Winter Days

A while ago, I saw an easel at IKEA for a great price that I thought might be a good Christmas present for Ava & Carter. I ended up getting one, and then a week before Christmas, Ava told Mark she wanted an easel like Maisy (we love Maisy books and had just discovered a Maisy cartoon). I can never predict what new thing Ava is going to want from day to day, so I was pretty happy I'd picked something that I not only knew they'd both enjoy, but also that had been specifically asked for. It's been a huge hit.

Audrey becomes more expressive every day. Her face lights up when she recognizes us and her sweet laugh makes us all act crazy just to hear it. The other night after her bath she started clasping her hands and now grabs at anything within reach... Ava's learning the hard way how important it is to keep her hair away from those little hands. (obviously, she doesn't light up when the camera comes out)
Last week we got some snow and even though it was frigidly cold outside, Ava & Carter got to play outside for a while. It wasn't a good packing snow, so building anything was out of the question. They were left to making snow angels and eating snow, and I never knew snow tasted so good.

Christmas Part 2

The day after Christmas my parents came to celebrate Christmas with us. While Nana snuggled with Audrey, Ava and Carter had a blast opening presents. Carter was very into tearing off the wrapping paper - as soon as he'd open one present, he'd barely even look at it before exclaiming, "More! Presents!" So wish I'd had the video camera ready. I even let him open the few thing we had wrapped up for Audrey simply because he was having so much fun!
Ava got a variety of princess items to add to her collection...

... and Carter got more toys with wheels! Here's a mat my mom made that fits our coffee table. It has roads leading to all the places we frequent and even has little wooden trees that velcro on.
He got more track and trains for his collection (although Mark and I have already decided we need more so we can build cooler tracks - sometimes I think we have more fun than Carter does!)...

... including this train set (in front of the one Carter's playing with) made by my dad. Of course, I only got 3 of the 5 cars in the picture, but trust me, it's beautiful! I'm sad I didn't take more opportunities to learn from both of my parents' sewing & woodworking talents while growing up!
Later in the day we went to my brother's house - here's Mark with all the kids... or rather, here are the kids. HA!

Stay tuned for snow pictures!!

Christmas Day Recap

The tree is down and all the decorations have been put away so we have room for all the new toys!

When we woke up on Christmas morning, we read the Christmas story (Audrey sleeps later than the other two most mornings - go figure. I don't think she minded that we let her sleep).

After Mark finished, he was trying to emphasize the gift God gave us in Jesus and how we also like to give each other gifts, but Ava kept interrupting and asking when she got to open her presents. Guess we'll have to keep working on that!

We were headed down to West Virginia for the day, so Ava & Carter only opened one present that morning (I purposely tried to pick things that would be good travel toys).

Carter LOVES Mater from the movie "Cars."

This has been a great way to encourage Ava to try writing letters. She loves this and is writing letters for fun! I'd tried to help her write more than just her name for a while, but she wasn't into it until now.

We had a quick breakfast and jumped in the car for the ride to see all the Buttons. The ride went well (Audrey's longest road trip to date).

Audrey gave lots of smiles to Uncle Paul.

Trains = Happy

Princess = Happy

We had an awesome time before packing everyone up and heading home. I expected Ava & Carter to fall quickly asleep after all the excitement and lack of naps, but they stayed awake the entire 2.5 hour trip home. Audrey was pretty hungry when we got home, but I really wanted to get a picture of her outfit:

Umm... maybe I should have waited until after I fed her. I saw this outfit and wanted to buy it for her because she really is such a happy girl. It finally went on clearance, so I snatched it up!

Audrey = Happy!

Sweet Angel Baby!

I can't even begin to tell you what a joy Audrey has been to us. A couple weeks ago, she started sleeping longer and longer at night and now she almost always goes to at least 6:30, usually 7:00! The other 2 did not go 10-11 hours this early. She also sleeps great during the day (sometimes I actually find myself worrying that she sleeps too much - I know, crazy). And when she's awake, she's all smiles and coos... well, unless a certain 2-year-old drops something on her head. (When Carter is in play mode, he's pretty much oblivious to everything and everyone around him.)

