One month, really?

Lucy is one-month today! Wow, time sure flies fast when you're having fun. And not having fun, too. I have both - good times and bad times.

But I couldn't ask for a better babe. I love Lucy. She is so good - 99% of the time. Now, I will not call her an "easy baby" because what newborn is easy? But I will call her good. Really good. If I could hold her 24/7 then she would probably be an excellent baby!

She is still adored by her siblings - to the point of smothering adoration. Especially by Jonas. It's sweet and adorable, yes, but also a little unnerving to me. Sometimes I and Lucy need our s. . .p. . .a. . .c. . .e.

She will now sleep in her crib at nighttime - awakening only for feedings. That's heaven-sent. During the day sometimes she'll nap in her crib and other times she just wants to be held the whole time.

Well she's screaming now - she's not being held - and so I best go. But happy one-month Lucy; we sure are glad you came to our family.

Movie Night

2 Quotes and 1 Picture

{Emmy goes to use the bathroom right after Jonas has just been in}

Emmy: "JONAS! Always put it down!"

"It" referring to the toilet seat no doubt.

{I was making dinner and Emmy was standing by me and wanted to help me with dinner. But I wasn't letting her because she kept picking her nose. I told her several times to stop it. She continued to do it and so this is what I said to her about picking her nose and her response.}

Me: Emmy you don't need to do that.

Emmy: "Me do! Somebody has to."

Well I guess if somebody has to, then that somebody should be Emmy.

And a cute picture of Daddy and his newest and littlest girl:

{He's writing a talk and holding Lucy at the same time! And I thought he couldn't multi-task. . .}

Hiking at the Grand Mesa

Hoodies + kids = adorable.

Boy + rocks + lake = throwing and skipping rocks. (after an impressive 10-skip throw, jonas exclaimed, "You're cool Dad!" i agree.)

Emmy + ash wood = messy face and hands.

hoodies + babes = oh-so-sweet.

Jonas + Lucy = irresistibly cute.

Emmy + baby-backpack = silly.

kids + hiking = fun time (could this picture be any greater? ben and i think not.)

boy + crossing stream by self = intense determination

boy + jumping out of bushes to scare family = hilarious.

Our Saturday Afternoon - what a SURPRISE!

So in the afternoon we decided to head over to another town 10 miles away and let Jonas ride the BMX track. Our town has one but locks it up except for the one-hour they do races on Saturday. But we were told that this other one stays open all the time. So we got ready and headed out there - but it was locked up. Bummer. Luckily, though, there was this little BMX track there that was open and so we decided to play around on that one.

This BMX-ing is totally up Jonas' alley. He loves this stuff! He thinks he's going to be the fastest and bestest kid out there and tells us so all the time. He just beamed and beamed while riding around the track. See what I'm saying:

And Miles, Miles. He was the surprise of the day. We got a bike from our neighbors the other week - which Jonas can ride, but does have a hard time stopping and starting, so he sticks to his tiny bike (yes, we know it's way to small for him!). So Ben brought the other bike (Miles got a bike for his birthday - but basically it's junk.) for Miles to try. I didn't think Miles would even want to sit on the bike (if you forgot, Miles did not know how to ride a bike without training wheels). But Ben pushed him around a couple of times on the bumps and Miles was loving it! And then Ben starting letting go and lo and behold, Miles rode the bike - up and down the bumps - all by himself. Loving every minute of it. I think he was so happy for himself - Ben and I sure were! It was totally exciting. He rode and rode and rode. I think their faces say it all:

Unfortunately, as Jonas learned, sometimes our self-concept gets smashed - or at least our noses do. As he was trying to get air with all his tires off the ground - his report - he came crashing down, face first. We didn't see it, but heard the aftermath. Poor, humbled Jonas. :)

But, after a while of calming him down, he was back to smiling and rode his bike around a few more times. We sure do love our Jonas - scrapped nose and chin and fat lip and all!

And here are some videos for your viewing pleasure. The one of Miles was earlier on and he even improved greatly since that ride.

Our Saturday Morning

So we decided to try and sell a few "big items" on Saturday morning. We ended up doing okay. The kids kept themselves pretty busy and entertained in our front yard:

LUCY

Cute as a bug.

She fell asleep in her little bouncer. What a sweetie.

EMMY
She had fun swinging from the branches of a tree.

