Jerome Quote

This morning Adelynne was whispering to Jerome and he said, "What are you talking at me??? Talk it to me louder!!!"

PS Aven started crawling yesterday!!!

Kid Quotes

Jay - "Understand, Kids!"

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Conversation with Addy:

Dad: "Addy, finish going to the bathroom."
Addy:"Dad will you come in here with me?"
Dad: "No, you know how to do it yourself and you need to do it."
Addy:"Dad, I need help."
Dad: "What do you need help with?"
(Addy stretches to the back-left side of the counter)
Addy: I can't reach this back corner.

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Addy: Grandma, I don't like that lawnmower cause it will just WHACK your feet off!

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Jay: (with strong emphasis) "Understand! Uncle Mike!"

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Addy: Dad, may I watch a show while Aven smiles?
Dad: Okay, shall we turn it off if she stops smiling?
Addy: No, Dad. haha, you're being silly.

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Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers!

At 5:30am this morning Sarah gained a new title 'Mother of three'. Our beautiful new baby girl, Aven Mae, was born. At 8 lbs. and 21 inches of love she is quite content with the world. Her eyes are very active, she loves to look around.

Addy was very excited when I told her this morning that she had a new baby sister. Jay didn't quite understand but he does now. He knows there's a new baby in the house and that her name is Aven.

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Easter

Lately Jay has been singing the happy birthday song. His adaptation to the holiday has been his singing "Happy Birthday, Easterrr." What a lovely singing voice, well cute anyway.

We did a little candy hunt and took some pics after dinner and coloring eggs at Jay and Addy's cousin's house. Then we played the thankful game. Addy said, "I'm thank you for that we could hunt for candy," and "I'm thank you for that we could eat dinner with Grandma." And a bit later Addy gave mommy's pregnant tummy a kiss and said, "I love you baby."

It was a great day. Enjoy the pics!

Crab Eyes

Last week some friends of ours, the Wilfords, invited the kids and I over to have a special dinner of freshly steamed crabs. I was a little hesitant because seafood is not even close to number one on my list of favorite foods. We decided to try it anyway. So I went with my friend Anni to get the crabs and the whole way home I was joking about having to hold 2 dozen dead bodies in my lap (it was pretty disgusting). So we get home and Will, Anni's husband, starts teaching us how to break open the crabs to get to the meat. I could hardly even watch. After making a few jokes and quite a few disgusted faces Will gave me one already broken open. I managed to get some meat out and it tasted really good. I gave some to Addy and she loved it, so of course I start hearing, "Mommy, I want more crab! Mommy, I want more crab!". I'm not sure I can convey the feelings I felt when trying to break open more of the crab. Needless to say, I couldn't get anymore meat for her. Will kindly took at least five minutes to get her a pile of crab meat which took her about ten seconds to scarf down and start asking for more! After a while, I started feeling bad about ignoring her pleas for more and I worked up the courage to break one open myself. Very hesitantly I picked one up and suddenly I hear Addy exclaim,"Mommy, they have eyes!!".

Yesterday's Quote of the Day

I have to preface this quote by saying that Addy has been watching the Winnie the Pooh movie "The Heffalump Movie". In the movie there is a song called "In The Name of the Hundred Acre Woods". So, last night I was helping her say her prayers and she was doing a great job, we were going back and forth saying things we are grateful for. At the end of the prayer I said, "We say these thing in the name...", in an effort to get her to say, "of Jesus Christ". But instead I hear her whisper, "of the Hundred Acre Woods".

Addy's Quote of the day

Each time Addy goes potty, we wash our hands together in the sink. While we wash we sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" to hurry things along. Because of this we usually end up rinsing at the same time. For some reason I have always rinsed my hands underneath hers. But, today Adelynne decided it was time for that to change. So, she decidedly put her hands underneath mine and said, "I get the downest and you get the topest!".

Water "Table"

Addy's favorite toy in the world, her water table, accidentally got left in Hawaii when our stuff got shipped to Maryland. She was a little sad but apparently not ready to give up hope. When our stuff came, in February I think, it came on a big truck and ever since then every time she sees a big truck drive by she excitedly exclaims, "My water table is here!". Crushing the excitement of a young child is one of the hardest things to do, fortunately she takes it pretty well.
So, because of all of this, we have been on the lookout for a new water table for Addy and Jerome. The other day Addy and I took some garbage to the big dumpster and Addy saw this big blue container that someone had left there. I don't usually like taking things that I can't think of a purpose for, but we took it anyway thinking that I would be able to find a use for it. As we were walking I had the brilliant idea of using it for a water table! I know its not actually a table but as you can see from the pictures the kids love it! And thank goodness it is finally warm outside. We are loving it!

Addy's quote of the day

Addy walks into my closet and says, "Whoa Mommy look at your big mess!!".
(Distant laughter from Gregory in the background)
Mommy: "I know, I need to clean it up don't I?"
Addy: "Yeah, you sure do."
Mommy: shameful "sigh".

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child

This is the title of a book that I finally picked up from the library yesterday. Its all about training children to sleep on their own for as long as they need. As far as getting babies, like Jerome, to sleep through the night, he basically says to let them cry. Lay them down at night and let them cry till they fall asleep, if they wake up during the night just let them cry. We did this with Adelynne when she was about six months old. The first night was filled with hours of crying, the next night was much better and so was the next. I think it only took three or four nights of crying and then she started sleeping completely through the night! It was great. But, for some reason when Jerome came along I started doubting whether or not I should do the same thing with him. It seems sort of cruel, however, according to Dr Weissbluth its not about cruelty or abandonment, its about teaching good sleeping habits. So, Jerome is now eleven months (yesterday!) and still getting up two to three times a night.
After reading the section about his age group I learned that what we did with Adelynne was exactly right. She is still a very good sleeper, however the book says that she should still be taking a nap which she hasn't done for almost a year. So, last night was our first night letting Jerome cry himself to sleep and he did great! He only cried for an hour initially and then a couple of hours later I heard some whimpering and that was it! He slept great the rest of the night! It was the best nights sleep I've had since he was born. It was great.

Jump Start

Well, here goes nothing! I've attempted the blog thing before without much success. Here's to hoping this time will be different!