Anyway, we almost used "Joy" instead of "Hope" for her middle name (Mark was pushing for Joy, but made the mistake of asking for the final decision moments after I delivered the almost 10 pounder with a non-working epidural, so Hope it was!) What she has really brought to us is PEACE! To sit and hold her in the midst of a crazy day brings peace. Ava and Carter quiet down and talk softly to her, kissing and hugging her (for a few moments until one starts pushing the other to get his/her turn to be close to her).

Back in September as I neared her due date, I was really wondering what we were doing in having a 3rd (although it was far too late to turn back!). I felt overwhelmed with 2, and expected the first few months of her life to be awful since the newborn stage as I'd experienced it twice was so challenging. She has been so easy, though! Now I understand when people say to treasure each moment because it goes by so fast. Frankly, with my first 2 newborns, I wondered when the time would start going by faster! Between the sleep deprivation and crying babies, I was challenged to find moments I wanted to remember. I loved them (and still do), but I found caring for a newborn to be downright hard. Who knew adding a 3rd child would actually bring me a sense of peace?

Or, maybe I'm just finally mellowing out as I get older.

(Carter's singing "Jesus Loves Me" - so sweet!)

Hopefully you can see past awful combination of colors and patterns with
the couch and the kids' pj's and instead notice their gorgeous faces.

P.S. We don't stay in our pajamas all the time... most days.

'Tis the Season!

A local outdoor shopping center had their annual Christmas tree lighting last Friday. I'd never been before, but heard it was fun. Mark met up with us after work just in time for the parade! The kids especially loved seeing the horses (with carriages) and Santa.

Next, we headed down to the square to watch the tree lighting.

After the tree lighting came fireworks - Ava was pretty excited!

And last, it started to snow!!

We all had a blast... well, if you call sleeping through the whole thing having a blast.

Ava is FOUR!

Ava turned four this week! She ended up getting to pick out her birthday present when one of Mark's managers called off sick and he had to cover her shift Monday night. I'd had it all planned out to go Monday night because I had $10 Kohl's cash plus a 30% off coupon and that was the first day they overlapped, which of course was the day before her birthday. I knew she wanted something Little Mermaid and also knew Kohl's had a few options, but instead of me picking it out, she got to! It was the first outing I've taken with all 3 kids, and other than spilling my drink all over me in the car, there were no mishaps. On Tuesday, we took the kids to Build-a-Bear for the first time. Ava picked a pink unicorn (I'd hoped for something a little more subtle, but she is a 4-year-old girl) and Carter picked a pony, which surprised me given his love of dogs.

Audrey continues to eat, sleep and poop like a champ! She's usually up once a night between 2-3 (sometimes not until 4!!) and then is back down until 6 or 7. She has started smiling a lot over the past couple weeks. Of course, I LOVE it! Even though she gives them often, they aren't always easy to catch on camera.

We've been enjoying some beautiful fall weather the past couple weeks and have been going for walks and spending some time outside. The kids ask to go outside all the time - even when it's raining and cold, so I'm thankful we've had some nice days!





For more fall pics, you can go to this Facebook album.

One month!

Audrey is one month old today! Hard to believe how quickly the time flies, but that might be due to the fuzziness that has taken residence in my brain.

I'm glad to say that we all seem to be adjusting well to being a family of five. Ava and Carter love their baby sister and quickly learned that the best time to try to get away with something is when I'm occupied with her. One of my biggest challenges these days is being consistent with discipline when I honestly would like to simply ignore the bad behavior rather than expend the energy necessary to deal with it. I am a little sad that this fall has been so rainy and cool forcing us to stay inside. I've only taken all three out on two occasions, and it is somewhat of a challenge (not to mention how much longer it takes to get ready). I foresee a lot of staying home this winter! Everyone always asks how the sleep is going. She still wakes up several times a night, but almost always goes right back to sleep after being fed. This was my biggest desire as I don't have the energy to pace or rock or otherwise put effort into getting her back to sleep in the middle of the night. One night this week, she gave us a 5-hour stretch, which was lovely! I'm hoping for more of those in the near future!

Here are some more pictures from the past few weeks:

With Nana & Pap before they left to go back home.

I love the fat rolls!

Finally, a nice day!

Neena & Poppy get to meet Audrey