether!  He is recommending that we don't even need to return to the cardiologist for a follow-up visit!!!  :) Good news when you don't have insurance!  Both murmurs are described as benign, which means that they do not indicate any abnormalities in the heart.  So, the are "normal" murmurs, if there is such a thing.  :)  Aaron is 24.2 pounds and 34.75 inches tall.  We are slowly but steadily climbing up the growth chart!  Zachary on the other hand, is a back-breaking 46.6 pounds!!!!  No wonder I am struggling to fit him into my lap!! :)  Caleb topped the scales at a healthy 18.10 pounds.  He's going to surpass Aaron by his first birthday if he keeps growing at this rate! :)  No kidding, Caleb is wearing clothes that Aaron did not wear until close to his second birthday.

From the doctor's office, we headed to BJES (Zac's school) to pick up his books from first semester.  I was kind of bummed because they did not let us keep all of his reading books, and I argued that we paid for all the books at the beginning of the school year, so we should get them all.  But, the didn't budge, so now I have to buy the complete set of six to get the last 3 books that we need.  Grrrr.  They also did not have a math book or phonics workbook to give us because the teacher tears the pages out of each of them at the beginning of the year, and they said they did not have any others we could have.  SO, on to the resource center to purchase the books we did not have.....I was able to get almost everything we need (I think!) except for the set of reading books.  That will just have to wait as it is almost half of the cost of all the other books combined!  The bright side is that if I do homeschool Justin in first grade, I will have about half of the books that I can re-use from Zac.  If I am able to do quite a bit of planning over the next few evenings and this weekend, I would like to start school this coming week.  Hopefully it will work out that way.

While we were driving around town this morning, I was playing "what if" with Zachary and Aaron.  It's something we do once in a while and something we have fun with.  Sometimes it's "What if you were a bird, what would you do, where would you live, what would you eat, etc.?" But this morning, I decided to check with Aaron to see if he remembered what he should do if he were to get lost.  Nope!  I first asked him what Mommy and Daddy's names were so he could tell an adult if he was lost.  He remembered that Daddy was Drew, but I am just Mommy!  :)  Then I asked him what he would tell an adult if he was lost and couldn't find Mommy and Daddy (thinking he would say, "I'm lost" or "I can't find my Mommy" or something like that).  Nope, again!  Any guesses?  Well, you wouldn't have guessed it anyway.  The most important thing to tell an adult if you can't find your mommy or daddy is "I need to tell them I am scared of monsters!"  :)

What can I say?  He must be his daddy's child!  :)

Nancy

Happy 2009!!

Well, I must say, 2008 held surprises that none of us expected in 2007!  Some were good, some were not so good, but we trust that our Lord is in control and we are exactly where He wants us at the beginning of 2009.

Aaron celebrated his second birthday on January 6 (2008), and he took off socially and developmentally!  We enjoyed seeing his speech and imagination grow in leaps and bounds.  Quite possibly, Aaron is the most imaginative child that we have had thus far!!  He is constantly imagining or creating, and he loves to tell all about his stories.  Aaron is very much looking forward to his third birthday next week and has already requested a chocolate cake with yellow, green and purple (??) frosting.

Justin began 2008 as a four-and-a-half-year old and entering his second half of 3-year kindergarten.  Because Justin's birthday falls in mid-September, we made the decision to start him a year later in school.  So, he actually had his fourth birthday about 2 weeks after he began K-3.  We have not regretted our decision a bit!  This year, he is flourishing in K-4 and has already begun to read simple words, write his name (and his letters), and do some simple addition and subtraction.  Justin is a very logical thinker and will spend time studying and analyzing a situation before he jumps in.  Justin accepted Christ as his Saviour at Thanksgiving this year, and it has been such a blessing to watch him learn and grow in the last couple of months.  Justin is excited to be going back to school next week to see his friends.

Zachary......where to start with Zachary.  He is our headstrong, always right, loving, gentle bull-in-a-china-shop son.  :)  It amazes me how one six-year-old can be opposite extremes within minutes!  Zachary celebrated his sixth birthday in March and graduated from Kindergarten in May.  We have now entered the world of first grade - yikes!  Zachary accepted Christ in July, and he has been so eager to learn and please his Saviour.   In September Zachary started first grade, and we have been so pleased with his progress this year.  He began the year a bit behind in reading (compared to the rest of the class - I thought he was just fine!), but by Christmas break, he has quickly moved up and is a very fluent reader.  Some of his favorite Christmas presents were chapter books, which he is enjoying reading.  Just before Christmas break, Zachary was tested for an auditory processing weakness, which was confirmed.  His ears work fine, but his brain is not correctly processing all of the sounds that he hears.  So, we are going to be working on some skills to strengthen his processing when school resumes.

In April, Caleb arrived and has been growing and growing!  He is crawling, cruising, waving, clapping and playing peek-a-boo.  Fruits and veggies are a big hit, as are turkey and chicken.  In the last few weeks, we have been transitioning from nursing to bottle-feeding, and Caleb has taken to it like a pro!  Before we know it, April will be here and our little guy will be a year old already.

Mommy has had a good year.  In March, I finished the required classes to renew my teaching certification for another five years (whew!).  In the summer, I spent many hours at the pool with the boys (even Caleb!) swimming and playing.  In August, the entire family enjoyed a long weekend at the beach for the wedding of one of Drew's cousins.  In November, we were all very surprised to find out that our family is growing again!  This little one is due July 18, and hopefully in February we will find out if this is Kyle or Rebekah!  :)

Daddy had a not-so-great April Fool's Day this year when he was laid off due to the company closing.  Since then, Drew has been self-employed, doing whatever work he can find.  He does have a potential job possibility sometime after the first of the year, but we are waiting to hear back from them.   All in God's timing!  

