Jordan is 7!

Happiest of birthdays to my 7 year old! You are in first grade this year & doing so well. You got an award for being a good helper and we are so proud of you! You explained that being a good helper meant you were kind and caring for others, which you are. I love that your heart & character were recognized.

You continue to be a great big brother to Lucas & Noah. You are always willing to help keep an eye on Noah when I need to do something and you chase Lucas down when he gets excited about something/someone and takes off running.  You are smart, responsible, kind, tender hearted, brave and loving. You know who you are and what you like.

I love that you ask me to walk with you to school & how you always let me know how much you enjoy spending time with just me. I know that having two younger brothers means that I do not spend much time with you one on one, and I see just how special the moments are to you when we do spend time together.

Jordan, you are so fun to be with and talk with. I love watching as you grow older and you amaze me sometimes with the things you say. I turn around and think "when did my little boy start growing up?!"  The Lord has big plans for you my Jordan - He is going to take all your qualities that He is using us to help shape and mold, and do wonderful things with them.  We love you Jordan!

Lucas Turns 4

My big 4 year old. I was reading your birthday post from last year & all those qualities still hold true today. You are Mr. Personality - still incredibly social, always asking people's names, telling them your name & introducing your brothers. You started preschool this year & you LOVE it. You get upset when we go home because "home is boring". You are my extrovert. You have buddies that you play with at school - the boys gravitate towards you, and so do the little girls! You do imaginary play so well - you can play construction and rescue bots, then turn around and go play house. 

You spend most of your time outside, playing away. I've seen you walk around with your tools, pretending you are fixing something. I've seen you sit and ponder something, talking out loud to yourself. We have a little girl named Annie that lives next door & you spend a lot of time up on the wall talking with her. 

Lucas, you are so helpful with Noah. You keep an eye on him for me & let me know if he's getting into something he shouldn't. Many times I will hear you say "Noah! Ah! Don't go in there! Noah! MOM!" You wrestle with him and he loves it. I know you enjoy being the bigger one and being able to pin Noah down. One day all three of you will be wrestling on the floor & I won't know who is who because you will all be the same size. You do really well (in my opinion) at balancing being a middle child. You play with Jordan, you play with Noah. You play on your own. You and Jordan fight - way more than I would like. His opinion and what he says means so much to you - you really look up to him. I pray that as you both grow older, the fighting will cease and you will support and build each other up. You and Jordan have a relationship with each other that you will not have with Noah - and Noah will be looking up to both of you, as he already does. 

You ask so many questions and unlike Jordan, they are not questions about how things work. You ask questions about Jesus, and humanity.  I am amazed at how you think and what you perceive at this age. I cannot wait to see this continue as you get older & understand more. I am really excited to see what God has planned for you! 

Happy fourth birthday Lucas David. We love you! 

Noah turns ONE!

October 2014

Ocotober 2015

My baby, my last one.  I went back & read Lucas's first birthday post, and I thought he was my last one! Our family was complete, at the time, with Lucas, but little did I know just how much we needed you, sweet Noah.   When we had Lucas, I thought we were done having children, but it wasn't definitive. When you were born, there was no question, no wondering. You were the one that made our family a family of five and there was no doubt in my mind that God planned so perfectly for you to be our third (and final!) child.

Noah, you are such a delight. You remind me of Lucas as a baby - your smile starts in your eyes then when you do smile it's a great big smile. You are mischievous - oh yes, already. You know when you get into something you shouldn't have & you crawl from me as fast your little legs and arms can take you, giggling all the way. You love being outside and exploring the backyard. You throw tantrums earlier than your brothers did - laying on the ground, kicking and screaming. At this time, it's humorous. I may not think so when you are older :)

You adore your big brothers (and they you!). You try your best to keep up with them, which means wrestling. You've gotten hit in the face twice with a soccer ball and you've been knocked over countless times. Being the youngest brother is teaching you to be tough. It would not surprise me if you are my one who is most into sports because you will know about teamwork, fairness (and unfairness), how to get knocked down and get back up again. You know how to hold onto a toy or food for dear life when your brothers try to pry it from your hands. You are not giving that toy/food up without a fight. When your brothers play with you, you laugh. You jump on them, you sit on them, you get in their face & hit them (which we are reprimanding you for). Through it all, they are so good with you. They tolerate you doing all that & simply move if you are in their way.

You are my one who takes the best naps (your brothers only took 20 minute naps). You nap for two hours when Lucas is at preschool & I LOVE IT. You love to eat & I can never feed you enough. I pray that you are my non picky eater. If you see anyone with food, you immediately cry & demand that you get some too, even if you already have something in your hand!

I am so looking forward to watching you grow up. While every "last" is bittersweet because you are my last, I find myself enjoying them more because I know how fleeting it is. I will miss the baby stage. While I won't miss it with an ache to have another, I'll miss it because you are my last.  I love when you reach for me and you put your arms around my neck, and snuggle in. I pause longer and simply hold you, knowing that while you will still give me hugs as you get older (just like your brothers do), these are the last of the baby hugs. That contented sigh you give when you've been crying and I scoop you up, when you feel safe & comforted. Your babbling and the way you squeal with delight. While it is fun to watch you as you learn to talk, those baby babbles will be missed. Those first steps will soon turn into running footsteps as you play with your brothers.

