Unbelievable....

So, I used to teach pre-K. I interned in Kindergarten classes. I love this age and one of the big reasons is their kindness and inability to see negative things. Well, the world is changing. I remember interning in a kindergarten class and there was a little boy who was a little person. The kids loved helping him, and were so kind to him. I've always seen there was no discrimination or ugliness at that age.

Well, my 4 year old got teased in pre-school. Her little face telling me the story broke my heart. I was getting her snack packed for school, and was pouring water into her Mickey water bottle (Mikayla has a princess water bottle). Brianna said, "Mommy could you please put my water in something else?". Her little eyes were pleading me to not put the water bottle in her backpack. I immediately agreed and asked her why. She said that, Jaylee, a little girl in her class told her that her Mickey water bottle was for babies. That only babies like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She was mortified. UGH. She is four!!! Four year olds can love MMC!!! This made me so upset for her even though it was something small...no one can hurt my kids :).

Anyway, maybe this is why they now LOVE Wizards of Waverly Place and The Suite Life with Zach and Cody. Last night over the monitor we heard the girls saying..."I'm going to marry Max" "I'm going to marry Justin" and then giggling like crazy (these are characters from Wizards. Then, I went in to tell them to quiet down because the baby was trying to fall asleep 5 feet away, and Brianna said she was marrying Cody and Mikayla was marrying Zach...oh geez :). I would much prefer MMC over them at 4 years old having tv crushes ;).

Baby is 6 months!

Joshua is six months old...seriously half of a year has gone by?!?!? This is craziness....he's huge too...like overnight, huge. I'm emotional about my last baby getting big...but it is fun seeing the new things he's doing. We had his 6 mo. dr. visit today, and he's doing great. 50th percentile for weight ( 16 lbs. 12 oz) and 80th percentile for height (27 inches). He's such a happy boy, he's finally in his crib (since Monday!)...he wakes up at 3am to eat and I bring him in my room until he's up from 7...but the fact that he'll sleep in his crib until 3 makes me think that once he's sleeping through the night he'll do fine in his crib...WAHOO! He also loves to eat. His favorites are: sweet potatoes, bananas, carrots, green beans, pears, peaches...he's not a fan of peas or prunes (but, can you blame him?)....he also loves oatmeal and hates ric cereal. I love this age where he's easily distracted. He'll get fussy and so I'll read Goodnight Moon (his favorite), or do the itsy bitsy spider and immediately he's happy.

The girls are officially 4 1/2....craziness...they are now closer to FIVE than four. UGH. They are so wonderful, sweet and smart. Nelson is absolutely loving this age. I do love it too, but they push my buttons more at this age. The whining, and arguing....really I thought that was a teenage thing...wasn't ready for it in full force already. Mikayla is still such a girly girl...she loves putting on "lipstick" (chapstick) and wearing dress-up shoes all day. Brianna is such a quick thinker and can spin anything to make it work to her advantage...she's always been my little lawyer :). Brianna is on her 3rd ear infection of the year, and the Dr. said today if she gets 4 in one year they usually refer to a specialist. So, I'm so hoping she does better. OK, off to get stuff done around the house...all 3 kids are alseep at the SAME time :).

Oldest and Youngest

We went over to my Grandparents house yesterday. I feel guilty that we aren't there more often. I absolutely love though that every time we go there are little traditions with my kids and their great-grandparents. Every time we visit my grandpa gets the girls cookies and milk, and then they play choo choo train and my grandpa and the girls switch off on who the conductor/engineer/caboose will be. There are 3 chairs in a row that they sit in and they think it's so much fun. Yesterday my Grandpa brought out my Great-Grandma's school bell and let the girls ring it. When I told the girls we were going to see Pop Pop and Gigi, they said they couldn't wait for cookies and to play train :). Sure enough as soon as we got there my Grandpa was getting it ready for them :).

My Grandma spent our visit holding Joshua. He adores her. He was grabbing her fingers, rubbing her face and cooing at her the whole time. It was super sweet...the oldest person in my family with the youngest person in the family. It always makes me miss my Nannie when I think about how much I love my kids knowing their Great-Grandparents. At least they will know my Dad's parents.

My camera battery died right when we got there...but luckily I was able to capture this before the camera turned off...

Beautiful Saturday...

I love the warm weather...part of the reason why I believe I will forever be a Floridian. Today the warmth was back, and we all couldn't have been happier. Literally when I put shorts on Brianna the other day she said, "Really? I get to wear these!?" When I told her yes she asked if we could go swimming, lol. Unfortunately our pool won't be warm for awhile.

Enjoying that gummy grin before he has teeth...such an amazing happy boy.

Ah, spring clothes...and unbelievably cute kids! Aren't they perfect?!?!?!?

The swing is humming in the background...yes, baby is still in our room. I have a love/hate relationship with this. I love how he looks over at me and immediately falls asleep and feels safe and secure. I love how he'll grab Nelson's shirt and my shirt and smile and close his eyes. How when he wakes up he immediately rolls over and clings on to me to nurse. I hate that when he turns 6 months and we make the transition to his room and crib it's going to be SO hard....for all of us. We are going to do the ferber method and let him cry but go in and soothe him every 5-10 min. I hate that he doesn't have a twin in his room with him to let him know he's not alone. I think about this often. In a way having twins and then a singleton is hard because there were so many things I never worried about because the girls had each other...and now I think of so many things where Joshua is alone or going to be alone in a situation and I worry for him. It's so silly...and I know he'll be fine...but I guess it's the fact that he's my baby...I don't know. So, love/hate....I'm praying he doesn't cry much...don't know how much I'll be able to handle. I'm praying he is able to sleep well in his room. I said I would never let a baby sleep in our bed. Never say never. Ugh.

Documenting life....

I have been reading a blog since February that has me excited when there's a new post. I hope everyone goes to check it out. www.kellehampton.com She's a mom, photographer, blogger. Her blog got a lot of hits though January 29th when she posted her birth story. She anxiously awaited the birth of her second child, her second daughter...and when she was born she was shocked to see her baby girl has down syndrome. It's an inspirational and wonderful blog. I absolutely LOVE her pictures. She takes pictures of everything.

I also do this. I take pictures of baby toes, big matching twin smiles, sleeping husband and babe, playing, living, eating...everything. If I've forgotten my camera you know it's been a difficult morning ;). I absolutely love documenting our lives. I think it's amazing that someday my kids can look back and have so many images to see what their childhood was filled with.

Now, I'm over a year behind in my scrapbooking...but my kids can enjoy the pictures in boxes, right? ;) I'll eventually catch up :)....Take lots of pictures through your journey! I already look back at expressions captured and it brings me back to a certain moment full of joy.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Visitors Galore!

What a whirlwind these past couple weeks. We have so many loved ones who don't live close and they all seemed to come down and visit around the same time! Anna and her husband Shawn came down the end of February and first week of March and it was so great getting to hang out. Anna has been one of my closest friends since middle school, and she's been a big part of my kids' lives too.

Then, Nelson's childhood best friend, Menash, and his family came down. They have 2 little girls. Their oldest daughter is 7 months younger than my girls and was their first friend :). They now live in New York.

Just this past week one of my closest friends, Alison, and her husband Bob and their daughter Mabel came down from Washington. It was so wonderful to meet Mabel. She's two weeks younger than Joshua, and I absolutely loved seeing them interact with each other. I so wish we lived closer.