He's a Big Boy Now!!

I was really putting off and dreading potty training Logan, cause it was so horrid with Travis.  That and the fact that I haven't had to buy him diapers for a long time with him wearing cloth diapers. Well guess what..... he's pretty much potty trained in two weeks. Last week sometime ( I don't really remember how it even started) he showed interest in using his little potty chair, and we jumped on the chance. He must've been ready cause he's been doing great! The last two nights he woke up dry, and has been wearing underwear since Sunday, and hasn't had an accident yet. YAY! Just in time for Christmas. Looks like those diapers that we ordered for his stocking are going to be replaced by new undies instead.... :)

Sick Little Babe

 This little doll has been pretty sick for the month of November. She's had a cold that just wasn't going away and it spread to her eye ( note picture above) so I brought her to our pediatrition. They put her on Zithromax, but by her fourth dose she still looked like this. I called and talked to a nurse who wanted to wait it out and see how she was doing by the end of the weekend.  At first I wasn't very comfortable doing this as I was nervous about RSV and her being so little still. Well by Friday she was looking better and is now (Sunday) looking MUCH MUCH better, thank goodness. I'm hoping this is it and that we're all happy and healthy for Christmas. We had the pukes run thru the house on Thanksgiving, Logan had it. So far, that's it and it's been a few days. It was a quick bug, thank goodness. I hate the pukes.

The Apple Pajamas

Vivian is 4 days old in this top picture. I found a pair of 9 mo. pj's that were the same as a nb size. It was fun to see the size difference.

She's done alot of growing since June!

I can't get enough of her smiles. She ALWAYS has a smile for me. At three in the afternoon or three in the morning. As soon as she sees me, she smiles. It melts my heart every time. Doesn't matter if I can hardly keep my eyes open, I like how she's happy to see her mom.

5 months

 This little love of mine is 5 months old today! :)

Halloween 2011

The whole crew. :)

Vivian

Travis

Jenna

Logan

My Personal Rainbow

Vivian in her cloth diaper, we are still loving them now that I finally got my diaper wash routine down pat! That was a big struggle all summer, but I finally got it all figured out. :)

On these dreary November days, I'm glad to have a splash of color with every diaper. :)

Pumpkins

Sisters

                                               
                                           Jenna and Vivian with their matching jammies. :)

Annie

This is my lil sister Annie. I can almost always count on her to be a big help, or to be my last minute babysitter so I can go grocery shopping alone. If I can't pay her, or not much, she doesn't complain. Usually I end upgiving her money when we've got extra, cause I'm sure I still owe her. :)

 She'll walk in the door and automatically take the bawling baby, or the tired toddler and cheer them up, without being asked.  Or just take a kid off my hands to give me a little break.I'm sure she has no clue how much we appreciate her around here. My kids love her, and so do I. It's all about the little things in life. I sure am lucky to have 5 fantastic sisters. Annie is just one! Thanks Annie for being you!!

Fall Picture

Happy end of fall!

My Very Own Superhero

 I love this kid. :)

Buck In a Truck

It's this time of year when the air gets cooler, and the leaves turn color and begin falling off the trees that my true love begins thinking about his second love. Hunting. All summer long I think he waits for fall for this very reason. He lives and breathes for hunting season ( after his family of course ;)). He bow hunts and then rifle hunts, and then bow hunts again after rifle season is over. I learned quickly what it means to be a hunting widow. :)

 This year Aaron went hunting behind my Grandma's house and after sitting on his stand for only two hours this guy waltzed right in.  A nice ten pointer! He shot it and it went down not far from his stand. He was back before dark. He said this is one of the best pictures of the night. A buck in a truck. :)

Jenna and Logan were all fired up to help for a picture. Logan tells me here "Mom! I holding the rack!" As for Jenna, well, she's just being Jenna in this picture.  Our little poser. ;) I'm fired up for a couple reasons. One: it was first day of season and he got his buck! He doesn't have to feel like he's got to go hunting every day now, he can kind of  scale back. :) Two: we'll have venison in the freezer come winter. It was a good year for our freezer! We got raspberries, blueberries and strawberries, and now we'll have steaks, hamburger and a couple of roasts. Awesome. And third: It's fun to see him SO excited and happy. He's been busy with so many side jobs this past month or two getting extra money so I can stay home with our kids and not have to go back to work. He deserved this. It is his biggest buck he's ever gotten, and the first one in five years. He got an 8 pointer behind Grandma's  then.

