Thursday, April 26, 2012

Happy 4th Birthday, Noa Jane!

Waiting patiently.
We can eat cake!
Poor Ruthie was asking all day if it was her birthday too but was generally happier than she looks in this picture. :)

Evidently it was a pink party! Ya didn't care. Didn't want her dinner but went crazy for the cupcake.

Noa is having a princess party in a few weeks. More fun to come! :)

Saturday, April 21, 2012

The Real Deal

One night I asked Russ to take a few pictures of my belly so that the new baby would have some pictures to look back on.  We all know I don't need another belly shot and I am definitely not excited about them anymore.  After taking a few shots he kindly suggested that maybe ten o'clock at night after a long day wasn't the best time to take pictures.  But we pressed on.  And since you will always get the raw, unedited version of our lives, I am posting this pic. This is the best shot we could muster.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Beach on a Whim...

...and it was actually fun! If you've known me for about 15 seconds, you know that I'm not really a beach person, which is incredibly unfortunate given our locale. But, today we needed to shake it up a little bit, and Ivana and her crew were already going, so we decided to join.
Ya baby wasn't sure what to think about it, but looked oh-so-cute in her surfer gear. She didn't like the water and wanted to be held the whole time. She was fine walking around in the sand, but started eating the shells (what kid does this?), so had to be monitored a little too much.
Couldn't get a great shot of Babers because all she wanted to do was flip her hair around. This was the first time we've been to the beach where she actually went in the water a little bit. She liked it! Definitely scared of the seagulls (as was I) that kept swooping to get our food. Started crying about it multiple times. But, I totally understand. Seagulls are awful and they fly like a foot from your face. They seem to know where the kids are too. Big bullies. I hate them. Anyway, when we stopped eating, they stopped coming around and everyone was happy again.
But the award for the most excited beach babe goes to Noa Jane! I don't think I need to expound on these pictures.
Love, love, loved it!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Fountain of Fun and Other Happenings

"O.k. girls. We are just here for a picnic. We didn't bring your suits and we don't have towels, so we're not getting in the fountain today. O.k.?"
"I mean it. Stop putting your feet in. We're not getting in today."
"Babers, stop crawling around in the water."

"Noa, why did you just sit down when I told you not to?"
Aren't you glad we let them break the rules sometimes? It was the perfect night for some fountain fun, and it actually wasn't as crazy as it might seem although they didn't eat one bite of their dinner. We just let them ride home in dipes and they thought it was awesome!
This was another day where Russ must've been taking them for a walk to get them out of my hair for a few moments. If we walk through the woods, there's a great neighborhood with a lake on the other side and the girls love to walk over there.
This one melts my heart!

Babers is lookin' pretty beachy in this picture with all the blonde hair shining in the sun!
Here we have Noa (chose her own outfit - very colorful) on the day before Easter looking for eggs at our house. It lasted about 2 minutes, but the girls thought it was soooo incredible.
And here's how Little Ya has been most of the week, but especially on Easter. Poor baby somehow ended up with Hand-foot-mouth virus, which turned into some wheezing. The doctor noticed her overall condition and also some sores on her hand and caught it right away. I haven't seen any more sores anywhere, but she might have them all on the back of her throat. I hope not, as it can be kind of painful. Anyway, she's had to be on breathing treatments, steroids, and antibiotics all week, but is starting to act more like herself, although a much crankier version.
And here she is on Easter with Grandma. She must've laid on her for about an hour.
And then she laid on Pops for another hour or more. Is this a sweet picture, or what?

Post egg hunt with the grands on the porch. Who needs to invest in baskets? We just use grocery bags.
This picture is for all of you who are feverishly googling "hand-foot-mouth" right now. Just wanted you to know that Lydie is fine. It sounds a little medieval, but it is just a virus that has to run its course. This was bath time tonight and as you can see, her little smile has returned. Thank you, Lord!

When my kids are really sick, I often think of people in places where there's no/little medical help and I am very thankful that all we do is run to the store and get them some meds. I am so thankful for our health as we are on the other side of a pretty terrible week. We had lots of sleepless nights and I am still feeling bad myself (both morning sickness -STILL!- and an achy cold). Poor Russ was carrying us all this week. But the Lord is good. He sustains even the most frail among us, doesn't He? What a miraculous and caring God we serve.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

He Is Risen Indeed!

Happy Easter, everyone!

Cute girls but they wouldn't wear their bows. Sigh. Oh well, I'll still take 'em.
Lyds screamed like crazy, but I did manage to get a bow in her hair. Unfortunately, she constantly had snot all over the place all morning long. Ick. She was sooo done when I was taking these pictures. We've been sick this week and she's just not herself.
Mom, put me to bed pleeeease!

Here's a video (not a very good one) of Noa singing last week on Palm Sunday. Ruthie sat in my lap and wouldn't go up. She's been scared of everything and was scared of some man, so she chickened out. But Noa enjoyed herself, for sure. I didn't have a very good angle, so towards the end I focused on the screen because I could actually see Noa better that way. She's in the leopard dress. The kids were mesmerized by the screen and kept looking at themselves the whole time. I didn't notice until I just watched the video back, but check out the kid that fell off the stage! I don't know who it was! I didn't even see it on that day! Poor baby.

Friday, April 6, 2012

There's that Pregnant Lady with all the Kids

I'm sure that's what they say when they see us coming. Yesterday I had to pick up a prescription at Publix, and Noa (surprisingly) didn't want to walk next to me so I jammed all three of them in the rocket ship shopping cart. Poor Lydie was engulfed in her sister's hair most of the time. I knew it would be a quick trip (and of course we get free cookies even if we're just shopping for 5 minutes), so it actually worked this time. I don't foresee it being a solution though, especially when #4 rolls around. There ain't a shopping cart big enough! So anyway, that's my identity anymore - at least when I'm in Publix. The older people love it. They will stop us and tell me stories of their girls. Or if I'm lucky, sometimes they think they are boys (all the pink and long hair everywhere must be tipping them off) and say, "Aren't boys just wild?" Hmm. I don't know. How would I know that? The conversation goes something like this:

"Eunice" - "My boys were just so rambunctious!"
Me - "Yes Ma'am. I have a nephew that is just a ball of energy."
"Eunice" - "Oh. Which one is he?"
Me - "I'm sorry Ma'am. He's not with me today."

Anyway, at least they appreciate kids, until of course, one of them starts freaking out because this is the fifth war story they've listened to in a row. Needless to say, we try to avoid Publix on Wednesdays since it is Senior Citizens' day. But if we actually do go on a Wednesday and actually avoid war stories, and actually make it up to the register, I've found that everyone's paying with checks and man, we just don't have that kind of time! But, I digress. I really do appreciate the love they have for kids, as much as I'm poking fun.

Anyway, since we still need to eat until the girls can walk around the store for themselves, we will just keep jamming them in shopping carts and hope for pleasant smiles rather than ugly stares. :) If you see a mom with lots of kids going crazy in the grocery store, maybe just smile and tell her she's doing a great job. Or better yet, offer to help! Or give her money. I don't know why you would give money, but wouldn't that be awesome? I would love it.