the 2 month post...

(just keeping it real with this last one...)

this month has been a busy one for us (really, what month with 4 children is not busy?). school is now officially in full swing and because of that we spend a good bit of our time in the car. finley has been a trooper and has handled this inconvenience with grace. in fact, all of the little ones have adjusted well. i think i am the only one struggling with making sense of it all.

adding to all the excitement, finley's personality has really started to come out this past month. she laughs and grins most of the time and has started blabbering at anyone that will listen. and most times, there is someone to listen. that is a benefit to having so many people in the house. she loves to be in the middle of all the chaos and most of the time she sleeps through most of it.

overall she is such a great baby. she eats well, she sleeps well, and she is delightfully cordial to anyone around. finley's one most difficult attribute is one that is somewhat endearing and that is that she mostly only wants me to hold her. if she is fed and dry then she will let other people hold her, but if she is upset...forget it. i love that she has bonded so much with me, but at the same time it makes it difficult sometimes for me to attend to my other loves...or eat...which technically could be on the list with my loves. however, i know that one day i will miss this so i try to just look at those cute little feet and put my fingers through that crazy hair and just drink it all in.

*harper at 2 months

23 inches long

11lbs 15 ounces

*calvary at 2 months

23.5 inches long

12 lbs 1 ounce

*oliver jack at 2 months

24 inches long

13 lbs

*finley rose at 2 months

23.5 inches long

12lbs 4 ounce

i've got the first day of first grade blues...

swinging in the trees...

2 months already?!?

finley is shocked...

jack in the hat...

a return to painter's ice cream...

me and kyle at the beach...

finley rose at the beach...

this year finley spent 85% of the time in the room. thankfully, kyle's parents were with us so we were able to keep her out of the hot sun. i am not sure why, but the thought of a baby getting hot just totally freaks me out. i really stress out...then throw in the weatherman telling us to keep young and old people inside because of the air quality...and i become almost obsessive.

the inside print of her swing is the closest she got to ocean life this year...she kept her eye on that jellyfish.

this is finley when we went out for ice cream....

this is finley when we went out to dinner...

in spite of her inactivity, i enjoyed my time with her. she is a sweet, sweet baby and i am excited to see how she grows.

oliver jack at the beach...

oliver jack at the beach is oliver jack. fun. silly. and a whole lot of work. once we set his toes in the sand he was set...for about 5 minutes. he loved the water...especially the tidal pools. but his attention was short lived. as long as we kept him entertained he loved the beach. but it was not long before he would point towards the hotel and say, "in" or "nap".

he was a little more timid at the rides. maybe a lot more timid. but outside of the motorcycles he really enjoyed himself. thankfully, i was feeding finley and missed the tears. watching him ride the "race cars" with kyle was one of the highlights of my trip. he was so excited that he could ride and throughout the whole ride he was squished right up against kyle. in spite of his squished position, he had a look of pure delight the whole time.

everywhere we went, oliver jack made friends. he smiled and said hello and it is pretty hard to resist...at least i think so.

calvary at the beach...

watching calvary at the beach this year was so much fun. he was fearless! no matter how many times the waves crashed on him and swept him under he would just get right back up, laugh, and go back at it again. he loved the ocean and even after he and kyle saw a shark, sand shark as it was, swimming between the two, he would not be deterred from its pull. i tried to not let the shark sighting deter me, but all i could think of while i was in the water was about that shark.

unlike my girl, my sensory sensitive boy will never be caught with ice cream all over his face. don't even try to give him ice cream in a cone. trust me on this. he prefers to enjoy his ice cream slowly and in a cup.

calvary loves to ride the rides. thankfully, even though storms and a few patches of scary lightning threatened our night, we were able to watch him enjoy the rides.

calvary stood behind this gate and said, "look mom! i'm in jail!" let's hope i never have to hear those words...

this was probably the saddest i saw calvary the whole week...he was devastated that his gun did not work. he got over it as soon as he figured out that he could control whether the plane went up or down...

ever since we have realized that calvary has sensory integration issues we have not seen him so balanced. the beach was perfect for him. he slept better, he played better, he interacted with everyone so much better. he loves being with his family...as long as his brother and sisters do not encroach on his space...so vacation for calvary is a dream come true. i love seeing him so happy. he made me laugh every day...especially with his dancing. if only every day could be a day at the beach... :)

harper at the beach...

i figured it might be easier to chronicle this year's trip to the beach if i separated it by person. we all had so much fun but because finley and oliver jack were still quite small we spent quite a bit of time tag teaming different events.

without question, harper and calvary handled the babies holding them back with ease. they never grumbled or complained when i said that we couldn't do this or that because i needed to go feed the baby. they just took it all in stride. they both had more than enough opportunities to be entertained so the things they did miss out on were pretty inconsequential.