October is looking like a good month! :)

September

Wow, is September really almost over? It's been a busy month! I thought that when school started, life would slow down a little. Nope. All it did was cool off. I'm already missing summer.

  A few things that happened this month: Vivian turned 3 months old. Today she rolled over from her front to her back for the first time. She's growing SO fast, and has really been filling out. She's turning into a little chunk. :)

Another thing: Travis turned 4! He was the most excited kid the day of his party. It was probably the most fun party we've had for him yet. He only wanted three things for his big day. A crab ( a live one, he was always having to go check them out at our local Walmart), a name towel, and Toy Story's Woody. He got them all. The crab from my mom, Woody from Aars and I, and the towel from his Grandma L. Was he pumped! He had the crab sleep in his room where he could see him and all the next day made sure it was by his side. It was fun. :) I hope he always remembers this birthday as one of the best. :)  Notice the little smear on the right of the cake- he and Logan decided they'd better sample the frosting a few hours before the party. I was mad then, but now I just sigh and shake my head. Boys I'm learning, will be boys.

Jenna is loving Kindergarten. It's a rough start in the morning, but once she gets going she's fired up to go. I didn't realize how much I missed her during the day til I kept her home one day. I miss her chatty little person talking at me all day. I sure hope her teacher is enjoying her.

Also, I got to go downstate for my sister in law Kate's baby shower with my friend Katie and our babies, Walker and Vivian. What a treat! I had so much fun down there, and it was a much much needed break from almost all of my kids. I felt so refreshed these past few days, and I know I have a refreshed amount of patience when it comes to the daily things. I truly believe that every mom needs a break from time to time. It's good for the mom, and for the kids. I especially soaked it up cause October starts in a few days and guess what that means in this house.... hunting season. The hubby is pretty excited, he's walking around with an extra spring in his step. That makes me happy to see him happy.

This is Logan's new fake smile. :)

So all in all, I'd say we're wrapping up September with a smile, and are welcoming October with mostly open arms.... mostly cause I'm not ready for winter.... so I'm just going to ignore the fact that it's right behind fall, and enjoy this last month of color. I hope you find yourselves doing the same!

A Few Garage Sale Bargains

This dress is a 12-18 mo dress. I paid 10.00 for it. :) I figure it's a little formal, but who cares. She can wear it for either her one year pictures, or for Christmas next year. Just throw a red ribbon on it instead of blue.

This is a planet kiddi-o bike, I looked online after I paid 5.00 for it at a sale ( the one in the background is made by the same company, also from a diff. sale about 4 years ago) and they retail up to 100.00. I'm guessing this one was around 80.00 brand new. My bargain of the day. Now both of my boys have bikes. They rode them all day yesterday. :)

      

 I also found this letter mat where the letters pop out. It matches our toy cart perfectly. The walls on the other hand are struggling. They need a fun play room color. It has to be a brighter color however, as there are no windows in this room. It's a fairly large room and the kids have a blast in there. I'm sick of the color though and would love your input! :)

Sweet Little Love

                          It's hard to think that next week she'll be 3 months old...where does time go?

She has been finding her thumb a bit more as she becmes a bit more aware of her hands. I keep popping a plug in.

This last picture is blurry, but it shows off the smile I caught. :)

Jenna's First Day of Kindergarten

Jenna started Kindergarten yesterday, and was up at 6:20 in the morning, raring to go. I was a bit teary eyed when she hopped on the bus and drove away, but it was ok. She was pretty excited, but a bit nervous at the same time, which is pretty normal. I still can't believe she's in school now. Where did that five years go? I wish I could be a fly on the wall in her classroom and watch her in action outside of the home. The boys miss her, and asked a couple of times yesterday where she was and when she'll be coming home. I was happy to see her full of smiles when she did get home, and full of stories about her first day. :)

