Maura's half birthday

Those who know me well know that I'm over the top about a lot of things. It's OK, I can own it! When it comes to me kids, I'm really over the top. I get so excited about doing things for them that will make them excited and happy. Thus, on Thursday, September 11th it was time to celebrate Maura's half birthday. I remember as a child thinking that my birthday would NEVER come. It seemed like ages from year to year until my special day would roll around. I have decided that we'll celebrate half birthdays in our home. Maura's will always be easy to remember as it falls on such a memorable day. And so, on Thursday, we got down to the business of celebrating.
Maura and I made her cake together in the morning while Tristan was down for his nap. It sounds easier in writing than it is in actuality. Baking with Maura generally involves a lot of grabbing, moving things and watching her like a hawk! She was so excited to help me and we actually managed to get most of the cake mix into the bowl. Maura spent the next five minutes licking the rest off the chair she was standing on! Mmmmm, yummy!
On the way home from work, Daddy stopped and got Maura( and mommy) a flower. She felt so special when Daddy gave her the flower. Today she told Brent that he bought it for her because he loves her. She makes her stuffed animals go and smell it all the time.

Right before supper, I let her decorate her cupcakes while I iced the cake. As you can see, she went a bit overboard on the decorating, but she had a ball! I had a hard time keeping her from diving into the cupcakes and eating one right before dinner.
She did manage to indulge on several handfuls of sprinkles. BEWARE anything made by a child in our house. It probably contains some yummy saliva.
The beautiful finished product!
I also made her a half birthday cake. Maura got to pick the cake mix(a yellow Pillsbury mix that had a picture of the Doughboy on the front), but Mommy picked the icing. Chocolate, of course! Maura didn't care, as long as it had sprinkles on top!
After dinner, we sang, "Happy Half Birthday."

She loved it. She was a little embarrassed by all the attention, but she smiled through the whole song.
Tristan and Daddy celebrating Maura's half Birthday.
She loved the song so much that she required a relighting of the candle and a re-singing of the song. Note the chocolate goatee.
She even required round three of lighting and singing. At that point, we ran out of matches and told her we were all done singing.
Maura even got a present for her half birthday. Now, ordinarily I wouldn't have given a present for a half birthday, but this doll was actually given to her as a gift last Christmas and I thought she was too young for it. I stowed it away in a closet for such a time as this. She LOVED her Belle doll. She's getting really into Disney Princesses these days. It was a successful Half Birthday.

These pictures are actually from Monday. I couldn't resist taking a picture of Daddy and Tristan watching Monday night football together. Tristan LOVES watching TV.
I had to take a picture of this little outfit. It's my favorite and he'll be growing out of it soon, but I LOVE the wiener dogs on his shirt, pants and socks. So cute!
Monday was his four month checkup. He was twenty six inches, which was the 90th percentile for height. He weighed 16 pounds, which is the 75th percentile and his head was in the 75th percentile. So basically we have a long and leaner man with a big-ish head! He was a very healthy boy, but he did have to have two shots. Poor little man, he screamed in terror when they administered them, but settled down as soon as I picked him up.
Maura wearing a new Princess shirt that Grammy sent her in a package. As soon as she saw it, she declared that she MUST wear her sparkly princess shoes with it. She promptly went outside and stepped in the pool with them on.
Tristan at eighteen weeks. Sweet little chunk. We've been calling him "Little Man," "Boo Bear," and "Sweet Potato." We love him so much!!

Welcome to Cradle Roll, Little One!

Tristan had yet another "first" this past week. On Sunday night, he attended his first Cradle Roll. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Cradle Roll, it's the Sunday School class for the youngest babies. They can start going when they can sit up in the little chair and the "class" involves lots of singing along with toys and stuffed animals to illustrate the songs. It's an adorable format and I was so sad when Maura graduated out of Cradle Roll. Tristan is still a little young for it and we had to prop him up in his seat, but he was very interested in the class.

Sweet little man all propped up. As you can see, his attention was riveted on the toys. They sing about creation and how God made all the creatures.
He loved the stuffed chicken and even got to chew on a baby chick that "hatched" from the chicken.
Tristan was by far the youngest baby in the class, but he should be joined in a few weeks by his new friend Walker, who is five weeks younger. The other kids in the class are all over a year old.
What a champ! The teachers said he did great. He was so interested in all the creatures they brought out and he stayed in his seat for the whole class. I can't believe he was so attentive at such a young age--he wasn't even four months old at that point! I hope he continues to love Sunday School class because it's so nice to be able to attend adult class and actually pay attention!
We took these pictures after church on the 31st. Maura walked in after church and went straight to her play table to serve lunch to her puppy and teddy bear. It was so cute that I had to photograph it. She set it up complete with a pot of soup for the puppy to eat. (Vivian, that's the bear you gave her when she was a tiny baby! It's now her favorite stuffed animal!)
Here she is flavoring the soup. Her imagination is just growing by leaps and bounds these days. She can be content for hours with her toys making up stories and singing them songs. It's so cute to listen in on her pretending and hear what she's talking about. I very often hear my own words coming out of her little mouth. Tonight, she was running around the porch and squirting Brent with a squirt gun. He put up his hands to protect himself and she said, "Daddy! Don't put your hands on your bottom! That's nasty!" Later on, she squirted the ground around his feet and said, "Daddy! Did you pee pee?" Brent and I were laughing so hard that it hurt! What a funny girl!

