Ada is Five

Our sweet Ada-girl is 5 years old.

When I was pregnant with her, I planned for her a "sunshine" nursery.  And truly, a little ray of sunshine she has always been.

I had to find this old video because Mitch and I couldn't help but laugh every single time they talked about the Dodger's pitcher "Maeda" (pronounced my-ada) during the NLCS.  Grady always used to call her "my Ada" and I knew I had at least one video of it.



Finding the old video reminded me how happy and social Ada has been from the very beginning.  She is less than two weeks old here and was always looking around, happy to listen to whoever was talking.  She "smiled" before she could actually smile.  She was always soaking it all in and would talk back (grunt) before she could actually talk.  She is the same social butterfly today.  We went to a big grill-out with Mitch's coworkers and I prepped the kids on the drive there about being polite, shaking hands, looking people in the face, telling them their names and ages, and answering whatever questions are asked.  This is a struggle for us all.  We got out of the car and met a manager arriving at the same time.  Ada walked up to him and said, "Hi, I'm Ada and I'm 4!  That's my brother Maddox; he's 9.  That's Grady; he's 7.  And that's my sister Kallie, she's 3."  Haha.  I'm not sure how we were blessed with a social person in our family, but we are all thankful for her.

Ada currently loves dolls, barbies, Trolls, stuffed animals, writing, drawing, crafting, dancing to her favorite songs on the radio, tumbling, cooking/baking, dressing up, snuggling, and talking a lot.  And she loves God and loves life.  She does not like to be embarrassed or to be told "no."  Obviously.  She is so sweet and silly and sassy.

For her birthday, she had a Trolls birthday party with family.

Today we took a few pictures to remember her at five.  She asked for most of them to be with Buster which he was happy to partake in.

Five is wonderful.  Ada, you are so wonderful and so loved.  Keep on shining!

Kallie 3 Months

This little girl is 3 months old...

This always amazes me.  They grow so much in those first months.  I cant believe her feet already reach the end of her carseat.  It seems as though I am constantly adjusting the straps to compensate for her growth.

Kallie is a sweet, happy baby when she is at home, being held by her mommy, and being fed all the time.  Otherwise she tends to be a little uneasy around others.  She doesn't even like other people to talk to her really.  Where on earth did she get that from? :) She eats constantly throughout the day and then sleeps so well in her bed at night usually waking for some quick cuddles and a snack around 3.  She would eat non-stop all day if possible.  She also LOVES her blanket and fingers.  Recently she has been talking to her hands a lot and just started really figuring out how to suck on her fingers to make herself happy.  So many things about her have me thankful that I didn't have to transition her to daycare.  I don't think it would have been as easy as the last two that ate regularly every 3 hours and were just happy hanging out with their binky between feedings.

Kallie adores her big brothers and sister and loves when they give her attention.  She really doesn't care if they poke her, lay on her, shove binkies in her mouth that she doesn't want...she just soaks up their attention no matter what.

She's an active little thing.  She's always wiggling, kicking, standing, and has rolled over a handful of times now.

And she has so much to talk about these days...



What a little sweetie.  Happy 3 months Kallie.

Cha Cha Slide

We interrupt our regularly scheduled pregnancy updates for Grady doing the Cha Cha Slide.  He's been singing and dancing to bits and pieces of this lately learned from daycare so we put it on last night to see the whole thing.  It makes me smile. :)

34 Weeks

The weeks are just flying by now!

 

I’m really feeling great and at my 34 week checkup yesterday, everything was perfect with baby girl in there. 

Big news…WE SETTLED ON HER NAME LAST WEEK!  That feels good.

I can't believe I'm in my final weeks of pregnancy...final as in FINAL ever.  I'm going to miss this a lot so I'm trying to enjoy every last minute of it.

Finally some Fresh Air

It's getting so old to talk about this winter, but it has been such a drag.  It has been so cold (we beat our all time record low here), plus so snowy (officially the snowiest winter EVER in the QCA), plus so windy. We hadn't played outside since Christmas...until Saturday.

The weekend was glorious.  I say this on Monday with a fresh thick blanket of snow on the ground and the wind roaring, but let's focus on the weekend.

First, we had these little blondies over for a sleepover Friday night.

Our basement was turned into a lion's den at the zoo, with me as a "zoo customer taking pictures"...that is until I was asked if I would go back upstairs. 

Then...finally...20 degree weather that allowed us to get outside.  Van came over Saturday to play in the snow at our house. 

And Sunday we ventured out to the best sledding hill ever at my brother-in-law's uncle's farm.  It was 20 degrees and SUNNY with zero wind and we marveled at how "warm" it felt.  Seriously...20 degrees felt warm...pathetic.  The kids were sledding for a good two hours and didn't want to leave when it was time to.  Even little Ada enjoyed rolling in the snow for a few hours and getting in a little sledding.  The boys sure got a much needed workout walking up that hill over and over again despite having the option to hitch a ride on the 4wheeler or Ranger.

A few clips of the day.  The one of Ada is right before she actually climbed onto the tube and went right on down (with Dad running beside her)!  I wish I kept recording that!




