11 Months!

 

This month it has been fun to see some of the sibling dynamics start to come out!  You definitely like to be where the girls are and have started to get into their stuff.  This has made games, puzzles, play-doh, painting, Lego's and other things a challenge.

-

 They find ways to get back at you...

 There are some really sweet moments too.  I love it when I find the three of you playing right next to each other when you could be spread out over whole house.  You came up with a fun little game we like to call Monster Baby and it makes all of us laugh.  The girls like to lay on the floor and you walk over to them with your arms in the air then you fall down on them and do it over and over while they scream and giggle.

I love the water and want you to love it too!  This summer it was hard for me to take 3 little ones to play in water.  We mainly went to splash pads, but did get to the pool a few times.  You weren't the biggest fan...this will have to change. :)  Actually, you did like the water but only if I was holding you very close. 

 

 

 

  You love to empty the cabinets and then climb into them.  The girls would pull things out, but they never climbed in.  It is funny because I remember seeing pictures of my brother at the same age playing in the cabinets.  I'm just glad you have found ways to entertain yourself while I make dinner!

I never want to forget this chubby little baby boy in his diaper peacefully sucking his right thumb in the safety of his crib.

 

10 Months!

 

 This month has been all about really starting to explore your world and eating a ton to give you the energy for it!  You have taken off and are pulling up everywhere.  I found out that you could climb the stairs by finding you playing at the top of them one day!  Thank God for guardian angels among us! (Don't worry baby gates are up and being used now) 

You also really love cords like your cousin Thomas...you third child boys!

  

You eat and eat and eat and just keep going until I eventually have to cut you off...this makes daddy so proud.

You have started showing more interest in books...this makes mommy so proud. You hand (throw) them to me and will turn the pages as I read to you on my lap.  Of course, you still love to chew on them too.

We are all treasuring these last couple months of you being a baby!

9 Months!

 

 You have hit the point where you have been in the real world longer than you were in the womb!  As you can see in this picture, as your hair is growing out it has a reddish tint.  Several people have commented on your red hair, even strangers.  We have no idea where it came from! My guess it will change and darken over time.

 

 This biggest news this month is that you started crawling!  Thank you, thank you, thank you for waiting until we moved and had the big stuff unpacked.  Your timing was perfect. 

(you can tell by the room that we had just moved in)

 You got the hang of crawling quickly after you started and almost immediately started pulling up on anything you could get your hands on.

 You FINALLY got a tooth!

 You are getting big enough to hang with your sisters and do some of the things they are doing.  You can still be found on my hip or in the baby carrier a lot of the time though.

 

You were so determined to get to this water.

I'm so torn between encouraging you on as we celebrate these milestones and and wanting you stay a baby. ;)  Of course as your mama, I will do the former and always be your biggest cheerleader.

THREE Years Old

I love your free-spirited ways and how you wanted to wear wolf ears the morning of your birthday.

Your last night as a two year old. Yes, Mama teared up.

My Haven Girl,

You just turned 3 and sometimes I have to remind myself of that because you are close in size to Anna and always interacting with her, so it seems like you are older. Your three year old self is free spirited, independent and affectionate. Your independence is both a blessing and a challenge. You are very self-sufficient and are more of the ask forgiveness not permission type. Anna is the opposite, so I'm not used to it quite yet. For instance, the other day your sippy cup broke and I found you with big scissors and wads tape trying to fix it. Love your resourcefulness, but it isn't always the safest. :)

You really know how to make someone feel good about themselves. You are always telling me and daddy that you love us “the best”. When you and Anna are playing, I have overheard you say “I love you Anna” then give her a hug. You also always pick flowers and bring them to me. You still really like for Daddy to hold you and you always ask for us to lay with you for a long time at bedtime. You never let us forget to give you a hug and a kiss.

 

 

You have such an imagination! You can play for long periods of time with little animal and doll figurines making up all kinds of scenarios. They can get very dramatic too! You can almost always be found with one of those little figurines in your hand. I find them all over the house positioned and lined up in the funniest places, like inside of several pairs of shoes.

You had your first movie obsession with Frozen! Anna LOVED it too, but you took it to a whole other level. Six months later, it is finally wearing off. Everyday after you first saw the movie, you wanted to wear a cape like Elsa, so we tied your lovie blankets around your neck. You wore them so much, that many of them ripped. You and your sister memorized every single song and sang them nonstop on somedays. You loved getting up on the fireplace mantel and performing them. My favorite was you singing "Wet It Go" since you are still working on the "L" sound. It was the sweetest thing to watch you and Anna act out different scenes, especially the “Do You Want to Build a Snowman” song. One of you would play Elsa inside the room and the other would be Anna on the other side of the door. Then you would switch.

Princess Elsa

Right as you turned 3, potty training clicked for you. You started showing signs just before you turned two because of seeing Anna, so I thought potty training would be so quick and easy. Maybe I thought just watching Anna would be enough and I didn't put enough effort into it at my end. You wore more pullups than I ever said I would allow (funny the things you think are absolutes before you become a parent). Anyway, one year later and you are accident free!

