What the kids are up to now

Earlier this week I sat down at the computer and started looking through some of my first posts from when I started blogging.  Hard to believe I have been a blogger for over 3 years now (started in Feb 2009).  At that time we had a 2 year old and a 3 month old.  My how times have changed! :-)  I realized that I did a better job back then marking down milestones and did more "journaling" (if that's even a word).  Now it's more like a scrapbook.  So this post is more for my benefit so in a couple years when I look back, I will remember what everyone is like at this stage.  The time just goes by so quickly and I really want to treasure each and every moment.  It will be a sad day when our refrigerator is no longer cluttered with the kids wonderful artwork and the pitter-patter of little feet (sometimes sounding like the galloping of horses) can no longer be heard!

Let's start with what Big Girl is up to now...

She is 5 1/2 (exactly today)!  She weighs 48 pounds.  We were doing math today and its about weight and which is heavier, so she got on the scale and weighed herself.  I weighed and we determined that I am heavier, but I'm not going to share my weight.  That doesn't need to be journaled. :-)

Big Girl is such a loving, emotional, caring, and sweet child.  She is definitely the most affectionate of our children.  She gives attention and needs attention.  She doesn't play much by herself, but likes being with others.  At the same time, she is very shy and doesn't like to be around strangers or even people she knows but doesn't know really well.  The other day we were talking and she said that she did not want to get married when she got older because she didn't want to leave me and Daddy.  I told her that our home will always be her home as long as she wants to live here, but she'll probably change her mind about wanting to get married.  She assured me she wouldn't. :-) 

She is a great reader for a 5 year old!  She does so well with school, well, everything except her handwriting.  It is a real struggle for her, but she keeps practicing.  Today she said to me, "I didn't know math could be so fun!"  She enjoys most subjects, but really likes math.

She is a chatter box, at least she is here at home.  Right now as I'm typing, she's just talking away, telling stories.

She is a big help around the house.  When it comes to helping out, she loves to do whatever I ask her.  She likes to set the table, especially folding the napkins.  I recently bought a little handheld vacuum cleaner for her so that she can clean the floor after meals.  She does a really good job with it.

Our prayer for her, and all our children, is that they will see that they are sinners and that they need to be saved from their sin or they will spend eternity separated from God in hell, and that the only way to Heaven is to believe in Jesus and accept Him as their personal Saviour.  Big Girl seems like she may be close to this point, but not quite there.  We have talks about it frequently and she just doesn't seem quite ready, but very close.  Please pray that the Holy Spirit will work in her heart and also that God will give us wisdom to know when she is truly ready to ask Jesus into her heart.

L'il Girl

L'il Girl is 3 years and 4 months old. She is a sweet girl and when she smiles her whole face lights up.   She is extremely independent and loves to play by herself.  Her favorite thing to play with is her Barbie type dolls which she dresses and undresses several times throughout the day.

She is an artist.  All throughout the day she is pulling out the crayons, markers, or colored pencils and paper and making all kinds of creations.  She has taught herself how to cut and does quite well with it. She has also learned to write her name all by herself which she puts on all her papers.

She knows probably 50+ sight words and can read several of the Dick and Jane stories.  She knows all her letter sounds and we have introduced her to the Alpha Phonics book where she is starting to put letter sounds together.

I love to listen to her talk.  She is very expressive with her eyes and with hand motions.  Her "R" sounds like "W".   My favorite word to hear her say is "pancake" which sounds more like "panpape".  

She loves to wear skirts or dresses, especially the frilly type and she picks out her own clothes each day.  She also likes to dress up in princess dresses and often will wear tiaras (sometimes even to the grocery store). 

She is very much into princesses and the fairytale stories.  She often pretends to be Beauty or Snow White.

Baby Girl

Baby Girl is almost 22 months old.  I don't even know where to start with her!  She is so precious and has a super sweet smile too.  She is very thoughtful and always wants to be helping, which, at this age can be very unhelpful, but I try not to discourage her and to be understanding.

She has no fear!  She is always trying to climb something or jump off of something.  The other day she climbed up on the little picnic table on the back deck and was leaning with her stomach on the rail of the deck which is maybe 10 feet off the ground.

She likes to do everything her sisters do.  She doesn't understand yet that a 1 year old cannot do the same things as a 3 and 5 year old.  She loves her sisters and loves playing with them.

She is into everything!  I just can't seem to keep up with her.  She definitely keeps me busy.  I just took a break to go upstairs and check on her because I heard an unusual noise coming from her room.  When I went up there she had completely emptied her dresser, all three drawers, and was playing with the paper that I had lining the drawers.

Some things she likes...

• her puppy - "Violet"
• singing - favorite right now is "My God is So Big".  When we ask what we should sing, she will yell out "Big".
• her brother - she can't leave him alone and smothers him with kisses
• ice cream, m&m's, grapes, bread, pizza
• to say "bacon"
• to clean, especially the floor

I love to hear her say "milk" which sounds more like "meelk".  She repeats a lot of what she hears and is talking a lot now.  She likes to tell me what her brother is doing, like "Baby Boy awake" or "Baby Boy crying" (only she says his name instead of Baby Boy). :-)

She rarely walks anywhere.  She either runs, or does a mix of running, hopping, skipping which sounds like a horse galloping.

She just got 4 more baby teeth in.

 Baby Boy

He's a good baby overall.  He has his fussy moments, but they really aren't too frequent.  His squeaking and noisy stretches have settled down now.  He loves to eat!  Every 1.5 hours throughout the day and then every 3-4 hours through the night.  Last night he even had a 5 hour stretch in there.  I was sleeping so deep that I had a hard time getting out of bed.

He smiles some now when you talk to him and he'll open his mouth when you kiss him.  He spends his day, when he's not eating, hanging out in his swing or sleeping on his belly.  His evenings are often spent cuddling with Mommy and or Daddy.

He's growing so fast.  I washed all his 3-6 month clothes yesterday.  He's in a 3-6 month outfit today and he's only a month and a half old.  I think he's around 12 lbs now.

He loves having a bath!  He usually cries when he first gets in his tub, but quickly settles down and enjoys the water.

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So that's what they're up to now.  And when I read this in a couple years I'll think "Aww, I had forgotten about that!" :-)  Here's a picture of Baby Girl and the mess she made in her room a few minutes ago.