Grace you are 2 years old!!!

Oh man she is almost 2 years and one month old.  Time flies.  Busy summer but fun summer!!  Gracie Lou had a great birthday, I think. Unfortunately with 4 kids it's harder to take her to a fun and special place but we still had a great time.  She got some cute toys.

Oh man I love it when she "smiles" this is her "smile" hehe

Gracie burrito at Bear Lake right after she almost drowned and right before she face planted.  Poor girl had a rough morning that day.

Wearing matching shirts courtesy of her Aunt Carol.  So so cute!!

As you can see in this last pic.  She is headstrong.  She will pose and smile for pics when she darn pleases and she is my first real foray into the terrible two's.  She's got em.  Lizzie and Moses have yet to be naughty kittens.  They are fabulous and so are you Grace.  You teach me new things every day with your fun and hilarious personality.  I love nothing more than to watch you run with your cute little hop step waddle run.  It's like you push off the floor with your feet.  So so cute and I love the way you say "I'm cupe" and the way when you get sad you let me hold you and hold you and put your head right in the crook of my neck just the very best way it feels.  Oh so turns out you are 56% for weight and 74% for height.  You will be 5'9".  Wow!!  So cool.  Tall Lizzie and Grace.  You love to color and you love to share and you love to help me put things away.  I very very much appreciate that and I love you so so much Grace.  Thank you for being my adorable oops baby.

Maxwell you are 6 months old!!!

Hello sweet boy.  Well the doc says you are gonna be a big one!  Wahoo. You are so so dang adorable.

Here are your milestones:

-Your big sis Lizzie adores you and dotes on you and says googoo to you and you love it and you kick your little feet

-28 inches in height - 95% (wow!!)

-16 lbs 12 oz - 24% for weight (oh my let's feed you more.  Doc says it's ok)

-Head circumference 42 cm - 42% (still have no idea what this means)

-You don't really have an interest in sitting up.  That's ok.  

-You love to roll over from back to front and sometimes you figure out how to go the other way.

-You are such a flirty and happy baby

-You despise the gym and the ladies there.  You cry an angry cry if I take you there.  Mom is figuring out alternatives to the gym.

-You are a happy happy boy.

-Not much else, oh you have some acid reflux but the doc says you'll grow out of it.  I think that's all.  I love you soooooo much baby Maxwell.  

A before I forget post....

Something cute Moses said the other day to Paul:

"Moses why are all these grapes scattered around?"

"Becasue I broke my dinosaur dad"

Tee hee.  Makes no sense.  He is so darling.  We recently returned from Bear Lake and Tiffany said she found him in bed clapping and singing "Beauty and the Beast."  Cuuute!  I love you lil Mo.

Maxwell you are 5 months!!

Something isn't "talking" right between my phone and computer so my pics of Maxwell aren't syncing to my computer.  Hmmm.  Probably have to turn it off and on again...  Anyway, so only 1 lovely pic of our sweet baby boy here.

But what a picture no??  I thought Grace and Moses were happy but Maxwell is outta this world happy.  Even when he is sad and fussy he tries to smile through the tears and he does that cute thing when you come in to get him from his nap where he wiggles and pumps his little legs in pure delight.  Pure joy and delight is what this sweetie pie has to offer to me and boy am I lucky and blessed.  The other kids love to dote on him and man I love having 4 kids.  It is so so so hard but so so so worth it!!  Thank you dear Lord.  What's new with him??  He is almost sitting up on his own.  He is almost rolling over.  He is really good at playing with himself but often his siblings come to visit and love on him.  He sleep until about 6:30 these days and wakes up squaking with joyful coos and stuff.  What a great guy!  I love you sweet baby Maxwell.  So so much!!

Mother's Day and Low Expectations

I had probably the best mother's day yet this year!!  And the secret.... is.... low expectations!!  Haha.  I can't figure out if that is good or bad but it's like a new secret sauce I want to tell every newlywed and new mom.  I literally expected nothing but I wasn't bitter about it or anything I am just a sleepy and busy mom and just feel lucky and blessed when everyone is healthy and happy but Paul got me some lovely flowers and a balloon and an awesome card (the kind that opens and music plays) which absolutely made my day!  Lizzie worked hard on a card for me (oh man that girl needs so much more love from me than I have time for.  She has a heart of gold.)  And I got a lot of love and some emergency preparedness from Paul too.  It was just a nice and relaxed day.

