Kate turns 1!

Yes...she was 9 months at last writing and breezed through 10 and 11 months so quickly that I didn't have a second to catch my breath or write a word about it!  

My baby is one year old.  Right around this time is when I start to think hmmm...wouldn't it be great to have another?  It is very strange to look at our little family and think, this is the last time we will have a first birthday party for one of our kids.  Kate's "firsts" will most likely be our "lasts", so I am finding every milestone to be bittersweet.  We celebrated her birthday over a few days beginning with lunch for the whole family at Red Robin.  Parents across America love Red Robin because it is one of the loudest restaurants you can go to and usually is able to drown out any noise we may be making.  Kate was stunned by being the center of attention and she loved it.  As we have become wise in the ways of little one's birthdays Kate received just a few presents and just as we knew she would loved the gift bags and boxes just as much if not more than the gifts. The biggest hit was probably the cakes that seemed to keep on coming. One for her actual birthday, then ice cream from Momere and Papa on her birthday night, plus the ice cream at lunch at red robin, then the dirt cups and cake at her family party on Sunday.  Whew!  She certainly has Thomas' sweet tooth!    She is still a little dream...she uses signs to get what she wants (milk, eat, up, drink, up, flower, dog, up, papa, dada, up) and starting to try and take a few little steps on her own although as you may have guessed she loves to be carried around.

Kate is 9 months old!

Here is what happens when your fourth baby turns nine months old and you are trying not to let the month-by-month-birthday-cake-tradition die.  You find that after a busy day of work(mom and dad), school(for the girls), Auntie Nicki's (Thomas and Kate), and dance class (the girls again) that you are frantically stopping at Copp's on the way home to buy some birthday fun.  One blueberry pie and long drive home later, you find that your nine month old is fast asleep.  You ignore the baffled father that worked so hard to get her to sleep and you wake the baby up.  You sing to the half awake baby and then, since she is your fourth baby and most if not all rules have gone out the window, you feed the once sleeping baby pie and ice cream.  You then take lots of pictures to document the event so someday everyone's baby book with be even (the fact that the baby books pretty much tell only of the day of their births so far is another story all together).  Of course Kate loves it, and because baby #4 has learned to go with the flow, she goes right back to sleep.   Whew!  Only a few more months to go....

dimes from heaven

You may or may not have heard of a phenomenon in which money appears seemingly out of nowhere, often in the forms of dimes.  These dimes are thought to be a message from a loved one or an angel.  There have been cases where people have actually seen the money drop from the sky. Many of my dime experiences have happened in times of difficulty and stress...a dime will "appear" before me where I just KNOW there was none a moment ago.  I had my most mysterious dime experience yesterday.  All 4 kids were home, so I was running around in servant mode, attempting to get laundry done while tending to everyone's needs.  Eventually the oldest 3 kids headed for the basement to play.  I came down to check on them and low and behold I found some water in our basement (we are saturated here!).  I told the kids...."it is a blessing you were playing down here, mommy found this water and can fix it before anything gets wrecked!".  I dealt with the soggy toys, threw away some wet paper and dried off the markers that were laying in the puddle.  THERE WAS NOTHING LEFT ON THE FLOOR.  I went to the laundry basket and grabbed a towel, shaking out any crumbs that may be trapped (it was in the dirty laundry).  THERE WAS NOTHING ON THE TOWEL.    I used the towel to dry the floor.  When I was almost done wiping things up, I heard a scratch.  I lifted up the towel and there on the floor WAS A SHINY NEW DIME.  And it gets stranger....I picked the dime off of the damp, cold, concrete floor and IT WAS HOT TO THE TOUCH AND TOTALLY DRY.  That is when I knew that this was an out of the ordinary experience.  

how cute....

These were too cute to pass up.  Thomas as "SuperBatmanMcQueenSkywalker" and our little bedtime cuddlebugs.  The more kids in the bed the better they sleep.  All three have been cuddling together at night.  Our kids are just the variety that like to have someone else around at ALL TIMES.  When we put them all together, mom and dad get a better night sleep too.  And I am sure the girls are sleeping more peacefully knowing Thomas John, superhero extraordinaire is watching over them!

kate is 8 months old!

Check out our little paper eater!  It was hard to take her picture when she was trying to eat the sign!  This month she is trying to crawl, but it is still a little tough to get her chubby belly off of the ground...she weighed over 19 pounds at our last doctor visit.  She can say "da da" and "ah-da" (all done) and this morning she was playing with a Dora doll, held it up and said "do-a".  Hmmm....poor mommy falls behind Dora once again.

ellie's birthday

Ellie turned 7!  Here is what she has to say....

Best thing about your birthday:  Opening presents!

Favorite gifts:  Everything!  The webkinz have been really fun to add to my collection.

Do you feel older?:  No!  I feel the same.

What else was special to you about turning 7?:  I liked the special doll that grandma gave me.  I had my very first friend party at the bead garden.  I had a lot of people spend time with me on my birthday.  It is too bad Lydia Olive didn't arrive on my birthday.

Birthday wish this year:  I wish I could fly!

Kate is 7 months old!

Kate is 7 months old, and time has truly flown by.  I thought it would be fun to put up everyone's 7 month shot to see how the kids compare to each other at this age.   At least I thought that would be fun, until I started to try and hunt down everyone's 7 month photo.  Ellie's is in her album, but she is the only one.  Plus scanning it in sounds like a lot of work.   Lily's photo I KNOW is in the abyss of the 2004 photo box.  Of course since it was taken in November it could quite easily be stuck in the 2005 box.  Thomas was our first "digital" baby so all of his photos should be tucked safely in iPhoto. As a matter of fact he even has a "Thomas monthly" folder. When I looked inside there were all of his pictures....all of them except his 7 month photo.  It may be gone forever.  And as for Kate's....hers is still stuck in the camera with the Valentine photos. Hmmmmm, not so fun at all!  

Typing with a baby in my lap

I really want to get this up and running, so I am typing with a baby in my lap (perhaps typing with one finger will make me less long winded). 

This is actually the story of how I live my life, typing with a baby in my lap, or someone hanging on my arm or leg.  If nothing else there is a 4 or 6 year old who has noticed that I am on the computer that just HAS to play Webkinz.  

Ellie is getting over a bout of strep, another in a long line of illnesses  we have endured during this very unhealthy winter.  The fact that she missed her 1st grade Valentine party was quite a big deal and we had a very depressing day yesterday.  Today things have turned around and she bounced in the door, Valentines in hand, with many great stories of  the wonderful time she had in school. What a difference a day makes!  Lily Bug totally enjoyed her first V-day party at school yesterday and both girls have been great about sharing their loot with their brother who longs for his own school and teacher.  Baby Kate has managed to get her hands on a few of the Valentine cards....she has a strange love for chewing paper.  We better keep an eye on that!

I would love to put up the Valentine photos that I have taken of the kids, but of course they are still in the camera....whose batteries have died.....and I can't find the charger.....and all of our AA batteries are in the Leapsters....so maybe by Easter I will have them up!

Welcome!