hippity hoppity

Easter's on its way!

{nearly} standing

She still dreads it.

If you look closely you can see the tears.

But she can do it.

Thank Heaven for daddies!

blessed

tiny lace frock
dainty silver slippers
an enchanting baby doll
and her daddy
upon whose arm she so prettily perches

these are a few of my favorite things

{strawberry} cutie pie

The moment she arrived on her mama's hip this morning sporting this ensemble I knew we must do a photo shoot.
No matter that we had 8 other children to tend to.
And do Easter eggs with.
And lunch to prepare.
For a small army.
No way.
It was a must.
So we took two minutes.
And look what we ended up with.
Can you really blame me?
After all, isn't every single one your very most favorite?

strawberry {cutie} pie

Just one for now.
Mama's favorite...

adah's newest trick

First, stick a hair band in your mouth. Uh huh. Like that.
And hook it around your two tiny bottom teeth...

Now, pull!

A little harder...Just a little harder...

And let 'er fly! She would've been content doing this all day long.

Goofy girl.

hello handsome!

That's what I said to get this expression.

This boy is big brother material.
The other day while I was otherwise occupied this guy fed his baby sister, brought her toys when she got bored and even ran for a tissue and wiped her snotty little nose. (which he hates to even get near)
Last week he saved her from death by a rubber frog when he frantically said, "No, No! Adah!" and ran to tell Grami that she had stuck the entire thing in her mouth.
Yesterday as we were leaving for church he crooned to her, "Oh! You are so, so pretty! You are just the prettiest! You are the very prettiest baby girl, Adah!"

I love this boy.
I can't believe he's already so responsible.
And I don't know how I ever got along without him.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!

So much to do and no time or money to do it!
The busiest week of our entire year is 2 short weeks away.
And I feel kinda like doing this...

Adah is in her most demanding stage of babyhood.

Camden needs constant supervision with his schooling.

And Jude and Gwyneth just need constant supervision!

I might actually be able to check something off the list if I ever had 2 seconds to think straight!

today...

I got to snuggle with Lyle for an hour before he left for work.
That's what happens when you have 4 children waking you up at the crack of dawn.

I discovered a forlorn group of mourners hovering about Gwyneth's jewelery box as it played it's haunting melody.
"Baby Anna is dead." Gwyneth told me.
All eyes were cast on Gwyneth's bed where a motionless baby doll lay.
"See, she's really dead." Camden stated.

We {and Aunt Tess} spent the morning at my grandparents.
She made us spaghetti for lunch.
And the kids will never leave again without a root beer float filling their tummies.
Camden's, minus the root beer.

Camden observed that I don't have "very good skin."
It's "kinda saggy."
Tessa's looks okay, though.
Let's give her 10.5 more years.
Then we'll see what he says.

Gwyneth scraped her knee.
And handled it far better than either brother would have.

It snowed.

When we got stopped by a train Camden wondered why I couldn't just jump the car over it.
Jude had a true panic attack, absolutely positive that we were stuck forever.

We have no groceries for dinner.
Nada.
Good thing it's payday.

10

10. Yesterday morning at the breakfast table Gwyneth asked her brothers if they liked to shake their buns. To which they both replied a hearty "yes!", and proceeded to demonstrate. Gwyneth, appalled at their lack of talent, interrupted to show them how it is really done, in circles, not back and forth.
I'm not making any of this up.
And I have no idea how this morbid fascination with buns originated.

9. Heidi called Sunday night from Arizona.
In the midst of a snow storm.
That made my day.
My whole week, really.
Serves her right for going on 2 awesome trips every year.
And leaving me here.

8. Camden gets to be a disciple in the Easter program. Judas.
Fitting. He might just have enough traitor in him to refuse reciting his lines. Should be interesting.

7. Is it normal to have to refill both bird feeders every 24 hours? This could get spendy. You should see the amount of birds we have, not including the 24 quail.

6. Adah woke me up twice last night. She got in the habit during her 5 week battle with the monster cold. Guess it's time to get mean. It's bound to be harder on me than her, I know.

5. It's official. I can no longer keep up on my housework. I can no longer do any housework. During Adah's first nap we do class time. During Adah's second nap Camden does his school. No more time for housework. Or anything else.