Cute things the kids say

Dang it!  They pass through my mind way too quickly but here is one I remember.  A few days ago Moses asked me for a piece of cauliflower I was chopping and so I handed a piece to him.  A few seconds later he came back and said "no thank you mom.  I think it's dusty."  Tee hee.  Cute huh?  He is used to steamed and buttered cauliflower not this raw stuff.  Adorbs.

Well, Lizzie and Moses have pink eye this week.  Egads.  Hopefully it goes away soon.  The drops sting and my mom says apparently they don't really work anymore.  Ooof.

In other news, praying for Ecuador and the people in the earthquake there.

Maxwell you are 4 months!!

Isn't he a cutie!!???  Four months is a good age.  He is sleeping much better these days.  I still need to chill out and relax because I find myself waking up at 5 a.m. in fear that he will wake up too or that he won't breathe or that he will sleep too long and etc etc.  Makes a momma a little crazy.  But he doesn't ever do 2 a.m. anymore.  That's a blessing.  So little Maxwell went to the doc today and here's what's new:

-26 inches (86th%)
-14 lbs 3 oz (23rd%)
-Only 23%??  Yikes I said to the nurse but she says that is totally fine.  That as long as his growth curve is going up he is ok and I shouldn't worry at all.  She said even 5% would be ok as long as his growth curve was going up.  Crazy huh?  So not to worry.  Plus he's got rolls everywhere.  I guess I was just a touch worried because our other kiddos are so roly poly and fat and I LOVE it.  He's our long and skinny one.
-He is giggling a lot these days.  It's simply delightful!!  He loves the old run around with baby and toss him (gently) on the bed and giggles a ton at that.
-He is also quite vocal.  He likes to tell me things and does it more and more now when he is waking up or going to bed.  So so cute!!
-He is a great tummy timer and can push up far.
-His siblings looooove to coo at him and love on him.  So sweet of them.
-Grace likes to push him around.

Um.  I think that's it.  Maxwellito I love you so!  Thank you so much for coming to our little but growing family.  Love, your mom  who loves you so much!!

Moses you are three!!

Oh man this whole birthday thing is getting out of control!!  Moses how can you be 3??  You were just barely born!!  Egads!!

Stats on my boy 'lil Mo:

53% for height - 37.5 inches
69% for weight - 33 lbs

My little Mo has the biggest heart.  He is happy all the time and cuddly and all boy.  Gratefully, he has gained back a lot of the weight he lost during his pneumonia.  He went down to I believe 27 pounds.  Oh dear.  I am so so so so grateful for my little Mo.  He is the apple of everyone's eye at his preschool and everyone loves him.  He loves cars and trucks and trains and says he dreams about them every night.  Cute huh?  What else is new about him?

-He sleeps in a big boy bed now.  I bought him Thomas sheets and a Thomas comforter and I think he loves that.
-He does everything Lizzie says and loves to play with her.
-He's not so much into Grace at this moment but I think that'll change.
-He adores his dad.
-He likes Lightening McQueen and Cars stuff.
-He jumps around so cute when he dances.
-His best friend is Boden Fenton who is 5 and they go to preschool together.
-He only naps about half the time now.
-If he did something naughty, he is the first to admit it.  So cute!  Without guile.
-He is so healthy.

I can't think of anything more right now.  For his birthday, Paul took him and Lizzie to the Museum of Natural Curiosity and they spent all day there.  Amazing huh?  Paul says it's like Lagoon for kids.  Paul is such a great dad.  Well that's all for now.  But Moses I love you forever.

Lizzie you are 5!!

So on Wednesday, March 23, 2016 our little Lizzie girl turned 5.  Can you believe it??  Our little hunnybuns.  She was just born.  Oh how I love her.  Before I forget here's what she said to Moses the other day.  He wanted to have his Ken (Barbie doll who only has 1 leg swim) with Lizzie's barbie in the barbie swimming pool but she said to him "Moses!  Ken is not allowed to be here because I don't want people in this pool with only one leg."  Hahahahaha!  So cute huh?  Totally serious and cute of her.

So here is my lovely lazy photo dump of Lizzie on her big day.  She requested pancakes and eggs which Paul so kindly made and then we sang to her and gave her an Ariel cupcake cake (her request).  We sang to her and she was happy and got a bunch of cute presents like a huge barbie suitcase from her Mami Vicky and Opi and and Ana outfit and a mom and me cookbook and some arts and crafts and a new Easter dress and some other things that I can't remember.  Woops.  Mama sleepy (but in other news baby Maxwell has been sleeping through the night now for like a week and I am a new woman!!  Yes a new and grateful woman).

