Happy Birthday, Leah!

WOW, can't believe the day has come already. Little Leah turned one on Saturday. What a great day. We actually celebrated her birthday Sunday since we had a wedding to attend on Saturday. Today we went to mass, came home & had a nice lunch of spaghetti, salad, garlic bread, steamed vegetables, and then CAKE and ICE CREAM! Well, unfortunately, Leah didn't get any ice cream - milk allergy = Hives (we actually even let her try a few bites at Red Robin on Friday night, & when we got home her belly & all were covered with hives). Oh well, she'll take the cake! She did enjoy her cake today. She also enjoyed her new gifts: we gave her a rocker, and from some family she received a cute outfit, cute sweater, a Care Bear, and some fabric hand-crafted books. It really was a fun day. Her brothers sure enjoyed opening the presents to "help" her! Ha, ha.

This year has gone by so quickly and she changed so much; hard to believe it's been a year since our little pink, 7lb 5oz, little one arrived. She's such a happy girl and is really understanding a lot now. Sometimes it really seems like she says words, too. She'll say words that sound like "hello," "get up," and "diaper." Obviously not 100% clear, but she says them at appropriate times & it does sound like the words. She also answers yes & no often when you ask her a question. Not quite walking, but definitely standing & moving along well. I'm sure the walking will be here soon.

Photo Fun

The Silver Lining(S) Right When I Needed Them...

The setting: Last night was one of the toughest nights at home that I can remember. I worked that day and Patrick was working through the evening also. Jacob wasn't feeling well (we've had all four children go through a cold in the last four weeks...Jacob was the last and actually the worst) and Leyton & Nathaniel were really challenging me with lots of screaming, wanting things "NOW!", etc., and really just wanting to catch up with Mom after I was gone all day. Leah was doing well, just also needing to catch up with me. Jacob was wanting me to hold him on the couch mostly & not hold anyone else. I can understand that. In any event, by the time I tried to get some food for them for dinner and get to the store to pick up some medicine for Jacob, I was just super worn out & needless to say, the evening was not going very easily.

In the midst of the constant ping pong battle of trying to help everyone with what they needed, my first silver lining appeared. Leah has been pulling herself up plenty using chairs, couches, etc., but decided to try something new. She was sitting in the middle of the floor a couple of times, and ended up standing herself up on her own, without pulling up on anything. There she stood in the middle of the room, waving her hands with her cutest little proud grin for all to see. Perfect 10! Then the boys, of course, took a break to notice her accomplishments and did their great cheering section action for her. It was like everything stopped to enjoy the moment. Thank you, Leah! I needed that smile!

Then, when it was bedtime, that was another juggling of being able to get one down at a time to make things easier step by step. I did my best to get Leah down first, then convinced Jacob to lay down in bed with a book while I took care of Leyton & Nathaniel since they seemed more tired. One down, then two, then three. My last few minutes with Jacob before he went to sleep were my next silver lining. He was laying there with his little cough and hoarse voice telling me his random evening thoughts he always has. He told me he wanted me to push him higher on the swing, that he didn't want a cat to come in his room, etc. Then, he took my arm & put it around him and he said, "Mom, I'll take care of you 'cause I will hold you; OK Mommy? Mommy, I love you so much." Wow, that just helped make everything easier to handle and helped me get through the rest of the night. Even when he wasn't feeling well, he was just the sweetest little guy. Thank you, Jacob!

All in all, the kids really are great. We all know, though, that sometimes it's a challenge, yet there's always those little positive moments that are just so precious that it makes everything seem even more worth it and that you know being with them is worth having the challenges, too. I love them so much!

Best Big Brothers

Leah must have 3 of the best big brothers. They are so encouraging to her it is unbelievable at times. I can't help but smile when they're cheering her on lately. She's been progressing a lot at standing on her own when she lets go of holding on to something. When she does, the boys will all three sit and smile, clap, and tell her, "Great job, baby girl! Yeah, Leah! You're doing a great job!" Meanwhile, she just smiles and smiles and almost starts to clap until she sort of loses her balance a bit and plops down. So neat to see all their love for each other.

Picnic Sunday

What a wonderful day we had today. We have a picnic basket that we got for a bridal shower gift that we had actually never used (in more than 10 years!). The boys have been wanting to use it, so today was the day. When we got home from mass, we packed a picnic and headed to the park. It was a beautiful sunny fall day with a nice breeze. We stayed there for a couple of hours and played, ate lunch, and played some more. What a nice day with my family! I think everyone had a great time.

New Shoes?

So, just out of curiosity, I'm starting to wonder how long new tennis shoes are supposed to last for these kids. I bought the boys new shoes in mid-August. I've noticed this week that they are literally about to wear holes in them. I think most of it is from riding their bikes & they use their auxiliary breaks = dragging their feet. Leyton's really has a bigger hole & it's just hard to believe as they are quality shoes and about 5 weeks old?! Yikes. Welcome to the real world of boys, right? We sure can be hard on things!

"Amazing"

This has been Jacob's new word this week. He's just saying it on occasion and it's very cute. One instance it comes to mind...we were on a walk & he & Leah were riding in the stroller. He asked me if his brothers were home from school yet, I told him not yet. He said, "Amaaa-zing." Just so cute since he doesn't really know for sure what it means, but likes to say it with his cute little grin.