Too much fun!!

Home Sweet Home

You can bet I’m going to keep mentioning this for quite some time especially with the holidays coming up.  We’ve been talking about moving home for years and our number one reason was always the holidays.  “Just think about Christmas at home, having Santa visit our own home, being able to go to all of the family gatherings and then go rest and sleep in our own house at the end of the day.”  We both got a little sentimental the other day while standing at the bottom of the staircase, talking about where we want to put our Christmas tree, picturing the kids running down the stairs on Christmas morning.

 

Anyways, I'm getting ahead of myself.

 

I’ve been reminded a few times recently about how much of a challenge it was moving home.  It was a whirlwind at the time, but now that we’re all settled in to a normal groove I’ve pretty much already forgotten that whirlwind.  But I just had to send one final tax paper to the relocation services and my stomach turned remembering the mounds and mounds of paperwork, signatures, emails, faxes, copies, phone calls, and short deadlines between the company, relocation, and realtors.   Then a coworker from Des Moines just emailed me that she’s moving to the Quad Cities and they’re having troubles getting their two little ones into daycare, they’re on a million waiting lists.  I had spent months before this job researching daycares with coworkers that I knew in the QC only to end up on year long waiting lists too.  This was by far the most challenging/stressful part of the move.  We got really lucky and got all three into a good place, but it wasn’t until half a year later in August that we got into the daycare we really wanted.  The waters have settled now, but looking back it was a bit of a bumpy road. 

 

Now it just feels good to be here.  We’re happy.  We’re on familiar turf.  We see people we know everywhere we go and it just makes us feel secure…truly at home.  We see our families every week without the hassle of travelling with the kids and we love this.  Plus we get to go sleep in our own beds after the visits; it makes our days and weeks, albeit busy, seem so much more “normal” and consistent.  I’m glad we lived away for 10 years.  I loved and miss Ames, and the drive home, which we made quite frequently, wasn’t too bad at all.  But mostly I love how living away created such an appreciation for home in us.  We love this place.  Everything just feels so right now being here.

 

The day we closed on the new house, I took this video of the kids walking through their new home for the first time.  Mitch was finishing up packing in Ames or possibly by this time was on his trek home.  I hadn’t watched this in a while before this week.  There’s actually 15 minutes of them exploring in fascination, but I cut it down.  It makes my heart happy to watch this and also to see how it’s gone from a new house to our home in the last 8 months.  The very end is my favorite.

 

Have I said “home” enough times in this post to get my point across?

 

There’s no place like home for the Holidays.  J

Disney on Ice

Grandma Karey took the boys and me to Disney on Ice: Passport to Adventure last night.  I can remember going to Disney on Ice as a kid with my Grandma Nancy, so I was so excited to be bringing the boys.  We were in the front row too!

Mom Instagramed a picture of me during the show with the caption, "I can't decide who is having more fun, Jessica or the boys."  I'm not sure either.  It's certainly fun as a kid, but there's a whole new element when you also get to enjoy watching your kid's eyes light up in wonder.

 

Hakuna Matata.  It means no worries for the rest of your days.



"Ohana means family.  Family means no one gets left behind.  Or forgotten."

 

Although the adult Simba costume was a little freaky, this part was my favorite.  Maddox got to give Simba a high five during the finale too.  



The boys favorite part was when Captain Hook got ate by the huge crocodile, even though they were scared to death in that moment.  They are mad at me for not getting a video of the Peter Pan part.  :)

What a great time.  Thanks so much Mom/Grandma for this wonderful night.

"Don't you ever forget that one little part of you that should never grow up, because then you'll always have the joy and wonder of the world around you." - Peter Pan

Slapdash Ramblings - Life Lately

Nothing but random thoughts around here today...

First things first.  Drum roll please...we unpacked our last few "junk" boxes over the weekend!  And parked the Yukon on the garage finally!  It makes me so happy.  Our first time with an attached garage.  No more hauling the kids in and out through rain and snow.  :)

This is a new one for Turt and Murtle.  They always step on each other to get closer to their basking light, but this takes it to a whole new level.  They sat like this forever.

I found an old memory card and threw it in my camera to take some pictures and then saw this.  Can somebody please tell me when this boy grew up?!


Grady 15 months - June 2011

Speaking of growing up, I asked Maddox and Grady to sign a card.  I was expecting Grady to just "scribble" some fake letters.  Instead this is what I saw.  #impressed

The kids went crazy circling Christmas gift ideas in a target magazine over the weekend (thanks for the idea Stevi).  Luckily we got two magazines in the mail.  Maddox circled everything on the Lego/K-nex page which is no surprise.  Grady was most excited about a nerf gun (no thanks).


Mitch went deer hunting for the first time over the weekend. :)  I told him not to get overly excited and come home on his first day of hunting with a little 2-point buck.  I hear my Dad told him not to listen to me and to shoot the first buck that he sees.  Haha.  Either way, our deep freeze is set up and ready for deer meat!  When I was talking to Grady about this he got totally disgusted and informed me that he will NOT eat deer meat.  I let him know that he already has and loved it.  Also we were reading a dinosaur book and talking about carnivores and I asked the boys if they eat meat and they looked at me like I was crazy.  I didn't realize that they didn't realize that they love to eat cows, pigs, chickens, and deer.  We've had a little talk and they've now accepted the fact that we're carnivores and that meat is delicious.  "But we DON'T eat dinosaurs!"

