A City Life For Me

Only a couple of months later (backdating to keep things in order) ...but the little man turned two on August 27th! Henry is thick in the "terrible twos" and testing every possible boundary!  He is the biggest copy cat that I have ever seen...he has to do everything his older siblings do!  This also means that he is a little "ahead" of where the other kids were at his age.  He climbs and runs and does stairs and plays games and rides bikes...if the bigs are doing it he wants to do it too!  Henry loves to color and he watches Bible class with the twins every day.   He isn't talking much yet, but a few words are definitely distinguishable - "Mom!", "uh-oh", and "NO!"  We're working on "help" and "please" but they are more like grunts right now!  Henry does pray for a meal sometimes.  It is always three words, and sounds something like, "sus, ank, me."  (Translation - Jesus, thanks, amen). ...

Four years ago we doubled our kiddos in one shot with the arrival of Liberty & Nehemiah.  I made it to 37 weeks and a day, but I was desperate for them to come long before 36 week (full term for twins!).  It was about 4 a.m. on Tuesday, April 30th (my only pregnancy which did not end on a Thursday) when my water broke and we started preparing to head to the hospital.  As soon as they had me checked into a room and an epidural in place, Liberty was born.  Nehemiah was pretty comfortable where he was, so it was 35 minutes before he arrived.  And yes, Liberty has already started telling him that she is older! The twins wanted macaroni and cheese for dinner (big surprise there!) and a trip to the Bronx Zoo.  It was also the Little League season opener so we went to the zoo after that.  Grandma and Grandpa came down from Massachusetts to go with us!  We rode the monorail for the first time to see the Wild Asian animals, and enjoyed several other e...

Almost two weeks ago, my Elaine girl turn seven.  S-E-V-E-N.  Wow.  That makes me feel old!  Assuming she lives with us through college, that means we are about 1/3 done with our time with Elaine!  That is scary… I feel like there is yet so much to teach! Elaine is really a great big sister.  She is a helper and a teacher and an example, to Mommy and her siblings.  She is nearly always happy.  If she isn’t busy and involved with her brothers and sister, she is probably curled up with a book somewhere.  I used to be like that.  My Grandma was always getting on me for bringing a book everywhere.  Elaine brings three or four! I snapped a few pictures on the morning of her birthday. This was one of the few moments during our three weeks in Vancouver, BC that it wasn’t raining! Finally got her to smile! Elaine picked out her outfit for her birthday.  She loves purple, so the dress choice was easy.  The shirt is one that...

:: One year ago, we welcomed Henry into our family.  He’s my little happy boy who is nearly always content.  He loves to play peek-a-boo and be included in big sibling activities.  He nods his head to answer yes, and won’t drink any milk out of a cup.  He claps and laughs when you tickle him, and loves to toddle around, especially in the bathroom (yuck!). || Newborn || || 11 Weeks || || 4 Months || || 5 Months || || 6 Months || || 7 Months || || 8 Months || || 10 Months || || 11 Months || || One Year ||   Milestones and New Things This Month: Started walking (Aug. 4) First whole slice of watermelon (he LOVES watermelon) New states: Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington (that makes 43 states for our family, and slightly less for Henry) Visited Yosemite National Park Visited San Francisco, CA Throws and chases balls Loves Cheez-Its, cheese sticks, mango, watermelon, banana, and waffles.  Hates eggs and milk.  Enjoyed his fir...

Today is Nolan’s fifth birthday!  He seems to have grown up a lot over the last couple of months.  He enjoys being helpful and holding doors open.  He is the first one to offer to share or give up something of his to make someone else happy.  He follows right in Elaine’s footsteps and wants to be just like her and do what she does (right down to what she has to drink at each meal and what cereal she picks for breakfast!).  His chores include taking out the trash and locking the bikes on the van each night.  Here are some pictures from his birthday dinner on Monday. This birthday cereal he picked was actually VERY good! Party time!  We had Mac N Cheese (homemade) and Grilled Cheese for dinner at Nolan’s request.   Legos from Grandma (and two new outfits!)  Elaine was the designated card reader.    Nolan is a self-proclaimed Mets fan, so we found him a jersey!  He was delighted! We gave him his starter baseball card c...