JONAS

No picture of him. But he mainly rode his bike and scooter all around our street.

MILES
So cute he is! He manned the Rice Krispie and Toy table - each being sold for 25 cents (Miles picked a few toys to sell himself). He was determined and sat there for quite a while. He made some good sells. :) And some lady even stopped just to give him a "donation" because he's "just too cute." Ha.

Love it.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

A Lucy Update

Well I have to admit that I really don't like posting newborn pictures. I can't take them well. To me the pictures always turn out funny-looking - such an injustice to my beautiful babes. :) But inquiring minds want to see more pictures of our Lucy Babe. And so here are 2 fuzzy pictures for your enjoyment:

I also need to admit that Lucy is a good baby. An easy baby - if you can call babies that. :) I usually think she has a problem or is sick, but really I guess (and hope) she's just a good baby. She sleeps a lot and falls asleep when she's tired - never mind she's on the floor with 3 other children crazily playing nearby. If she's tired, why she'll just close her eyes and fall asleep. Yes, Just. Like. That. Okay, not all the time - but the majority. And if she does fuss and cry - it's only a little. Sometimes she'll cry once you put her in her crib - but then if I go and hold her she stops crying in under 10 seconds. No joking. She's crazy. She sleeps pretty good, too. Some nights she has to be held by mom or dad to sleep - but she sleeps. Other nights she sleeps in her crib and just wakes up to feed. Pretty much, if she is fussy then just hold her and all will be well. She's a delight. I don't know how long it will last, but it's enjoyable for the moment.

She finally started putting on some weight. She was a pretty pathetic grower - less than 1/2 oz./day. But my girls apparently just aren't marathon eaters like my boys were. However, when I went for her weight check on Monday she had gained about 1.5 oz/day the last 4 days. Whoa. I was truly shocked. (She's up to 6lbs. 5 oz.)

Lucy doesn't mind tummy-time. Sometimes she lasts as long as 5 minutes on her tummy - that's huge in my book. Without crying. Even huger (if huger is a word?). She is a side-lying girl, for sure. She frequently turns to her right side to sleep, lounge, etc. I've never had a side baby. Interesting.

The first week of her life she was pretty in to sucking on her thumb, or fingers - whatever made it to her mouth. She'll still stick her hands in her mouth - but not nearly as frequently. I thought for sure I was going to have a thumb-sucker (my first!), but now I have my doubts. Time will tell.

My poor kids (my 3 other kids) all have colds and so I am constantly reminding them (sometimes not very nicely, dangit) to stay away from Lucy. I really don't want an RSV baby. Pleeeeease. So they do usually keep their distance, but they love her so much and want to be right up close to her. It's adorable. They are all so good with Lucy; I'm lucky.

What else can I say about her? Her tummy is loud and rumbles a lot. She doesn't seem too bothered by it. Her room (which is the laundry room) is getting a "baby-makeover" (nothing too much) - I'll post pictures when I've got the curtains up.

What else can I say except I Love Lucy.

Emmy's BirthDAY

Emmy's birthday was a good day. Whenever she was asked what she wanted, or what she would like for dinner, etc. - it was always something "pink." So we did a lot of silly "pink" things for our special little girl.

The traditional streamers-on-the-door walk-through.

And here is some "fun cereal" that was requested to be pink. Luckily we found something - and something that's not completely junk, too.

Emmy got one present in the morning - a little doll's highchair. We had fun feeding her babies.

YUM. Jonas and Emmy eating cake batter.

And snack time - pink milk and graham crackers.

It was hard waiting to open presents. But we had to wait for Miles and Ben to come home. Luckily Ben was able to get off early and so she didn't have to wait forever (though it probably seemed like it).

Oh she loves her tiara. Or "bracelet" as she calls it. Such a beautiful princess.

The kids all got to watch "Sleeping Beauty." Emmy's first real princess movie, I think. She was really studying the ways of a princess and would tell me things like, "Princesses hold their [dresses] when they dance."

And a lovely pink dinner, too! It wasn't too disgusting eating pink homemade mac 'n cheese.

And a pink cake, of course. My parents took Jonas and Emmy out in the morning for a couple of hours and so I was able to work on this while they were gone. My parents took them to the local children's museum (pretty much a glorified playroom) and then McDonalds. They had a fun time and so did I making the cake. I melted starbursts to make my letters and shapes. And I added a jello packet to my frosting to dye it pink and flavor it a little, too.

