Thanksgiving ~ 2014

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We had a wonderful day of giving thanks!  We spent the morning watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade and playing with our cousin, Jacob!  Then we got ready for the day and went to Steff's house for a great dinner with our family. It was so nice to sit and relax with the ones we love most. My mom even made her way up here to have dinner with us!!  It was a good day :). 

Leah *loves* pie and had a few servings :).

Isaac had fun finding new toys to play with. 

Ben did not feel well at all and pretty much spent the evening in mine or Doug's arms. Poor babe. 

Leah reads in her bed every night...but tonight she fell asleep mid-book. I think we wore her out ;). 

I also did a thankful post for each member of my family this year...

I'm SO thankful for Doug!  I'm thankful for his kind heart, his patience, the *wonderful* father that he is to our kids, the *amazing* hubby that he is to me, and the enduring love that he has for his family!  I'm so thankful that he's mine!

I'm beyond thankful for Noah!! I'm thankful for his tender heart, his ability to always care about others, his love of learning, the fact that he always gives me a hug whenever we part, and his will to always want to have fun and smile. I'm thankful that he's the one that made me a mom :). I sure do love this boy to bits! {I snapped this picture this morning when he was cuddling with Kate in my bed...so sweet!}

I'm oh, so thankful for my Leah!  I'm thankful for her loving and tender heart, her creative mind, her thirst for knowledge, and her ability to make everyone around her smile!  I don't know what I'd do without this sweet girl :). 

I'm so thankful for Isaac!! He's such a sweet, loving, kind-hearted, patient, and FUN little boy!  He has my heart! 

I am so so thankful for my sweet baby Kate!  She is so happy, has the best sense of humor, is so gentle, loves to be cuddled, gives the best hugs, and is just a ray of sunshine in our home!  Love this little gal so much!!

I'm so thankful for my Ben!  I'm thankful for his bright smile, his happy demeanor, the fact that he lets me cuddle him all.of.the.time, and all of the love that he has brought into our family in the short time he has been here. We love you, little one!!

Sleeping Babe

Oh, how I *love* this sweet bay of mine!  He's my last baby and I'm taking in as much of his baby-ness as I possibly can. He's so incredibly spoiled and I pretty much hold him for all of his naps lately. Having a baby asleep in your arms is really one of the best things ever.

Reading together...

Noah and Leah are required to read every day for school. I'm pretty strict about them doing this, and lately they've been tryingn to get out of it. My solution was to have them spend half of their 20 minutes of reading with either Isaac or Kate, and it's proven to work great!  They enjoy reading to them, and vice versa!  Win win!

Award of Merit

Leah was very keen on the idea of entering the Reflections contest this year. The theme was "The world would be a better place if...".  When I asked Leah what she thought of the theme, she told me that she wanted to draw a picture about everyone loving one another. She drew a lovely picture and was so eager to enter it.

Last week I received an email from the PTA telling me that Leah would be receiving an "Award of Merit" trophy for her entry. I was also told not to tell her about this so that it would be a surprise at the assembly. Today was the day and Leah was so thrilled when she saw me in the audience. When they called her name, she had the biggest grin on her face. She walked through the crowd and went up on stage to receive her trophy. She was so happy...it was just precious for me to see her up there so happy. Doug and and I are definitely so proud of our girl. So proud :).

Kate's new look...

Kate has decided that wearing clothes isn't that exciting...so she now wears either her swimsuit OR her dance clothes all day long. I don't mind when we're home, im just not looking forward to her wanting to leave the house in these outfits in the dead of winter!

Ben ~ 4 months

I really can't believe that our baby is 4 months old.  We can't enough of Benny!  All of the children gravitate towards him whenever he is around, and I just love it so much!  I know that Noah, Leah, and Isaac are really going to remember having a baby around, which is so great!  I want them to remember and cherish these moments!

At 4 months, Ben...

...is so so strong.  He has the strongest neck muscles of any of my babes.  He always has his head up and looking around when he is on our shoulder or on his belly.  It's so cute to watch.

...is so observant and is so interested in everything that is going on around him.  Good thing he has good neck muscles to look around, because he always wants to know what we are all doing.  And I love that he will focus on one thing and you can see in his eyes how interested he is.

...is still such a great little sleeper.  Takes great naps and sleep through the night, but there are those occasional nights that he does wake up.  At least it's not all of the time!

...is a good sleeper, but it's really hard to get him to go to sleep sometimes.  He seems to be a pretty light sleeper, so I'm always telling the other kids to be really quiet when Ben's asleep.  There are times when it takes Doug and I a good hour to get him to sleep.  But once he's out, he's out!

