Felt With the Heart

Can't believe February has already passed us by. I better get on the ball and finish blogging all the accumulated pictures. And oh boy, there are a lot of pictures that I didn't post in February.
First...some random pictures from my phone:

Waiting in a parking lot and playing around with her brothers carseat

I always have a couple crayons in my purse. We got them once at Cracker Barrel and I have carried them around ever since. They especially come in handy when waiting at the doctor office. The kids love drawing on the paper covered table while we wait. They take turns laying down so I can trace around them, we practice shapes, numbers, letters and have lots of fun with just three crayons.

Back to February. Way back on a Monday, the 3rd if you would like specifics. It was a beautiful snowy day. I decided it was the perfect weather for sledding. We haven't gone yet this season, Breahna has never been. I bundled everyone up and took the kids by myself, 9 months pregnant. We were across the street from the hospital so I wasn't too worried, and was hopeful something would happen.
We all had a lot of fun ... until a random boy asked Kaleb if he could borrow his sled to go down one time. Kaleb very adamantly did not want to share. It was a really hard decision on my part knowing what to do in the situation. I decided he needed to share. Afterward Kaleb didn't want to have anymore fun. He sat in the car pouting the rest of the time. I still ponder what the right action was to take. I feel like I ruined all his fun by forcing him to share.

Breahna is 20 months and quite the whirlwind of a girl. It will be interesting to see where her life takes her and what she decides her passion is. She loves guns, lightsabers, and Star Wars. She also loves stuffed animals, blankets, and all things soft.

Alexander loves all things weapons, Star Wars and is also very social, loving and feels compassion for those around him:

All the kids love playing daddies computer game: Star Wars the Old Republic:

This is Kaleb but all the kids have their own characters that they've created and look forward to their 45 min allotted play time each day.

 Then along came Evelyn and she stole the spotlight of the camera:
 (this was a fun comparison of babies. Yes, I was a fat baby, 10 lbs! Sorry mom!)

Evelyn started out with a very quiet cry. It was hard to hear her, even in our small apartment. It didn't take her too long to realize she needed to make herself heard or she would get lots in all the craziness. She is a good baby and only cries to eat or get a diaper change. She eats every 2-4 hours and so far has been our best sleeper (knock on wood it only improves!)

 From day 1 she was too long for the few preemie clothes I had:

 pretty soon newborn clothes were also too small. She has really long arms and legs.

She loves having this hand up by her face. She's trying really hard to be a thumb sucker but we won't let that happen!

 just a random one of me ... the one responsible for all this craziness! (okayJake is also to blame)

 All the kids are doing great about having a new baby around here. They all love her ... a little too much. Alexander keeps trying to carry her around. I have to ignore my first instinct to yell at him and instead calmly instruct.

Breahna tries to also carry her but can't quite pick her up ... thankfully. She sure gives her lots of hugs and kisses though. She also tries to change her diaper. She'll lay out the changing mat, tell me to lay baby down, then proceed to unsnap her clothes.

I love my girls!

The first man a girl falls in love with is her daddy:

Jake is such a great father. I love it when all the kids are elbow-to-elbow staring out the window, watching anxiously for daddy to come home. Soon as he walks in the door he can't even put his bag down or take off his coat before three kids come squealing for his attention. They all roll around rough housing for awhile, before inevitably, there are tears and mom puts a stop to their craziness.
We made sugar cookies one day. The kids had a lot of fun picking out cookie cutters and making lots of different shapes. I put them all too close on the cookie sheet so they blended into a massive blob, oops.
The day after Breahna somehow got up on the counter and of course picked the biggest cookie in the bag:

I just wanted to say, there is a use for textbooks! And especially mathbooks at that:
This is where Evelyn sleeps in our room:

 I love the milkdrunk happiness:

 One day a neighbor randomly gave these glasses to Alexander. Yes, it's just the frames. He was so excited and wore them everywhere for several days straight:

 Everyone thought they were pretty awesome:

I used to think of Breahna as my baby. She still seemed so little; until I brought a baby home and I suddenly realized how big she was:

This recovery has been pretty easy and good. I had some serious bleeding about 2 weeks after. I was instructed to be super careful with lifting. This was my solution for getting Breahna in and out of her crib ... the bunkbed latter and a stool:

2 weeks! Back to her birthweight and as healthy as can be:

And we'll end with a snapshot of our neighborhood moose. This adolescent bull was wandering around for several weeks. If you weren't careful you would randomly run into him.

Just chillin' in our backyard:

So far the transition to 4 kids hasn't been too bad. The boys are old enough to get stuff for me ... if they are cooperating. Go grab a burpcloth, pacifier, etc. It's really nice that 3 of the kids, usually, sleep through the night. The adjustment is that there's usually someone who has to wait, or is crying but I'm learning to prioritize. I've especially found the importance of keeping things as sane as possible around here by keeping up on the never-ending kitchen mess, laundry, and scattered toys. The hardest part is going anywhere. It takes forever to get shoes and coats on and get everyone in the car ... especially if there are tempting puddles outside. The worst is getting Alexander to school by 8am. His school is only 1/2 mile away, at most. It takes at least 20 minutes to get everyone in the car, only 5-10 minutes to drop him off and get back and another 10-15 minutes to herd everyone back into the house. It's a house full of craziness but awesome at the same time.