The beautiful birthday girl. Happy Birthday Emmy - we all love and adore you!

Happy Birthday Emmy

Wow, Emmy, another year has gone by. A lot has happened in this past year. You have done so much and have become so much more of a personality! We love watching you, literally just watching you, and seeing you do what you do. It’s charming.

One of the big events this past year was you starting gymnastics. This was a very special thing because this was your thing – not your brothers. This was all you and all for you. And, yes, it made your brothers slightly jealous of you. Every week we took you – either your dad or myself – to gymnastics. You love it, love it, love it. And you’re good at it, too. You can already do a “flip-over” on the tiny bars all by yourself (we do spot you, of course). You are pretty fearless of doing things. But you fear help from anyone else but mom and dad. At gymnastics they have wonderful coaches but you will never let them help you out. I’m not sure exactly why.

You are a very active girl, a girl on the move. You do gymnastics a lot in the house, you dance, you prance, you run, you fly, you hop, you jump. You go, go, go. Just like your brothers. We even took you skiing this year and you loved it as well. You’d go down the slopes with your dad – loving every minute of it. I love that you are willing to try new things. Active things.

You try your hardest to keep up with your active brothers - and you do a wonderful job. You are not afraid to play rough with them. In fact, lately you have been playing too rough for your brothers! Both Jonas and Miles will come up to me telling me that you are playing too rough. I know exactly where you learned it from, though! You’re just dealing what you’ve been dealt. You play pirates, monsters, and dragons.

However. . .you also want to play “princess” all the time. All. The. Time. You call it princess but to me it’s more like “mom and baby game.” You are usually the mom and I am the baby. You feed me (things like oatmeal noodle soup). You tell me when to lie down and nap – then one second later you “ding ding” wake me up. We go “swimming” and to “gymnastics” and to “work” while playing this game.

The mothering instinct is alive and well in you. It’s neat to see. This became obviously apparent when you found out I was going to have another baby. You would talk constantly about holding the new baby – and you’d pretend to be holding a baby and rock back and forth. You expressed your desire to help me feed the baby, change the baby, hold the baby, etc. It was so sweet to see and hear you express your precious desires of mothering.

And you know what? You are a darling, darling big sister. Is it a little hard for you? Indeed. Is it a little hard for me? Indeed. But we’ll do it together and help each other out. Your little sister was born just about a week ago and you’ve done such a fantastic job with this big change in our lives. In your life. You are no longer The Baby. But you will always, always, always, always, be One of My Babies. In some ways it breaks my heart that you are no longer The Baby. You held that position longer than your brothers. It was a part of you that is no longer there. That makes me sad.

Yet, at the same time, it’s so neat and dear to me to see you as The Big Sister. Even though it is probably a little hard on you, and at times you are telling me that I am done feeding Lucy, or that I need to put Lucy to nap – I know that you love her. You kiss her. You want to help change her. You talk to her. Lay by her. Do tummy-time with her. You’re doing a good job with this change and I’m proud of you Emmy-girl.

Another completely sweet thing you do is sing. You sing all sorts of songs. Your favorite song used to be one that you made up. We call it “Pretty Flowers” because those are the only words to the song. You sing “pretty flowers, pretty flowers, pretty flowers,” over and over. It’s adorable. Once you sang “Me Am a Sad Princess” and that was a fun song to hear. Your dad and I always have to sing you some songs before we leave your room at night. You especially like “Twinkle Little Star” and have sung that to Lucy about a hundred times in her first week of life.

Yes, you have your bad moments – that often turn into my bad moments. Sometimes you are completely irrational. I know, you are supposed to be at your age. But, still, it drives me crazy. CrAzY. You are not very good at being potty-trained. Sorry, you just ain’t. You can scream like, well, like a girl I guess. And you do. But at nighttime when I come in to check on you, I just stare at your beauty and sweetness and goodness. I love you so much and truly think the world of you, my Emmy-girl.

Emmy you are simply adorable. Simply irresistible to your dad and mom.

I love you,

mom

p.s. So I wrote this a few days ago and usually like to review and add or change things. But I haven't had the time. And right now your li'l sis is crying. So I hope the letter is okay. I know I missed a lot of great things to write about you. Maybe later. :)