As we begin 2009, we are excited to see what the Lord has in store for us.  Happy New Year!

8 Months!!

Where has the time gone???   It seems like just a few days ago we were bringing home our biggest baby yet - Caleb was a whopping 8 lbs. and 5 ozs. compared to his next oldest brother at 5 lbs. and 2 ozs.!!  You can imagine we were quite surprised to have such a butterball.

But now, 8 months later, we have a bouncing happy baby boy.  Caleb is crawling everywhere, pulling up on everything and cruising up and down the couch.  He is so proud of his accomplishments and loves it when Drew and I notice what he is doing.  Sometimes, he even claps for himself and forgots to hold on to the couch and falls on his little bottom!  :)

Caleb really gave Drew a surprise yesterday and said "da-da" for the first time.  Since then, he has been saying it over and over.  Now, I'm trying to encourage Caleb to say it in the middle of the night when he wakes up!  :)  He's also trying to say something like "ah-duh" for all done.  

In the teeth department, Caleb is a little behind his brothers' records.  He now has 3 teeth - two on the bottom and his top left tooth in the front.  He is vigorously chewing and drooling to try to work the top right tooth through.  

Because of his dairy protein and soy allergies, we have to be a little creative in the food department.  Caleb pretty much enjoys all of the foods he has tried with some of his favorites being mango, peaches, pears, applesauce, sweet potatoes and squash.  He also eats bananas, plums, apricots, white potatoes, pumpkin, green beans, broccoli, rice, cheerios and crackers.  I have to be very diligent in reading labels - have you ever looked to see how many foods have milk or soy products in them???!!  I have been reading online in the evenings to find alternative options for food products that we can use.  It's mind-boggling, but I am trying to make sense of what foods will be the best for our little bug in the next few months.

Happy 8 months, Caleb!!

Mommy

Teeth

Zachary is thrilled to be able to say that he lost his 8th tooth at lunch today!  Unfortunately, he really did lose the tooth somewhere in the cafeteria.  He was a bit worried that the tooth fairy might not give him a fair exchange, but his teacher and I reassured him that it would still be okay.  Now I have to remember to prompt the tooth fairy........

Caleb, on the other hand, is still working on his teeth.  He has been somewhat crabby off and on the last couple of days, and he is chewing and drooling like a, well, like a baby!  The next ones to come in are his top front teeth, and his poor gums are so swollen.  Maybe by this weekend he will get some relief!

This tired Mama is heading to bed....y'all have a great night!

Nancy

Catch-Up

Okay, so it's been a while since I last posted.  A thousand pardons......but there has been a lot going on lately!

To start with, Zachary had a red letter day at school today!  His day started off with a smiley face this morning for doing his papers correctly last Tuesday.  Yeah for Zac!!  But the very exciting thing is that he was moved up to the red reading group (the middle group)!!!!  We are so proud of Zachary working hard on his reading and showing so much improvement since the beginning of the year.  Here's Zachary's quote for the day (said while he, Justin and Aaron were cleaning up their balls in the living room), "Justin, don't pick up the balls you can see; pick up the balls that you can't see!!"

Justin also had quite a start to his day.  We were the second car in car line this morning, and as the car in front of us exited the line, I started to move slowly forward.  Well, Justin caught sight of Sara Kate and opened the car door to jump out while the car was moving!!!!!  I snagged the back of his jacket as I hit the brakes and we managed to avert any potential disaster.  Needless to say, I think he missed Sara Kate over Thanksgiving break!  He said they had a fun day at school and played together at play time.

Aaron has been his cute little self today.  In fact, I told him this evening that if he got any cuter I'd have to send him back.  He told me "You don't send me back.  I Aaron; I stay here."  :)  According to Aaron, our dinner was "some getti" (anyone want to guess?), and he ate lots of it!  Aaron also spread his pants out on the floor to put them on and told me "It's [the pants] like a swimming pool!"  When I asked him why, he replied "You just dive in!"  Too much!

Caleb has been crawling and exploring all over the house.  Unlike the other boys, he seems to like having something in his mouth constantly.  He spent the better part of the evening crawling around the kitchen with a washcloth hanging from his mouth.  He was perfectly happy - snorting and giggling.  Other objects that he enjoys carrying in his mouth are his small stuffed squeaky frog and pieces of plastic food from the play kitchen.  It is really cute to watch; I guess when we took the pacifier away, he came up with his own versions!

And for the last piece of news, for those of you who may not know, we are excited to announce that we are expecting Baby #5 in July!  It will be a while before we find out this baby's gender (or in other words, confirm that he is a boy! :), but we are eagerly anticipating this little one's arrival.  It will add a very new dimension to our household since Caleb and Baby will be only 15 months apart.  We were VERY surprised since we were not even thinking about thinking about trying to get pregnant, and in fact were trying NOT to get pregnant, so this one truly is God's timing!  We'll keep you posted on how things are going for Mommy and Baby!  :)

Nancy

Bath Time Fun!

For the last year or so, the only person in our house taking baths has been Caleb.....until this week!  We had to ban baths in favor of showers when there was more floor (and walls!) getting wet than boys.  But, Justin was given a set of Thomas the Tank Engine bath toys for his birthday, and this is the result.....

Three silly monkeys having fun in the bath tub!

One very unhappy monkey in the bath tub with his brothers.  Contrary to what it may appear, this very unhappy face occured only when I pointed the camera in Caleb's direction.  Once the camera disappeared, so did the very unhappy face and out came the laughs, smiles and splashes.  It was very funny!  I wish I could have gotten some video of it.  :)

All in all, the kiddos had a great time in the tub and I was able to clean their bathroom!  :)