 While I am already missing the baby stage, I joyfully look ahead to your toddler stages (minus the tantrums & potty training). People comment on what it must be like to have three boys, and I must say that you, Noah Jonathan, are making this third boy thing pretty easy  ... so far :)

Noah's One Year & Family Pictures

Jordan - 6.5 years old 

Lucas - 3.5 years old 

Noah - almost 12 months old 

The photographer added the quote - I almost cried when I saw it. I just love it!! 

Catching Up

What a whirlwind it has been since my last post.

We moved to our new home the last weekend in June & six days later went to Oregon for 12 days. I was unpacking to repack for our OR trip.

 Our Oregon trip was eventful this year! On the way up, something went wrong with the van on the 4th of July. We were towed to a city where there was a Honda dealership, but it was closed. There were no places open to get a rental car, so we called David's mom to drive down & get us.  We were about 2.5 hours away from where she lived. Thankfully she was able to come down and we waited indoors at a Mcdonalds (yay play place!).  It made for a very long day but we were able to get there in time to do fireworks with the cousins.

While in OR, Jordan went to camp where David used to be a camp counselor. Jordan's counselor was actually one of David's campers ten or so years ago! Fun times. Jordan loved it, and David loved being a parent volunteer. We plan to have all three of our boys attend the camps as it's a great Christian camp and a day camp, which we do not have down here.

Jordan on the Big Swing

With David and Jordan at camp, Lucas and his cousins too swim lessons. Lucas took to it easily and was eager to show what he learned. He often did not wait for the instructor to finish giving instructions before he just leaped out into the pool. He certainly kept the instructors on their toes!

Jordan lost two teeth while we were on vacation. The first tooth was knocked loose by another camper swinging his lunch bag around & it hit Jordan in the mouth. The second tooth was knocked out by yours truly - me. I threw a toy to the back of the van where Jordan was sitting & it hit him square in the mouth. Poor kid. He told me next time he'd hold up a pillow so the toy wouldn't hit him in the face. He was a champ & handled it all well.

When we came back from OR, it was unpacking, unpacking, unpacking. Noah used the boxes to learn how to climb onto things.

In August, Jordan started first grade. He adjusted really well to the new schedule. We leave the house around 7:20, drop off is at 7:35, school starts at 7:55 and ends at 2:20.  Jordan is my introverted one and needs to just have time after school to unwind. It can be difficult since his younger brother is always wanting to be with him, but they are learning to work it out.

Lucas started preschool in September. When I pick up Lucas, he's immediately showing me his craft and telling me all about it, before we even make it out the door. He does not need to unwind when we get home - he usually is asking me if I'll play with him.

When Lucas is in preschool, Noah is napping! It's the two hours of my day where there's complete quiet & I am able to get stuff done (like updating this blog). Noah is 11 months and is all over the place. He's cruising when he's holding on to things, crawling, starting to stand on his own and climbs up onto things. He loves eating (and is still small, just like his brothers were). He loves to be around his brothers and they love him. They wrestle with him ... something I am still adjusting to & making sure they are around soft surfaces (not near the fireplace or chairs, etc).  Here's a few videos of Noah!

Quick Post

In the midst of packing up & moving to a new home (eek!) I wanted to quickly document some things.

* 7 months, Noah is doing the army crawl. He started doing this around 6.5 months.  The little guy is fast!  He also gets up and rocks on all fours but has yet to figure out to crawl on his knees.

 * Jordan is finishing kindergarten next week. His teacher is wonderful and I wish she could be his teacher in first grade too!

* Lucas decided he wanted to have his hair grow down to his nose and gets mad anytime you try to brush his hair. I convinced (bribed) him to at least get a trim and his hair is still long enough for his liking.  Sorry, I will not let you grow your hair down to your nose.

* It's going to be a crazy month between packing, VBA, moving and then heading to OR after we move (providing the timeline works out for our move).

Noah - 6 Months

Our baby, our last one, is six months today.  While I love to watch all my boys grow, there is something bittersweet for me when they hit the six months mark. We've survived the endless feedings, night wakings, and always having the baby in a swing or on the playmat.  I've always marked six months as a milestone. I look forward to the next six months and all the developments that brings, but I'll miss the times of just holding my snuggly sleepy baby who was content to just be in my arms. I focused on those moments more intentionally this time around because I knew that it would be the last time I was going through that season of life. I'm getting emotional here!

At six months Noah is:

- starting to sit on his own without assistance
- rolling both ways (back to tummy, tummy to back). He most often is on his tummy.
- sleeping from 7:30 - 5, then sleeps for maybe 45 min - hour after his feeding.
- the older he gets the more aware and alert he gets, which means when his brothers wake up, so does he! The joys of having 3 boys share a room :)
- started solids and loves it. I try to avoid putting him in the high chair unless I am going to feed him as he now associates the high chair with food. I do not feed him solids as often as he would like - Momma's busy!
- loves his big brothers. He gets picked up, laid on, his face gets smushed and he takes it all with a smile (most of the time).
- spends most of his time in what I call "baby jail". It keeps him safe from those loving brothers of his. Also loves being in the exersaucer.
- Noah is a happy baby. He pretty much cries only when he's tired or hungry, or his brothers have annoyed him.  People constantly comment on how happy he is and how often he smiles. I'm told "he's going to be very laid back!" ... yeah, I was told that about Lucas too. (Lucas - 6 months). Then he turned 2 and his personality erupted. We'll have to wait & see what Noah's personality is like as he gets older.