4. I had a panic attack the other day when I realized that next year at this time the only one of my children taking a nap will be Adah. And 3 of them will be learning how to read. Heaven help me. How am I gonna stay sane?

3. Jude's been smirking at me every time he gets in trouble for something. Never had that happen with any of the others. It's so maddening! Can't wait for those teen years...

2. I'm really excited about the Secret Mother/Daughter program at church. Gwyneth doesn't quite understand it yet, but loves the idea of getting new spoils every week. The boys are beyond jealous. I'm thinking someone needs to come up with something similar where the boys are getting ministered to as well. Any ideas?

1. I'm making breakfast for dinner. My favorite! But I don't have huckleberries for the pancakes. Guess we'll have to settle for mixed berries and whipped cream. Mmmmmm....

a mother's darkest day

the day her first-born son will no longer except a kiss without squirming away, promptly erasing every trace and proclaiming, "Kisses are yucky!"

"Who told you that?"

"Uncle Lance."

Needless to say, Uncle Lance, you are now at the top of my hit list.

well baby

Adah
9 months

16 and a half lbs. (12th percentile)
head 17.5" (60th percentile)
length 29" (90th percentile)

Yesterday Adah had her first well-baby check-up since she was new.
We haven't ever taken her in because she is our first baby who actually is well! (:
With Camden it was the plagiocephaly.
Jude had extreme eczema/infections/malnutrition issues.
And Gwyneth with her Brown's Syndrome. Not to be confused with Downs Syndrome.
We learned quickly to enunciate that one very, very clearly.

But Adah has been a dream in every way.
It is such a relief to not have some major problem to worry over.

She hasn't gained any weight in over 6 months.
Not normal, but she is still very healthy. Just small.
Strange.
We've never had a small baby before! (:
She was by far the biggest at birth.

She has quite a large hemangioma on her back, next to her spine.
Not pretty.
Every other doctor has said it'll be gone by her first birthday.
Yesterday we were told not to expect it to be gone until her 4th birthday.
I'm so thankful, for Adah, that it's not on her face.

She is now bearing weight on her legs, thanks to a lot of patience on Daddy's behalf.
And most likely is just too laid back to really care enough to try, or so the Dr. says.

"What words does she understand?" the doctor asked.
"All of them." I replied.
She couldn't believe the list of vocabulary words I rattled off.
She said she has never seen such a young baby with such a large vocabulary.
And then she repeated herself. Two more times.

Then she asked, "What has she eaten so far today?"
She stopped me half way through the list to tell me she couldn't believe she ate that much, never moved, and is still so tiny.

Lucky girl.

And then Adah got quite the compliment when the doctor told her she needed to take samples so that she could be genetically reproduced. Creepy concept. But sweet non-the-less.(:

We are so thankful all is well with our little angel!

today

i spilled my entire latte.
not a drop was spared.

i forgot to eat breakfast

i ruined both of the boys' winter coats in the wash.
even though i followed the care instructions,
using extra caution.

i baked bread.
the 4th loaf this week.
it fell.

i talked to my mom on the phone.

i forgot to eat lunch.

i spent 20 minutes meticulously coloring Larry Boy
for a very particular critic and his big brother who pointed out every minute mistake.

gwyneth, in tears, asked me why i never call her sissy anymore.

i didn't talk to lyle on the phone.

i decided, on a whim, to let Jude and Gwyneth skip their nap.
i will live to regret it, i'm sure.

i devoured the leftover cookie dough in the fridge.

i lovingly {yes, lovingly} scrubbed 14 pairs of shoes.

the kids had a make-believe beach party.

gwyneth got the runs. again.
and again.
right after she peed in her new swimsuit.

i drained an entire squirt bottle-full of water in the bathroom drawer.

adah gave me her very first kisses.

from the mouths of babes

My favorites this week include;

Camden
"Does Optimus Prime love God?"
If only all their questions were this easy to answer.

And

Jude
"Do Kix sometimes have legs?"
Think about it for a minute.

Gwyneth pronounces fudge as "sludge"

Camden thinks hiccups are called "the make-ups"

And Adah now has a vocabulary of approximately 10 words.
But she can understand virtually everything you tell her.
Her ability to communicate is astounding.
I realized just yesterday that she has her own word for Jude.
Whenever he enters the room she lights up and says something similar to "B-you!"
She just adores him.