Sledding at Hillside

We finally made it over to Hillside to go sledding today!  I love that we have such great sledding hills practically in our backyard.  I actually went over there with the kids two days ago and we had a great time with just the four of us.  We had so much fun that we decided to invite my Mom, Dad, and Savannah over today so that we could all go sledding together.  Samuel absolutely loves sledding this year.  While we are driving around in the car, he will point out almost every hill and say, "Mommy, I think that's a good hill for sledding!"  Hope also really enjoys sledding this year.  She didn't enjoy the snow at all last year so it's great to watch her have so much fun outside this year!  I think part of her reason for loving the snow so much is that she can eat it until her heart's content.  She will purposefully fall climbing up the hill or walking across the yard just so she can lick some snow up off the ground!  Aliyah is my child this year that would prefer to stay out of the snow and especially off of the sledding hill!  She's a pretty good sport about going outside to play for a little bit.  She loves to eat the snow just like her sister but she is always the first one asking to go inside.  She went down the hill twice with us today but she didn't really enjoy it either time.  She mainly sat on my lap (or my Dad's lap!) at the top of the hill and watched everyone else sled while she munched on snow.  We were out on the hill for just over an hour.  A perfect amount of time for the kids!  At the end they all started to get whiny and tired.  It's a lot of work climbing up those big hills!

25 Weeks!

Here I am with our little peanut at 25 weeks! So far, so good! I hardly have any nausea anymore which is awesome. I'm feeling great except for the bad back pain that I've been having.  It could be a lot worse so I'm trying hard not to complain about it!  The baby was measuring a week ahead at my 24 week appointment and the heart rate was high 150s. This baby's heart rate has consistently been above 150 . . . which would mean a girl.  But, if I remember right, I think Samuel's heart rate was always pretty high too.  Our little peanut is a mover and a wiggler but seems to be a little calmer than both Samuel and Aliyah.  Feeling the baby move is my favorite part of pregnancy!  I'm over halfway and I can't wait to meet this little (big?) one!!

Samuel: 4 years 5 months

Samuel, what a big boy you are becoming!  Daddy and Mommy are both so proud of you.  We love you so very much and we thank God every day that He has blessed us with such a special little (big!) boy!!

What have you been up to?

• You are 50lbs and 44" tall.  You are in the 97th percentile for both height and weight.  Dr Dyk told us that you are the size of most 5 1/2 year olds.
• You are a healthy 4 year old boy!  You got 4 shots at the doctor and you were so brave.  You didn't shed a single tear.  The nurses told you that they were going to count to "3" and that when they got to "3", you had to blow in Mommy's face.  You did it perfectly.  Mommy was so proud of you!
• You are wearing size 5 in both shirts and pants.  You are wearing size 12 shoes.
• You still love numbers and counting.  You can do simple addition and have started with some simple subtraction as well.  You are always counting things and commenting on numbers that you see (on clocks, sports scores, etc.)
• Some of your other favorite things right now are: maps, balls, sliding/rolling/tumbling, mazes, (you did 64 mazes in a book for 4-6 year olds in about 1/2 hour!), rubberbands, balloons (you can blow them up all by yourself and then you like to let them go), running, jumping
• Your favorite books is "Cars and Trucks and Things That Go" by Richard Scarry.  You love searching for Goldbug.  It's the only book that you've picked for our storytimes (before quiet time, before bedtime, and in your bed) since we got home from Florida a couple of weeks ago.  Since it has 70ish pages we will read 10-15 pages at a time and then mark our spot with a bookmark and pick it up again at the next story time.  You also really like the Berenstein Bear Books, Clifford books, and Curious George books.
• Your favorite song is "Every Move I Make" but you call it "Ah-la-la-la-la-la-la"
• At bedtime you like to listen to a CD (a different one every night!), have "new" water (it can't be warm and "yucky"!), have your nightlight on and have the hallway light on.  You generally fall asleep around 8:30 and most of the time you are up at 7am.  You know that you aren't allowed to get up before 7am and you can read that time on your analog clock that hangs up by your bed in your room.  There are time that you wake up before 7, get up and turn on the hallway light, and then head back to your room (and sometimes turn your music on) until 7am when you know you can get up.
• Your favorite breakfast food is waffles.  Your favorite lunch right now is peanut butter and jelly sandwich with fruit (usually an apple, pear, or banana).  Your favorite snack is an ice cream cone while you watch Curious George in the afternoon.  You are a great eater and have been eating more meat than what you used to.  You refuse to drink milk but love water and juice (juice is only allowed for breakfast).  You also love muffins, applesauce, oatmeal (every Saturday morning with Daddy!), pancakes, "smashed" potatoes, cheese, and any kind of bread.  You are not a big fan of pretzels, sausage, green beans, milk, strings on your  bananas, and skin on your apples or bread.
• Your favorite TV shows right now are Curious George, Daniel Tiger, Dora, and Caillou.  You watch Curious George and Daniel Tiger every day but any other shows are hit or miss depending on the day.  Your favorite movies right now are Jungle Book, Cinderella, along with the Curious George and Dora movies that we have.  We rarely watch movies at home but we do have a DVD player for the van that we will turn on for longer car trips.
• You speak very clearly and you don't have many words that you say "wrong" anymore.  The few that are still hanging on are "Valinna" (vanilla), "Hanger-bur" (Hamburger), and "Smashed potatoes" instead of mashed potatoes.
• You are still very shy and reserved around people that you don't know very well but you love to play with friends that you know well (Levi, Savannah) and you talk non-stop to Mommy, Daddy, Grandpa, Grandma, and others that you know well or feel comfortable around.
• You like to be the boss, be in charge, and be first.  Does that sound like a firstborn?  You get upset when your sisters don't do what you tell them to do or don't want to play what you want to play.  You are very particular about things and transitions are hard for you.  You thrive on routine and things staying the same.
• You throw some impressive temper tantrums!  They have improved with cutting artificial dyes out of your diet but that hasn't completely stopped them.  These temper tantrums are often related to you not getting your way, your sisters not listening to you, or transitions in your day (such as leaving Grandma's house, moving from playing to mealtime, etc)
• You would rather have Mommy or Daddy do things for you instead of doing them by yourself.  We are working hard to get you to be more independent before this baby comes!  Things like getting dressed, going potty, putting on your shoes, getting your pjs on . . . those are all things we know you can do by yourself, it's just getting you to do them!
• On December 2nd, when we were reading a Bible story after lunch at Grandpa and Grandma's house, you asked how Jesus could get into your heart.  Daddy explained to you that all you have to do is ask him!  You were excited about that and said you wanted to ask him to live in your heart.  Your prayer went like this, "Dear Jesus, please come and live in my heart!"  Mommy got all teary over that sweet little prayer.  Mommy prays every day that Jesus will always be the love of your life over anyone and anything else.  I pray that you will grow up to be a man of God and that you will live a life pleasing to Him!!

