12 on the 12th

Saturday, April 12th


Jonny & Jeremiah are loading up the toys first thing so they're ready to go play when I get up! This is Jonny's last weekend here so the boys wanted to make sure & make it good!

Jackson is just hanging out waiting for the girls to get up! He's usually the first one up in our house.

Ellie gets a lot more "tummy time" than the other kids got - probably because she doesn't hate it like they did!

Somebody at my baby shower gave me a birdseed sock for the kids & they loved seeing the birds come & eat it all. I bought a second one but it didn't last long so I decided to buy a traditional bird feeder & cheap birdseed & today I finally hung it up in the yard.

Ellie's watching House Hunters with me. I watch that a LOT! Especially since I'm nursing so often! It's got to be HGTV's most popular show!

Jonny & our (their) cousin Tyson are headed out the door for a double blind date. Jeremiah's wishing them luck & hoping they'll like their dates!

My mom & dad had to go take somebody some keys an hour out of town so they took Callie & Jackson with them for the ride! It's SO great having my mom & dad live right here! They're a great help to us & do a lot to help me keep my sanity!

Callie & Jack love painting. And I love paint with water books! They're much cleaner than the normal water paints!

Kenny is giving Jack a bath since Jack is totally excited to play with the new Backyardigan's Pirate Ship tub toy that Uncle Kenny just brought him!

Callie is constantly playing dress-up & here is in true princess dance form in her new Princess Aurora dress-up gown that Uncle Kenny just brought her! Uncle Kenny loves to spoil Callie & Jack! They love it too, but he should save his money! :) He's such a good uncle, with or without presents & treats!

It's Saturday night & since we didn't go out we ordered in! It must seem like we eat out a lot! We really didn't before, but we've been eating out a LOT since Ellie was born. There are just not enough hours in the day! Hopefully soon I'll start cooking most of our meals again.

Oh sweet hot tub! How I've missed you! This was the first time in at least 10 1/2 months that I was able to get in! It killed me all winter long when my back was aching & Jeremiah would head out to soak!

Miss Ellie

She's such a good sweet baby but she's pooping us out of house & home! Doesn't she know diapers are a quarter a piece?! Only the best (Pampers Swaddlers!) for our newest little princess!





Here's Callie in the same outfit almost 4 years ago! The first couple days we thought Ellie looked just like Callie's baby pics, but now Ellie definitely has her own looks!

Whirlwind month

So things have been pretty crazy around here, but would you expect anything less? Jeremiah's mom & dad came the weekend before Ellie was born & his mom just left on Saturday (his dad left a few days after Ellie came). It was WONDERFUL having his mom here so long! She kept house, did yardwork, played with Callie & Jack, took care of me (I was able to get lots of naps!), and was just a huge help! Life will definitely be more work now that she's gone. Tara was here for a week too & spent lots of time playing with the kids & also helping out (and my mom's been really helpful too!). My mom and Tara have brought us several wonderful meals and I'm lucky to still have my mom close by to help when I need it. So we're adjusting, but I need several more hours in the day (& more consecutive hours of sleep at night!). Chelsea keeps bugging me to get her more pictures but it's not like I have a lot of free time (or any?) so that's why I'm just now getting some pictures up. Anyway, enjoy!

Ellie is SO sweet & cute!




Callie at Story Time again. Isn't she darling?!



Jack's a funny little guy. I didn't know until him that a 2 year old could have a sense of humor, but he most definitely does! We love it!





Jackson is constantly giving Ellie kisses & hugs. He can't keep his lips off her! Up until recently, almost every time he kissed her he'd say "I wuv babies!" Now he only says it maybe every 3 kisses! :) And he's starting to throw in there that he "wuvs" our baby. He's such a good big brother!


Callie is always asking if she can help me with Ellie. She's a bossy girl & loves to feel important (although who doesn't) so I let her help me as much as I can. She's especially good at throwing away diapers!

Callie's big enough now that she can ride the little midget 4-wheeler all by herself. She LOVES it!