Lizzie played with her toys all morning and was a happy girl.  The next day I brought the cupcake cake in to her school and they sang to her there.  Oh my little precious girl is 5?  What is new with her?:

-She is incredibly social!  Much more than I remember being at her age.  Wow.  She loves playdates and friends and such.
-She loves preschool and her favorite subject is math and counting
-She loves to write her name with little flowers on the I's - so cute and creative
-She loves arts and crafts and already is better at it than I am.
-She can "read" a few books from preschool but I don't think she is crazy about reading yet and I'm not gonna push it even though my type A wants her to read asap.  Slow and steady mama....
-She can play two twinkle variations.  It's a lotta work but I'm happy she has a thing she works on almost every day
-She is a delightful and wonderful big sister.  She helps mama all the time and the other kids and never fights with them and loves to coo on Maxwell.
-I'm a big big fan of hers and I hope and pray she knows this to be true even though I get after her a million times a day for not obeying instantly and being too slow to get ready etc.  Oh boy oh boy do I hope she forgives me for being impatient and otherwise an annoyed mom.  I love her so much.  I'm just always tired out by the cute kiddos.
-She loves to dance and can dance really well.  She keeps a good and steady beat and loves "daddy jams."  She also likes to ballerina dance.  Oh she is a cutie alright.
-She is quite impressionable with her peers.  I'll pick up on her doing things like her friends do after a play date.  Must be a white personality like me.  We love to pick up on other people's habits, bad and good.
-She does this fascinating thing where she will literally bring up something from 2 years past which I thought she had forgotten.  Not so my dear.   She has a great memory, for better or worse.
-She still naps about 2 or 3 times a week, no sweat (even though it means she'll stay up late the next night).
-She is 47' so 99th% for height and 46 pounds so 86th% for weight.  Those are yer stats.
-Oh how I love love love and admire my firstborn.  She is a sweet treasure.  I thank the Lord for my stewardship over her.

Lizzie and Grace doing crafts

"Sisters....Sisters....la la la la la"  You know, from White Christmas?  Oh man they are playing together so cute and this one on the right, lil Lizzie will be 5 in 10 days.  I can no longer say 4 under 4.  Sniff.  I can't imagine my blessed life without my sweethearts.  I hope they know I love them so much and I pray every day that I don't scowl at them too much.

Baby Maxwell's baby blessing

Yesterday, Sunday, March 13 at 9 a.m. was his special day.  He got blessed and we had a great gathering of friends and family at our home later.  He also turned 3 months on the 13th.  Cool huh?  Also, he slept through the night at 12 weeks (he is 13 weeks now) and did that for about 5 days but then the day of his blessing (also daylight savings yoikes!) he decided to wake up super early and it was murder and so he and I had a "talk" tonight and I explained to him that he needs to sleep all the way through the night and I'm confident he will.

Paul gave him a lovely blessing and seeing as how I only slept four hours that morning I can't really remember it!  Ay ay ay.  Waaaah!  But it was lovely.  Beautiful spirit there and Maxwell didn't cry or anything.  Pictures below.  What do you think?  I think he looks like my little Mexican baby?  Maybe takes after my grandpa Papa Carlitos a bit?  That's the vibe I'm getting.  He is so sweet.  He smiles and coos all the time and I swear he is saying "Mom!  I'm trying to tell you what it was like over there on the other side!"  haha.  Who knows?  We had a great after party and lots of good friends came and good food (Hawaiian Haystacks and the traditional tres leches cake, yum).  Happy life.  I am grateful for yesterday.  And I am SOOOOO grateful for my beautiful family and also healthy family.  Thank you Lord.

Baby Maxwell you are two months

What a cutie you are baby Maxwell!  Two months flew by didn't it?  The doctor says you are in good health and he was interested in your darker, sallower complexion, as was I.  I am a tad worried about your weight.  Only 11.7 pounds at the weigh in - 30% and 50% for height which is better.  You aren't a big eater and you wake up around 3-4 every night but that's not too bad, right?  We are getting on top of this situation, right??  Well, you are a coo-er and a smiler.  You love to cuddle and hang out and are always a happy boy and take good naps.  I love you so much Maxwell.  Also, you are a fantastic tummy timer.  So proud.  Well, gotta power pump now.  Trying to keep up my milk supply for you, my little sweetness.