Love this kid.....

and he loves his Mama and Daddy and Eli.......

but I think she has won his heart

and his....

oh yeah, and mine

Even Eli is coming around, I don't have a picture to prove it, but

today he was singing a song to her about how pretty she was (precious).

Do you think she knows that she has us smitten????

It may all be part of her plan for complete family domination.

Look out!

A Glimpse

On this day in February 2011:

We are hunkering down for another winter storm. Actually in Michigan we don't do much hunkering. We are out in it for the most part. We're cool like that. :)

Jared's working.

I bathed the boys this morning and cleaned 2 of the 3 bathrooms. I never go in the basement bathroom and am kind of in denial that it needs to be cleaned. With twin 3 year old BOYS in the house this is a very dangerous decision but I am fearless that way.

The boys are watching a movie downstairs and Addie is sleeping.


I took Adds to the doctor for her 6 month appt even though she is 7 1/2 months. She is a little behind on her shots. She was so tiny they waited on the first round which will back us up for a while. She is well developmentally and weighs 12lbs 12 3/4 ounces.

Out of curiousity I asked the Nurse what the boys weighed at their 6 month appointment and Alex weighed 13 lbs and 13 oz. Eli weighed 14 lbs and 10 oz. Addie was 12 lbs and 1 oz. at 6 months.

She is not on the chart for weight but she is in the 10th percentile for height not corrected (which would be 5 months). Maybe she will be tall and thin. That does run in our family. No, actually, it doesn't but wouldn't that be nice? :)

That is about it on the homefront. I am off to throw in some laundry.

I am going to be so glad that I documented this exciting day. :)

Phone Pics

Addie is over 7 months old. I cannot believe how fast the time is going. I haven't gotten a chair pic this month because as we know I am cameraless and I forget to snag Jared's phone to get pics as often as I'd like. Here are a few I've captured of her domain. She LOVES her mobile and her glow sea horse. She is always entertaining herself in her little mirror also.

She is getting over the crankies that she experienced after surgery which is good. We are currently trying to get her to eat some cereal and fruit or veggies but she is not having it. We will continue to work on it. Preemies can be a bit fussy in this department. She' remains a smiley little girl who LOVES attention from whoever will throw some her way and we remain in love, of course.

Valentines Day

I like Valentine's Day. I dont' do 55 heart crafts and decorate my house but I like the chance to tell my boys and now girl why and how much I love them. Our family (Me, Jared, Alex, Eli and Adds)say's "I love you" a lot. We don't hold it in until specific designated days and for that I am grateful but why not enjoy another day to pour out some love, right?

Our lives have been crazy and I have yet to write about that. Addie is well following her surgery to have tubes put in and have her hearing tested. She had some complications regarding her breathing following the surgery. We spent a couple of days at the hospital but all is well. For that I am grateful. She still, after her tubes were put in, has mild to moderate hearing loss in one ear. I like to focus on the fact that she has complete hearing in one ear and some in another. We'll face the rest as needed.

It's been a long week month year. BUT (and this is the important part)God really has taken care of us. He does not leave us. He does not forsake us. He has taught us what love looks like. Perfect love and that is another nice thing to remember this Valentine's Day.

Jared and I are actually going to go on a date tonight. It's been WAY TOO LONG since we have done that I am really looking forward to it. He just happens to have to the day off of school today too. yay.

Boys?!?

A few weeks ago we were all at the breakfast table, Jared was flipping through the channels and this was on

I told Jared that as a little girl I would always try and stay up until Midnight to watch "The Three Stooges" with my Dad. This was the only time it was on....no dvr, no hulu, nothing.

I also said that the few (very few) times that I did manage to stay up I always thought it was kind of boring.

As I am saying this Larry hits Moe with something or vice versa, or maybe it was Curly. Truth, be told I have NO idea which one is which, although, I think the bald one might be Curly because as a child I did NOT get the irony on that one. :) Anyways, the boys BOTH start laughing hysterically. They continued to be entertained by all the falling and hitting.

So now I know what is was I was missing about the famous "Three Stooges"......

IT'S A GUY THING!!!

"The one where I go on and on about squirrels"

There are a lot of perks that came along with our new home and our new neighborhood. A couple of the boy's favorite things are the "twin" squirrels, Alex and Eli. They believe that they are twin brothers and the squirrel's names are the same as their own. Not real original, I know, but really adorable, nonetheless. They do not come every single morning but they do visit several times a week.

When we first moved in we attempted to feed them bread or pieces of cracker. This, however, simply would not do. My sister Missy was over one day and said just throw them bread that is what ours eat. I showed her their response to bread. They walked up picked up said bread, sniffed it and threw it down. I'd watched them repeat this several times and was not surprised. These are some high maintenance squirrels.

One day when Jared was on his way home from work I called and said "we NEED a gallon of milk and nuts". He laughed a bit. I'm sure because, feeding the neighborhood squirrels had become such a priority. They were coming to the door regularly and begging. I hated to look at their "sad, little faces". So we got them some nuts, walnuts to be specific. They now LOVE us! No more looking down their noses at us because we had now pleased their rather particular palates. Oy.

Fast forward to this morning. The squirrels came and knocked. The boys began to feed them their walnuts and decided that they would sit down and have their breakfast with the squirrel on the other side of the door. It was adorable. They talked to one another, squirrel to child, and I got to listen. The squirrel brother came along and chased away the smaller squirrel so he could eat also. The chase escalated and the boys LOVED watching. And then Eli suggested that they simply "need to share".

Ahhhhh, some things do sink in. Yes, I went on and on about squirrels this morning but there are few things more precious than realizing a little bit of what you are attempting to teach your children gets through to them. NOW if I can get him to actually share and not just know that it is the right thing to do I will be thrilled!

As far as what's going on around here other than us communing with the squirrels we are bracing ourselves for a huge snow storm. We have been in the house A LOT due to various colds and such. I took Addison to the Dr. yesterday and said out loud to her in the car, "I am sure glad we got out Addie, Mama needed this." I had to laugh at myself. We went to the doctors and to get groceries. It felt like a spa day. Ok, not really, not at all. But it was a welcomed outing and I returned much happier.

I think that throughout seasons of motherhood you have to take what little solace you can get. Sometimes it's 15 minutes with a magazine (or on a really good day a book) and coffee on your couch. Jared and I currently have 3 children, 3 and under. We are quite often exhausted by the end of the day. But it is a season.

I was thinking the other day about grocery shopping and the fact that I can't even go to the store anymore, poor me, yada yada, and I heard a still, small voice (enter: the Holy Spirit) say "You will be able to in about a year, you'll have all day, 5 days a week to get errands done. Your house will be quieter, you hours a bit less demanding." Ugh, it hit me hard. You see the boys start school soon enough. I will just have Addie at home. I have NEVER just had one child at home, ever. I'll miss my boys. I'll miss their demands of my time. I quickly changed my thinking and decided to revert to enjoying their crazy, little, loud selves and wishing they'd stay 3 1/2 forever. Perspective is a beautiful thing. I need it on a regular basis.

I am RAMBLING! O.k. off to play with those crazy boys because Addison is napping. See what happens when I don't get out much. I write huge posts about squirrels.