When It's All Worth It

I had some experiences this week that really reaffirmed for me what a joy it is to be a parent. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids and they make me laugh every day, but some days it's easy to get caught up in the business of life and the day to day struggle and I forget to take joy from the little things in life. Some moments are just so special and poignant that you forget about the sleepless nights, the temper tantrums and the snotty noses. We have been so richly blessed by our beautiful, strong, loving children and they bring so much joy to our lives. It's amazing that some of the most routine mornings can be so special. This morning, Maura asked Brent to make her a bed on the couch. He spread a blanket out for her and she laid down on it and I asked if Tristan could share her bed. She let me lay him down with her and their interaction was just so special.
She put her arms around him and said, "Aww, the baby. Awww, Tistan." He stretched his little arms up to touch his big sister.

Maura loved holding his hand and having him share her bed. I hope that the love that they have for each other will continue to grow and develop into a lifelong friendship and bond of love. It's amazing to me how Maura can be goofy and bouncing around one moment and in the very next be so tender and gentle with her baby brother. She's such a good big sister. Seeing my children interact with each other in such a way brings me so much joy.

Yesterday, I was reading Maura a book. It's a Max Lucado children's book called Just in Case You Ever Wondered. I haven't read it to Maura much because it's pretty wordy and the concepts are a little difficult for a young child to grasp, but I thought I'd read it to her now. It goes like this:

Long, long ago God made a decision--a very important decision...one that I'm really glad He made. He made the decision to make you. The same hands that made the stars made you. The same hands that made crayons made you. The same hands that made trees and the moon and the sun made you. That's why you are so special. God made you. He made you in a very special way. He made your eyes so they could twinkle. He made your mouth so you could smile. He made your laugh so you could giggle. God made you like no one else. If you looked all over the world--in every city, in every house--there would be no one else like you...no one with your eyes, no one with your mouth, no one with your laugh. You are very, very special. And since you are so special, God wanted to put you in just the right home...where you'd be warm when it's cold, where you'd be safe when you're afraid, where you'd have fun and learn about heaven. So, after lots of looking for just the right family, God sent you to me. And I'm so glad He did. I'll never forget the first time I saw you...your eyes were closed, your fingers were curled in two little fists, your cheeks were puffy and round. I knew in my heart God had sent someone very wonderful for me to take care of.

At that point, Maura got up from her chair, came all the way around the table and gave me a big hug. She went and sat back down again, got back up and gave me another hug. It was so sweet and so spontaneous. Maura is not much of a hugger these days, and especially not a spontaneous hugger. It made me realize just how much she loved being told that I was glad to have her and that she was wonderful. I loved that moment and just wanted to savor it. It's one of those moments that you'd like to be able to bottle up and bring back out the next time you have a struggle over putting shoes on!

My sweet baby boy turned four months old today. I know I've probably said it a hundred times, but I can't believe he's four months. It seems like he's been part of our lives forever. I am so grateful for my big, smiley adorable baby. He is a light in our lives. He smiles every single time you talk to him and carries on a conversation of coos and singing. He loves his hands and is starting to reach out to us and touch our faces. He's starting to notice his feet, but isn't sucking on them yet. He loves to be bounced and likes to stay in motion all the time. He loves "flying" on my knees when I lay on my back on the floor and drools on me every time I do so.

He still hates loud noises and startles and cries when he hears them. He's still sleeping swaddled because he wakes himself up with his hands if I leave him unswaddled. He's starting to love sitting and standing up activities such as his Exersaucer. He LOVES his mommy and isn't easily separated from me. He settles down instantly whenever I pick him up or take him screaming from his daddy. He is so amazed with everything that Maura does and he watches her with intensity. He loves playing with his daddy and will laugh for him like he will for no one else. He's content to sit and watch the action of the house as long as he's well fed. He has a truly sweet and joyful spirit. God knew what he was doing when he added Tristan to our lives. We were missing him without even knowing it. Thank you, God, for our sweet baby boy.

Meeting Monkey Joes

Up until now we have mostly avoided all "kid haven" type places like Chuck E. Cheeses. I felt like up until lately Maura has been too young to appreciate them and the overpriced fun that they offer. Instead, we've tended to opt for free fun. Well, yesterday when Brent had the day off, we decided to visit a place called Monkey Joes, which is very popular in our town. It's a huge room filled with giant inflatables and flashing games. In other words, it's Kid Heaven!! Maura gets in for half price because of her age and we were free. I don't think the management anticipates how much fun that we as parents have climbing into the inflatables. If they did, they'd make us pay too!! We had so much fun! Maura was just in awe as we entered. She spied the Princess castle and it was over. She couldn't wait to check it out!
Ponytail cutie. Yesterday was the first day that she's actually asked for ponytails.
Up she goes.
Look at that smile! She ate it up. She bounced, slid and ran around for two hours straight.