I finally got new glasses! I wanted to be able to see in the middle of the night but I was getting so tired of my contacts sticking for the first half of each feeding!

Jack had been kind of quiet so I went in their room to check on him & found him just chillin' with a book! How cute!

My lousy camera & photography skills do NOT do this justice! Ellie looked SO cute in her little jumpsuit & bunny-ear hat I could have eaten her up!

This is Ellie chillin' at In 'N' Out. I just couldn't help myself with those glasses - aren't they fun?!

This is Jer's sister Tabetha & our niece Sophie at In 'N' Out. Tabby flew in (to Vegas) Monday night and planned on driving back to WA with Jer's mom on Thursday. Instead she spent half her time here in the hospital with Sophie who became severely dehydrated after throwing up tons because of a concussion from 3 good whacks to the head from falling! And to liven things up Tabby ended up with either food poisoning or a flu bug & spent a night puking her brains out! Their drive home was delayed & they weren't able to leave till Saturday. What a terrible, expensive trip Tabetha had! I bet it will be a while before she comes to visit again!

Jeremiah's mom! We miss her already!

Sisters!

Happy Easter!

I'm so proud of the Easter Bunny this year! Normally he goes way overboard with the candy (there are just so many good ones and it can't be helped that they come in big bags when you only need a small amount). This year the EB kept things very simple. I think the EB enjoyed the fact that WalMart had candy by color so he was able to get bags of all pink and all blue jelly beans & all pink Cadbury Mini Eggs (those were in Ellie's basket - they must have been meant for me)! And the choices for the egg hunt were great! Fruit snacks, stickers, and those Sweet Tart chicks, ducks & bunnies. Callie did comment that the EB should come back tonight to leave baskets for me & Jer! :)

Callie-ism (and even stuff from Jack!)

Callie was having a rough day so I took her in her room & we had a little talk. Our little talk was funny. Poor Callie!

Me: What's the matter Callie? Are you tired of all the company or are you having a hard time with the new baby.
Callie: Well there's a lot of company but I'm just getting a little tired of the baby.
Me: Is it because everybody wants to hold her or because Mama has to spend so much time taking care of her?
Callie: Because everybody wants to hold her all the time. I know it would be difficult to get rid of the baby but I'm just getting a little tired of the baby.
Me: I'm sorry Callie. We're not going to get rid of the baby. She's part of our family now & she's going to stay with us forever.
Callie: I really love babies but I'm just getting a little tired of the baby.

One morning Jack says to Jonny "You're my best friend Uncle Jonny. Will you get me some cereal please?" After Jack had started eating the cereal Jonny asked if he was his best friend. Jack said, "No, you're not my best friend."

Jack loves to tease! He kept calling Jeremiah's dad Jonny. At first we wondered if Jack was just confused but we soon realized that Jack was purposely teasing (and it totally annoyed Jer's dad! haha!). After Jer's dad found out Jack was trying to tease him he'd call Jack Sam. So as soon as Jack was called Sam he'd use the right name for Jeremiah's dad! Jackson does this little game with my brothers too, who both get really annoyed when you call them by the other one's name!

Jack told me earlier that he didn't want to take a nap today and that he's happy (cause lots of times I tell him he needs to take a nap so he can be happy when he wakes up). Then a little later I told him it was time for a nap and he said in this sing song voice that he didn't want to take a nap and he ran out the back door! I was trying to feed Ellie & couldn't run after him so I just laughed. I guess he's not taking a nap today! And then there's Callie who doesn't take naps anymore but went & just laid down in her bed a while ago & is now fast asleep! :)

I think this picture of Jack is so funny - he's always making the funniest faces or giving cheesy smiles!

Having Jonny here is like having another kid sometimes! :) Callie walked by once & tapped Jonny so he hit her (not hard) & she started crying so when Jeremiah asked why he hit her he said that Callie did it first! This kind of thing happens a lot! And I'm constantly hearing "quit teasing me" or "Jonny's teasing me" from both of my children!