Just a couple of pictures . . .

Aliyah loves having her picture taken with Callie. Here she put Callie in her carseat and then in the shopping cart to take her to the store with her.  So precious!

Bunk beds!  The kids came up with this idea all on their own. I love seeing their little creative minds at work!

Sweet Laila

We have recently started babysitting for little Laila on Monday afternoons.  Isn't she the cutest thing you have ever seen?  Her Mom used to work with Daryl and they live just a couple of streets over from our house.  They needed someone to watch Laila on Mondays between the time her Dad leaves to go to work and her Mom comes home from work.  Laila has Pierre-Robin Sequence so we work with her at drinking from a special bottle and then the rest goes in her ng tube.  She's on an apnea monitor because her breathing is very positional due to her small jaw and larger tongue.  My kids absolutely adore her!  It's been fun to see them with a little baby.  Hope, especially, is very intrigued with her ng tube because we often talk about how she had a tube when she was a baby because she didn't want to eat.  After Laila leaves on Monday evening one of the first questions is always, "When is Laila coming back?"  Samuel recently told my Mom that he thinks maybe we should go to Florida every Monday. ;) But then he quickly followed it up with, "Oh, never mind.   That won't work out because Laila comes to our house on Mondays."  I'm hoping the novelty of having a baby in the house won't wear off before May!! :)

We Love Our Aunt Anna!

Reading time on a snowy Sunday afternoon with Aunt Anna!  The girls are really into the Corduroy books right now.  

Saturday

I just got these pictures off of my Mom's camera (so I'm posting these pictures 4+ months after January 12th) but they were too cute to not share!  Samuel and I went (a very last minute thrown t together plan!) to a Western Michigan Broncos basketball game and I dropped the girls off to take a nap at my parent's house.  Daryl was already over there working with my Dad on making a bookshelf for our basement.  I think the temperature was in the low 50s, if I remember right, which is why Daryl and Dad picked this day to work on the bookshelf because they could work on it out in the garage without freezing their hands off!  I love the expression on the girls' faces - such precious, beautiful girls!

Samuel and I had fun at the basketball game too, even though the Broncos lost.  It was a fun mother/son date!  Samuel is totally into basketball and he pays close attention to the game!  He has no problem sitting through a whole game.  A few days after this, he was disappointed when he came to the realization that wouldn't be going to all of the Bronco basketball games.  I tried to explain to him that games are expensive and it is a special treat to go to one.  He was not happy about it.  And then, totally unplanned, he ended up going to 4 Bronco basketball games this year!  The one on this day, one with my parents (while Daryl was in Haiti), one with his grandparents, myself, and his sisters (free lunch included in the tickets and Daryl was still in Haiti), and then one more during Western's spring break (super cheap tickets!) with his Grandparents and his Daddy (yes, Daryl finally got to a game!).  So much for the "lesson" I was trying to teach him about how one Bronco basketball game is more than enough each year and he should be thankful for the one he was able to go to.  Ha!!