I even got in on the action. We had fun going into the bouncers with her to "supervise."
She was so difficult to get photos of because she never stopped moving!
Sweet Tristan. He was seventeen weeks old yesterday. He loved watching Maura bounce and twirl.
Handsome man. He has turns four months old on Saturday.
We rounded out our fun morning by going to Burger King to eat and play on their cool castle playground. Maura was just in seventh heaven. Check out the videos below to see how much fun she had.

Some cute Mauraisms:

Tonight after we bought her an apple juice at Sonic, "I LOVE this! What is this???"

Also tonight, in the car she kept asking us about the "Fruit of the Ferret." We finally realized she was talking about the Fruits of the Spirit, which they're learning in class.

Happy Labor Day!

This weekend being a holiday weekend, Brent had four days off. Four glorious days of him being home all day long to help me with the kids and give me a little time off. I did manage to make it out of the house to run errands by myself on Saturday, but got called back when Tristan couldn't be comforted. I went grocery shopping all by myself this morning. I love grocery shopping without children. I find it relaxing to walk up and down the aisles of a non-crowded grocery store just checking out the selections. I have to be careful, though. I can easily spend two hours doing this because it's such a welcome break in my day to day routine! It gets expensive too!! One of the major things we did this weekend was enjoy some visits with our friends the Rogers. We go way back with Michael and Hannah to long before marriage, kids and moves. It was fun just to visit with them and their kiddos Wesley and Anna Kate. Michael's parents live here in town, so we should be seeing a lot of the Rogers this year.
We went over to Michael's parent's house to visit and let the kids play. The Rogers hadn't met Tristan yet and we really enjoyed getting to introduce him. As you can see, Anna Kate was very interested in our little man. Hannah held him and Anna Kate crawled over at lightning speed to check him out.
She kept saying "Baby, baby," and she wanted to touch him. Tristan looks like he wasn't sure what to think!

Look at that smile! Look out Hannah, she's going to want a living baby doll soon!
Can you see a future for these two little lovebirds?? Anna Kate was ready to plant kisses all over him!
Wesley and Maura have been looking forward to playing with each other.
Most of the time they play pretty nicely together. Maura and Wesley match each other pretty well in energy level and they have a lot of fun together.
Anna Kate learning how to play pool!

We all went to dinner together. Ralph and Patricia took us all to Cheddars for an evening out. Cheddars has a fountain and pool in front, aka death trap to toddlers. These two goof balls almost fell in several times while tossing in pennies. The pool is just kind of dug into the sidewalk and there isn't much there to keep two children in perpetual motion from tumbling in. I had to have them hug each other to even get them in the same photo.
Hannah and sweet Anna Kate. Anna Kate says, "Cheese!"
Anna Kate and Tristan hung out together at the table.
Hanna and I enjoyed catching up. I don't have too many friends that are at exactly the same point in life as I am, so it's fun to catch up with another mommy who is. Hannah is my biggest "boy supporter" friend. She loves her boy and she was so excited for me when I found out I was having Tristan. Now I know what she was so excited about. My boy is the perfect addition to our family.
What a couple of goofs! These two found something hilarious to laugh about and laughed uproariously for several minutes. They're a pretty lively crew!

Today Michael, Hannah, Wesley and Anna Kate came over to see our new house and visit before heading home. It was fun to have non-family visitors in our home. Hannah was so excited to see our non-cat-inhabited home. She basically hasn't been able to enter my home for our entire married life because she is deathly allergic to Luna. Everything was new to her, even most of our furniture because she's never been able to come in to see it!!
Anna Kate carrying on her love affair with Tristan. She alternated between really interested in the baby and a little jealous that her mommy was holding him. I think interest won out and she gave him some kisses.
Wesley loved our kitchen. He doesn't have a play kitchen at home, so he cooked up a storm while he was here. He served Michael dinner. Look at all those fruits and veggies!
Maura and Wesley rounded out the afternoon by "sleeping together." They pretended to take a nap together. I know Maura really wanted a nap, but she was trying so hard to stay up for the visit. She definitely went to bed early tonight.
We had a little time before bed, so we took a walk around the neighborhood. Maura and Tristan held hands.

We took some bread up to feed the fishes. Once again I was terrified that Maura would topple into the murky water. It's certainly not an unjustified fear as she goes right up to the edge and leans over!
The fishes did eat some of the bread, but didn't really come up far enough for us to get a good look at them. Oh well, it was a good try.
Me and "Little Man" enjoying the pleasant evening. This is the last 0-3 outfit he can still wear, but you can see how short it's getting on him. Sadly, it's time to pack away the 0-3 and most of the 3-6 month clothes.
Maura loved marching around the gazebo. We have two lakes in our neighborhood and this gazebo stands between the two lakes. It's a really pretty area. I didn't even know it existed until I stumbled upon a walking path. We really like coming up here now.
My sweet kiddos and I. These guys were on their last legs with fatigue, but we had some fun family time together. I love four day weekends!! Too bad they don't happen more often! Happy Labor Day everyone!!