Tara had taken the kids somewhere & was pulling into the driveway & something was in the way & I don't know if Tara mentioned it was Jonny or if Callie just jumped to the conclusion on her own but she said "stupid Jonny!" and Jack chimed in with "yeah, stupid Jonny!" Okay, Jeremiah's really got to stop saying that! LOL

Jonny's going to be here for about 3 more weeks & even though he & the kids "fight" quite a bit, they love him so much & will miss him when he's gone! They like to include him in their bedtime hugs & kisses & last night when Jack was going to bed he said "I love you Jonny!" Not that that was a first, it was just so cute when he said it last night.

Egg Decorating

This is the first year I did eggs with the kids & they had a great time! They were both really funny & cute about it. Callie wanted to scribble with the wax crayon on all the eggs. She did a pretty good job getting the eggs into the dye, whereas Jack, even though I tried so many times to show him how to hold the dipper, ended up with his eggs plopping into the dye, splattering dye all over & cracking the eggs! :) His problem with the dipper was that he was holding it upside down. He could successfully get the egg to the top of the dye cup, but it's a little hard to lower it into the cup if the dipper's upside down! One egg was so badly cracked that we peeled it right away & ate it. I guess I'm a bad mom cause I can't remember ever feeding my kids hard boiled eggs before (besides in egg salad sandwiches), but they both really liked it.




Jack at that point was done with the eggs (he wasn't real interested in putting stickers on them) and just wanted to eat more! I looked over & he was salt & peppering his own yolk (the only part he got out)! He was so funny to watch try & get the eggs peeled. He started out by squeezing them really hard & he kept asking me to help him squeeze eggs (instead of peel them).


Callie finished stickering & was ready to eat another. She'd been working on an egg for a couple of minutes when I hear some very loud crunching! I guess she did the best she could & then just took a big bite off the top - pieces of shell & all! I laughed so hard! I don't think that egg was as enjoyable for her as the first one that I fed them! :) We had fun!

12 on the 12th

Wednesday, March 12th

I love having a newborn! Even though I'm totally sleep-deprived & it's a lot of work, I look at Ellie & I just love her! She's one week old!


Spending some time outside with the kids. I love Jack's get-up! Both my kids LOVE their galoshes (no, these ones are NOT Jack's!) and usually choose to wear them over other shoes when they're going out in the yard to play. We're having gorgeous weather!

Callie is constantly saying "look what I can do!" or "watch me do a trick!" She's showing me her newest "trick" - jumping with one leg straight & one leg bent.

Aunt TT (my sis Tara) took the kids to Story Time at the library for me. We go to the Wednesday morning 11:00 slot because the other 2 times have so many more children at them. The theme this week was fish.

After Story Time, Grammy (Jer's mom), Ellie & I met Tara, Callie & Jack at the park for lunch.

Who doesn't love the swings?! Especially when you can swing with your grandma & aunt! Unfortunately shortly after this picture was taken Jack was dropped on the ground! LOL (he was fine).

Callie & Jack love to help us with Ellie. They were rocking her & singing to her in her carseat while she took a little nap.

Jeremiah had to go back to the Dr. this morning because after 2 1/2 weeks of antibiotics he was still not getting over his bronchitis! He got a different antibiotic prescription this time.

Jeremiah's mom is taking the best care of our home & yard! Our yard hasn't been so clean & tidy in a LONG time! I think we're gonna have to put her on payroll!

Tara & I took Callie & Jack shopping at WalMart after dinner & met up with my mom. She took the kids to look at some books while I ran down the Easter candy aisle.

Ellie's got a little bit of reflux so I've been washing a teeny load of her stuff every night! I asked our pediatrician about it & he wasn't too concerned - he said she'll grow out of it. I read some stuff about it & learned most babies grow out of it by 6 mos! 6 months! I hope not!

Mid-feeding diaper change just before midnight! She usually falls asleep after nursing for just a few minutes & a diaper change is about the only thing to wake her up!