Starting September

I can't believe September is already here! The trees are changing color, and fall is in the air. School starts in two days, and with that brings a big change to our household. My Jenna is going to kindergarten this year. She'll be gone all day, every day. I'm excited for her to go and spread her wings and begin to figure out who she is, and what she loves. She'll learn her letters, and how to put them together to make words. She'll learn how to count to 100, and maybe even to add and read. I compare her to a sponge, she's going to just soak up all the new information. :) She'll probably fall in love with her teacher, and make many new friends. It's the first step to her beginning to learn about the world around us. She's super excited to go and learn. I'm excited for her, really I am, but at the same time my heart aches just a little at the thought. She'll be gone all day M-F, starting at 7:30 and coming home in the afternoon. I'm going to miss her alot. She's a bright spot in my every day routine with her funny little antics. Her imagination is so vivid, I hope that nothing ever stops her from dreaming. When she was little she'd wear her dress up clothes all day long, being princesses, and queens, and beautiful girls. Or playing dolls and barbies in her room with her brothers.  I'm going to lock those images in my heart and pull them out when I'm missing her while she's gone to tide me through until she hops off that big yellow bus at home again.

It's hard to explain how I feel. For one, I sure don't feel old enough to have a little girl starting school! I'll be 29 next year, and I swear my mom was just 29 last year! Honest! It feels to me as if she was just born, but that was 5 and a 1/2 years ago already. She's grown up into such a fun, outgoing, happy little girl, and I feel as if I have done a good job helping her start the base of who she will one day be. I know there will be times when I'm sure she'll be teased about something or other ( although I really hope not!), and I won't be there to comfort her if she's sad. I like to think that she knows that no matter what she's a beautiful person, inside and out. 

I'm sure her brothers are going to miss her too, she's so good at coming up with things for all of them to do together.  It's sure going to be alot quieter without her here all day. They'll probably be a little lost for a while, but they are so good at being buddies that it will probably just bring them closer.

So that day next week when that big yellow bus comes rolling down the street, I'll put a brave smile on my face for my little girl and help her onto the bus which will then bring her to begin the new chapter in her life. But when it drives away with her on it, don't be surprised if I shed a few tears. I am allowed after all, I'm a mom. :) And I'll have a smile in place again for when she comes home, and I'll sit with an open ear to listen to her new adventures.

Ps. I brought her to the ER this morning, she's got a UTI. It was an early start for both of us today, we were up at 4:30. She's on an antibiotic though and hopefully she starts feeling better soon!

Headbands for Baby

I bought some cloth diapers from another mama who also happens to own her own esty shop and makes headbands for little girls and babies. She was sweet enough to send me a few with my order for free! As a little thanks I figured I'd share them with you. They are darling!

 Her name is Amy and her shop is JAG Designs. You can find her at www.JAGDESIGNS27.etsy.com

Cute isn't it? I'll share more with you another day. Thanks Amy! :)

Vivian, 2 months

It's hard for me to believe sometimes that two months have flown by and my baby is no longer a tiny tiny newborn. She doesn't scrunch up her body and legs when we pick her up anymore, but rather is happy to stretch out.
 She's talking and smiling and noticing faces every day. We are learning to recognize her mood and are willing to cater to her needs for the time. As far as night time goes, she's been by far our best sleeper. Not that she's sleeping through the night, but her usual night time routine is to go to bed around midnight, and sleep til about four, get up and eat, sleep til about six, get up eat and have her diaper changed, and then go back to bed til nine. I don't complain about that at all because all of my others have been up every two hours til they are six months. I don't get good sleepers. ;) But I know that, and don't expect anything different so its' no big deal. They also don't ever sleep through the night til their one, or I quit nursing.

We're loving her new discoveries every day, and cherish every little smile and coo like it's the first. Babies are a lot of work, but SO worth every second. :) They grow up WAY too fast, so I am trying to enjoy her smallness.

Vivian's Baptism

 Papa and Grandma L.

 Me and my littlest love.

 Grandpa and Muumu T.

My 4 little loves. :)

First Family Picture

My little family at Vivian's baptism on Sunday.

Vivian Rose, 2 mo.

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My Vivian is 2 months old, and weighs about 10 lbs. Still our little peanut. :)

 A little teaser smile. She's smiling big every day now, especially when she first wakes up in the morning, and I'm loving every one. Her dad says he enjoys our babies more as they become more interactive with him.

 Vivian also has discovered her little voice, and has been beginning to tell us stories from time to time if her mood suits her. :)

I fall more and more in love with my babies with each new growing stage, but there is always a little part that mourns for the tiny newborn they started out as, as they grow out of that stage so quickly.