...spits up all of the time...still!  I'm amazed at how many burp clothes I go through on a daily basis.  My laundry has seriously doubled because of this!  Ben and I both change our clothes a few times every day because he always spits up all over us.  Oh the joy!

...cries every time that we put him in his carseat.  I'm totally ready for him to  grow out of this, but I think it'll be a while.

...has started holding on to toys and really enjoys shaking them around and playing with them.  It's so great to watch him focus so hard on the toy that he has in his hands.  This is definitely a fun milestone for him...and me too :).

...is wearing 6-9 month clothes now.  He is my little string bean...long and skinny.

...loves to stand up whenever we are holding him.  I just started to put him in the Exersaucer and he just loves standing and playing with the toys.  I'm not ready for this milestone...he's just growing up way too fast.

...does not like to be left alone.  He cries the moment that I leave the room, and then is as happy as can be the moment that I walk back in.  He definitely prefers to have someone with him all of the time.  He's so spoiled!

...prefers if we stand with him when he is in our arms.  There are times that he'll let us sit with him, but he loves to stand up!  Sometimes I wonder why babies love to have us stand with them instead of sit down...sitting is just so much easier ;).

...loves to suck on his two fingers when he is relaxing or going to sleep.  And he makes the cutest little sucking sound when he does it...so cute.

...will not take a binky...at all!  Sometimes I wish that he would, but no...he spits it out the moment that I put it in his mouth.

...loves to snuggle...and we all love it too!

...is still completely adored and loved by the other children.  They are known to fight over who gets to hold Ben next...I think that they know that he is growing up fast and won't be able to be held for too much longer.

Word can't express our love for Ben...he is such a blessing in our home!  We love him more and more every day and is the perfect fit in our family!  Love you sweet little babe :).

A little scare...

We had a little scare with Benjamin a few weeks ago. It was almost 9:00 in the morning and I was holding him on his back in my arms while I was getting Noah and Leah off to school. All of a sudden I felt him go limp in my arms...I looked down and his face went from peachy to white and his lips went from red to blue!!  I started to panic and tried to calm myself down to see if he was breathing...he was, but it was very little. I started to do anything to try and wake him up...rubbing him, screaming his name. About 30 seconds later he woke up and was sobbing!!!  I was so scared and couldn't think straight. I then called our pediatrician and told them I was coming in. I changed my clothes and put isaac, kate, and ben in the car at lightening speed and drive safely to the doctor. After an evaluation, our doctor said that he had ALTE {Apparent Life Threatening Experience}. He didn't know at the time what had caused this, so he told us that he wanted him to be monitored at the hospital for 24 hours. We then went straight to the hospital, to get Ben all situated. At this point I had called Doug and my mom and they were on their way down to help. They arrived and my mom took Isaac and Kate home while Doug stayed with Ben and I. They took his blood, which, thankfully, was not as bad as I had imagined it to be. Then we were told to just sit and relax with our babe. I held him almost the entire time and just snuggled him. I was so scared it was going to happen again, yet I was so relieved to be at the hospital in case it did!  I went home after the kids were home from school to see them and get some stuff so I could stay the night with Ben. They were all so so so concerned about baby brother...Leah even shed some tears. Then back I went to the hospital to be with Ben and Doug.  Ben was so good and was smiling so much...he was acting lien nothing had happened at all!  Doug left around 7:30, leaving Ben and I to spend the night at the hospital...which I was not thrilled about!  Steffanie came to visit, which was so nice. After she left, I headed to bed and had Ben sleep on my chest the entire night. There was no way I was going to let him lay by himself...even if he was hooked up to monitors!!  I needed peace of mind and needed to he him close. Our night went alright, and I was so thankful when morning came. Our pediatrician came in around 9:00 and looked Ben over. He said that he thinks that Ben coughed up some acid and it puddled in his throat. His little body didn't know what to do to get rid of it, so he just passed out!  I was told to keep a very close eye on him and to call if anything else happens. The we were discharged and went home!

This experience is definitely one that I wish didn't happen, although I learned so much!!  Life is just so precious, especially with these little ones. Being in the moment with my kids has become so much more important to me!  My family is  world and being with them is what matters most!!

Here's some shots of Ben at the hospital.

priorities

Oh how I love spending my mornings with Kate when the older three are at school. I've learned to truly cherish these moments and put aside everything else. The laundry and dishes can wait...snugglin with this girlie, and my sweet babe on my shoulder, is definitely priority!

books, books, books

Isaac and Kate absolutely love books...they always have. Isaac requested to read to Ben, so I laid him down on the bed so that he could read him a story. Kate just wants to read the same book over and over...she definitely has Pajama Time memorized. 

Toys

Ben has discovered the joy of holding toys this week. It's so cute watching him grab a toy and hold it in front of him so that he can focus so hard on it. These little milestones are so fun :).