harper loves the beach. she loves to look for shells and build sandcastles but she also loves to go out and jump waves and swim underneath the waves. she would stay down at the beach all day. since she is so independent, the beach is an awesome place for her. the noise of the waves helps to give her that alone time that she often times seeks out. she doesn't get that very often at home :)

when we were in the hotel she spent most of her time playing with the boys or watching discovery health or the food network. it happened to be baby week on discovery health so at almost any given point in time she could find something that interested her.

she is growing up so much and watching her at the beach reminds me of that. she needs me less and less and i get frustrated by that quite a bit. she's like me too in that her independence is something that she truly enjoys and she is not willing to humor me with being needy.

she helps me out so much with the other kids and her and calvary are such a duo that i sometimes forget to see her as an individual.

her personality comes out through her expressions. she is constantly being silly and trying to make people laugh.

while we were out eating one night she found a hush puppy shaped like a "H". she was so excited that she decided to pose with it for a picture. her great aunt, who is living in japan, told her that most of the girls in japan pose giving the peace sign so she decided to give it a try herself.

and of course, harper would not be harper without being the nurturing little momma that she is. she always tries to help and always wants to be there for her siblings. they truly are blessed to have a big sister who takes such pride in taking care of them.

i love her so much and this picture just makes my heart melt. her expression of true joy melts away all of the other responsibilities she takes on. in this picture she is not a big sister or oldest child...she is just a little girl being a little girl.

harper's birthday celebration...

this year, harper had a very specific plan for her birthday. i wanted to celebrate with a pool party. she didn't. she wanted to "paint pottery, go out for a 'fancy' dinner, and then go pick out a toy." it is hard to argue with a girl who knows exactly how she wants to celebrate!

i started the night before making ice cream cone cupcakes, her birthday shirt, buying balloons, and packaging her charm bracelet. i love trying to set up a mini party for them to wake up to and the funny thing is that they still have not caught on. harper was so excited about the cupcakes and her balloons. i think calvary was more excited about the cupcakes...they are perfect for my sensory sensitive boy! we spent the rest of the morning trying to get ready for the day. harper kept asking me what we were doing next, but between getting 4 kids dressed, getting myself dressed, feeding 4 kids, and feeding myself there is not much time for special activities! i left my hair dryer at the beach and it was not until i was leaving to go paint pottery that i realized that i had not brushed my hair. harper told me that i looked like carly (from icarly) when she got shocked. it would have been nice if she would have told me that BEFORE we had a house full of guests....sigh.

the anticipation was killing the kids and nick and jessica showed up just in time to heighten the excitement. they brought along some amazing cupcakes and gifts and even though oliver jack was slightly shy while they were here (he just woke up from a nap) he walked around saying "nick back", meaning nick will come back, for an hour after he had left. shortly after nick and jessica arrived, poppy and julie brought margo for a little friendly celebration. margo went straight for the cupcake and harper went straight for the present. she has been playing with the teacher set nonstop since. our little impromptu party was perfectly attended by some of our family and closest friends.

later, our friends surprised us with visit and the kids (and myself) could not have been more excited. ayden gave harper such a sweet, thoughtful gift that harper told me later that it made her "feel weird inside." she later figured that feeling was the feeling you get when you blush...happy yet bashful...christy and i talked about how ayden and harper have now been friends for a whole year...they were friends first and the rest of us ended up liking each other too. pretty cool. adam and alex also gave harper gifts that were perfectly matched to her wants...thus continuing the spoilage...it was her birthday, so its okay.

later we ventured out to paint pottery. we normally only take one at a time for such an event, but this time, everyone went. after i paid, i realized why we only take one at a time. sigh. i kept reminding myself that it was all for her birthday and that this was one of the only things she asked for. plus, it has become somewhat of a tradition and it has been fun to watch our collection of hand painted dishware has grown. eventually, all of our plates and cups will be hand painted by my children. at least they will be elements of conversation...

after kyle got home we took off for dinner. harper had only specified that she wanted to go to a 'fancy' dinner, a term that is relative to a person that considers mcdonald's an option when i want to go to a sit down dinner. i chose kobe because, once again, harper loves a gimmick and it was fun to watch everyone enjoy the show. harper's favorite part was the song and all the attention.

we left dinner and went to pick out harper's present. while we waited in line she looked up at me and said, "you know, everything i said i wanted you didn't even say was too expensive!" the joys of a birthday and being 6 and wanting inexpensive gifts.

throughout the day i kept reminding harper what i had been doing at that time 6 years ago. she didn't seem nearly impressed enough. the only thing that evoked a response was when at 9:00pm i told her that 6 years ago i was sleeping because i was SO tired from giving birth to her. i finished the night praying that this sixth year will be a year where harper continues to grow into a person that finds joy in doing right, leads with gentleness, and loves with grace.

and i pray for myself that i can be a better example of all of these things.

~thank you Lord for this sweet girl and the gift that she is in spite of myself. i do not deserve the joy she has brought my life and i pray that i can let her know everyday what a gift she has been and continues to be~