 

While Anna and your cousins are your main buddies, you had two little friends in Fort Worth who you grew up with since birth.  Emilynn and Lily were born just a couple months before you and you saw them every week at church.  Since their mamas are my good friends too, we often saw them at other times in the week and you and Emilynn went to school together.  She was the main friend you would talk about from school.  The plan is to keep in touch with them so you guys can continue to grow up together!

Hearing you pray is just about the sweetest thing. Everytime you start a prayer you say “it's wonderful God that...”. When daddy broke his leg and we were praying for him often, you said your same prayer, “it's wonderful God that...daddy broke his leg”. It gave us a laugh and we all new what your heart was trying to express. You love listening to Bible stories and wanted to hear David and Goliath everynight for awhile. Although you are still young and small, may you be mighty with God just like David was. You've also really started to ask questions about what different words mean. The last word you asked about was soul, that was a hard one for mommy to explain!

What you do when you are being a little shy.

Stats:

Height - 38.5 ~ 71% 

Weight - 35 lbs 3oz ~ 80%

 

 

Haven's first interview at age 3:

 

  Goodness you are so loved our precious Haven!

5 Years Old

Your last night as a four year old. (I choke up everytime I take one of these pics.)

You woke up as a beautiful FIVE year old.

I know, I am shocked that you are already five too!

Oh Anna,

You are five and I wish I had the time to write down all the special things about you during this age.  I will try to hit some of the highlights.

        

What really stands out to me when I reflect on you is how much you love interacting with people.  You just love being with someone to talk to, sing to, ask questions to or tell stories to.  Even during your daily quiet time, you role play with stuffed animal and dolls talking almost the whole time.  Your still prefer to be whereever I am, following me around the house sometimes doing chores alongside me and talking to me the whole time.  I get teary thinking about not having my little buddy with me between 8 and 3 while you are at school.

On your birthday you requested that we have tea time.

Another thing that immediately comes to mind is how much you love learning.  You enjoyed your little preschool, but you really loved Museum School.  You soaked up every bit of information they taught you those 2 hours each week and retaught it to Haven and I.  You continue to be drawn to animal books and shows.  You tell me things like "I wish I were a female bird so I could watch the pretty male birds dance for me".  God's creation will continue give you a lifetime of learning little one!

Your ability to focus at your age sometimes takes me by surprise.  The other day you wanted to learn to play chess with Daddy and I think you guys played for 2 hours straight!  You have also gotten interested in Legos and will play with them for long stretches at a time.  You definitely like to follow rules and directions, so you follow each page of the Lego directions to a tee.  For your birthday, I took you to Target to pick out a new Lego set.  We started by looking on the aisle with all the pink and purple Princess and My Little Pony sets, but you didn't want any of those and picked a knight castle on the next aisle.

 

Thank you for making me sit down and play legos too!

You are so in love with your brother and sister!  You and Haven have your run-ins for sure and the claws can really come out, BUT you enjoy each others company more times than not.  You pretend play so well together and while most of the time you are coming up with the ideas, we have been working on asking Haven for suggestions on what to play.  You are doing a good job of tying to be intentional about thinking of others first.  She sometimes copies the things you say and do and you are so good about not getting annoyed with her.  You are also pretty good about including her when you are playing with a friend your age and she wants to tag along.  You still tell people "this is my baby sister".  You love Caleb just as much and are constantly going over to him and giving him big hugs or picking him up.  You can make him smile so easily and are helpful with entertaining him if I need time to finish something. 

 

You had what could be considered your first little crush. There was a boy named Benjamin in your preschool class and he was your favorite friend to play with. You talked about him everyday. The funny thing is, this year you played with the boys in your class more than the girls. I think it was because they would play Wildkratz with you. :) Once when I went to pick you up, you were waiting and holding Benjamin's hand. He has a summer birthday so he was the oldest, tallest boy in the class and you always tell me that you like to play with older boys and girls. Since we moved, he is your penpal and you have exchanged a few letters.

You and Benjamin at your school performance.

Perhaps the most special thing about your 5 year old self is your love for the Lord and how your mind is starting to wrap itself what that entails.  Since you love learning, you enjoy hearing stories from the Bible and listen to them every night as you go to sleep.  You are starting to do more than just memorize the facts of the stories and are starting to see themes emerge.  The other day you mentioned that there are lots of different brothers that fight in the Bible which led to an interesting conversation. I love to hear your honest prayers to Jesus about whatever is on your little mind.  Sometimes if we are talking about a sad situation, you just start praying in the middle of the conversation.  I pray you never lose that sensitivity to what the Spirit prompts in you.

Stats:

Weight -  38 lbs. 3 oz. ~ 51%

Height - 42.75 in ~ 37%

This is the third year in a row I have given her the same interview.  It is fun to look back on the old ones and see how some of the answers have stayed the same.