And lastly, just a little glimpse of everyday life in our house.  Including Ada now standing up herself to walk (just started over the weekend)!  She's still crawling 90% of the time but it won't be long now!  Warning, this will make you want a lot of loud, crazy boys in your house.  You can borrow our "wild things" if you'd like.





Oh, little baby is moving right now more than I have ever felt before.  Love.

Special Request from Lala....Crawling

I tried to get Ada to crawl on the web cam the other night for Lala but she of course wouldn't.  So, here's the video you requested, Lala!

Ada Girl is 5 Months

Girl, you are a wild child.  Always rolling and grabbing EVERYTHING.  It’s hard to hold you because you’re so wiggly and always looking around to see what everyone else is doing and trying to find something within reach to grab.  I think you will be crawling before we know it.  I’ve seen you inch forward already to grab something.  When we put you in your walk-a-round toy you just turn around to find your brothers and try to run to them.  I really can’t wait until you crawl.  It will be so much fun to watch you follow your brothers around and get into their stuff.

 

Trying to get a pic of you in your hooded towel but you had other plans

 

 

You still are a great sleeper except you’ve started waking up early and nursing a lot 4:00 – 6:00.  At first I thought it was the 4-month growth spurt and the horrible cold you had and possibly teething but now after a month I’m not sure.  You've gained almost two pounds since your 4 month checkup so at least we have something to show for it.  We started oatmeal a couple days ago!  You did pretty good with it.  You opened your mouth and ate what you could keep in there.  A lot of it was spit out and most of all you wanted to play with the spoon.

 

 

You were more social than your norm on our trip home last weekend.  You talked to people and let them hold you without crying.  Everybody loves your little squeal of delight and bright blue eyes.  And more and more people are saying that you look like ME!  Sweet little squealer...

 

 

In other exciting news, you've started to practice sitting.  When did you get this big? 

 

 

You LOVE your blanket and binkie and are becoming quite a cuddle bug (love it)...

 

 

 

Finally, your monthly picture and possibly the last one with these wood floors.

 

 

 

Love you,

Mama

Silly Billies

Just some silly little moments.

Maddox and Ada playing while Grady helps me catch the Kodak moment...




Dancing and playing with the "company dragon"...



Grady just getting a drink...

Ada's 4 Month Checkup and Stuff

Nothing much to report other than she's healthy and growing EXACTLY as her brothers did!  Starting out small, jumping above the 50th percentile in the first two months and then creeping down to settle into the 20th/30th percentile all the while maintaining that 90th percentile head!  What can I say...our kids have big brains. 

Height: 24 1/4 in
Weight: 13 lb 1.5 oz
Head: 42.5 cm

Why do we record height in inches and head circumference in centimeters?! 

Ada is really rolling now.  She never stays on her back unless you're there talking to her.  She's really starting to hit that fun, social baby age.



We'll be trying cereal once she has somewhere to sit!

Just the Kiddos

I've been cleaning up old videos and coming up with a plan to organize them all.  In doing so I've watched a lot of old videos and just love the ones where the kids are just being themselves, just hearing their voices and remembering their personality at that given age (even Maddox's terrible twos seem "cute" to me now...ahhhh).  Therefore I've vowed to start taking more of these which is definitely easier to accomplish these days with phones that do everything.  Today... 



Little Miss Dimples...

Weekend Happenings

What a nice relaxing weekend!  The weather was great (fall is around the corner) and we had nothing to do.

My Grandma and George made a quick trip out on Saturday to meet Ada.  How awesome of them to make that drive.  Ada cried most of the time like she does for most guests, but they didn't seem to mind.  Grandma remembers my colic.  :)  Ada doesn't seem to have colic.  She doesn't cry for hours every night or anything, she's just very sassy.  Grandma had a good question for me, "Does it make you nervous when she's crying?"  The answer is no, not at all, I can pretty much tune it out.    But I wonder if she was my first baby if it would be different?  I've learned by now with babies that everything is a phase and this too shall pass.  I do feel bad for the people that visit and want to hold her and can't unless they want to listen to her cry.

Sunday we took Ada to Ada Hayden lake for the first time.  That's one of our favorite places to go and yes...her namesake.  I'll leave the story of that for a separate post.

Ada at Ada Hayden

Throwing rocks

Other than that, we just lounged around the house and broke out the crock pot for our first "crock pot sunday" of the season. 

Ada seems to be the center of the universe lately.  We're learning new things each day that make her happy.  One thing we know is that she likes laying on the floor and looking around.  Maddox and Grady always come swarming whenever she's down there.  That's probably why she likes it so much. 

I have about 15 minutes of video from this morning of the three just hanging out.  It makes my heart happy.  I'll only post a few minutes.  Grady, the protector, "Don't bite my Ada!"  I can't keep them young forever but I'll have this forever!