Christmas 2011

I opted to film Christmas morning in lieu of pictures, so I have none to post. These pics of M&E baking Christmas cookies on Christmas Eve will have to suffice...

Santa's gifts for this Christmas included a wedding dress for M (the girl loves some dress-up), a bow and arrow for E, and trucks for W. Grandparents, great grandparents and aunts and uncles were extremely generous and what we thought would be a pretty small Christmas for us actually turned out to be a really great one.

On a side note, this was the Christmas of the worst tree ever. We came home on the 23rd to find bugs all over the floor, all over the gifts and crawling ALL OVER the tree. It was disgusting. Needless to say, the ornaments came off and that nasty tree was at the curb that day. At least we were that much closer to cleaning up all the decorations!

All in all we had a wonderful time celebrating the birth of our Savior with our family - including our new addition little Ward.

Callaway Fantasy in Lights

Mama Kaye treated us to the Fantasy in Lights show at Callaway Gardens this year. We all bundled up and rode the trolley (otherwise known as the "charlie") through the show. M&E loved it, but they had some trouble seeing everything so we decided on an encore performance. We loaded up in the car and drove through it another time. This time they had heat, snacks, and no obnoxious company. They REALLY loved it this time and each declared their own favorite part.

By the way, taking pictures of lights is not easy.

Ballet Nativity/School Christmas Program

Madeline's ballet class gave a little nativity performance and M was chosen to play Mary. She did a great job (she didn't cry) and the girls put on such a sweet little show. Daddy even got to come watch! M really loves ballet and constantly twirls around the house.

The next day, M&E had their Christmas program at school. Daddy and Mama Kaye came to watch. It was so cute! It was so fun to see the children perform the songs that I had heard them singing for weeks at home.

Our little angels:

Thanksgiving 2011

This year we decided to spend Thanksgiving here:

It was wonderful. What a beautiful time of year to be at the beach!

We celebrated my 30th birthday at Louisiana Lagniappe. I cannot think of a more perfect way to ring in my 30s than surrounded by my precious family in a beautiful setting eating delicious food!

The big kids had their own little hideaway in our suite and fought over the top bunk the whole time.

We spent most of our time in the outdoor heated pool and hot tub but we took a little walk to the playground for some fun one morning.

We also took a tour of the docks and we each picked out a yacht for Santa to bring for Christmas. (He must not have been able to fit them on the sleigh.)

These crazy kiddos even got in the gulf. It was NOT warm.

The five of us had such a relaxing vacation that we're considering a repeat performance.

Growing Up

I have been meaning to post on some updates for a while now, but life has been busy. These two big kids made some major changes several months ago and I feel the need to document them. In a single day, Eli gave up his blanket (that he had slept with since his first day home from the hospital), stopped sucking his thumb and took down his bedrail. About two days later, Madeline (not one to be outdone for long) also gave up her beloved blanket and had her bedrail removed. Then, as if my two precious oldest children had not given their poor mother enough to cry about, Eli decided to take up residence in the top bunk. My oh my. And those once sweet blankets that had become progressively more nasty with each passing year? I seized the moment when M&E decided to abandon them and tossed them in the trash bin.

This dear sweet baby is delicious. Seriously, irresistible. He's a little better with his napping but still not a great napper. He still gets up occasionally in the night, but the opportunity to nuzzle that sweet little fuzzy head in peace and quiet makes it so worth the interruption in my sleep. I feel like we may have a tooth any day now and he's starting to get quite good at sitting up, not on his own yet but soon. He has a healthy appetite and gobbles down his rice cereal, bananas, apples and sweet potatoes, and he's still great at nursing. He has been such an easy addition to our family and we all ADORE our sweet Ward.

Halloween 2011

Virginia Visit

A month ago, we traveled up to Virginia to visit Granddaddy and Vivian. (I know, I know, my posts are few and far between lately. I'm a little busy with life these days.) The drive up there was grueling. It took us 14.5 hours to get there. At around 7 p.m. we came to a stand-still in road construction traffic and there we sat. For 2.5 hours we only traveled 9 miles. Misery. Then, we tried to throw in the towel and stop at a hotel for the night only to be turned away twice due to no room in the inn. We had no choice but to press on and we finally arrived at 2:30 in the morning. The drive home would also be in the running for worst drive ever, but I'll get to that...

No rest for the weary when you have two 4-year-olds who have been dreaming about the pumpkin-patch-on-steroids since last year's visit, so the next day... or actually the same day, I guess?... we loaded back into the car and headed for Cox Farms. It did not disappoint.

I did not anticipate the cold wind, and this little hooded blanket tucked away in the diaper bag came in very handy for little Ward. He was snug as a bug in a rug wrapped up in this and tucked into the Baby Bjorn. Incidentally, Brandon was the champion baby carrier of the trip.

The slides were a hit again this year, but even more of a crowd-pleaser was the rope swing. I was impressed that M&E were really pretty good at it. As Eli put it, "Three-year-olds can't swing on that rope, but four-year-olds can. That's why we didn't do it last year."

The whole gang:

I told Granddaddy before we traveled up there that we expected a full schedule of activities and he delivered. The day after the "punkin patch" we went to Charlottesville for lunch at Michie Tavern and apple picking at Carter Mountain. (I sure do miss Charlottesville.) Our apple-picking duo picked 35 pounds of apples. Yum.

Another day, another adventure. We headed out the next day for White Oak Canyon Falls. My family used to go hiking up in that area often when we lived there and I remember why - it is absolutely beautiful.

I think we only made it in about a mile or so before Madeline ran out of steam, so we stopped for an apple break.

I would be remiss if I also didn't mention that we managed to squeeze in a dinner with Allison while we were up in VA, too. She had just been down to AL to visit us and meet Ward, so that means we got to see her twice in a matter of weeks. I'm fairly certain that hasn't happened since we lived in the same house... icing on the cake.

Three hours into the drive back down south, we discoved why Madeline was dragging during our hike when we had to pull over for her to throw up on the side of the interstate. So, despite the crummy drive, we all had a blast and a great visit, and though it may be a while before we brave the drive again, we will definitely be back.

Genesis 21:6

Soccer Star

Eli had his first soccer practice and game this week. He was so excited and was so cute to watch. He's the youngest member of his team by almost a year, and this was his absolute first experience with soccer. (In fact, as we walked over to the fields, Madeline asked me, "Mommy, is that basketball?".) It was obvious that Eli was a little green, but he had a smile on his face for the entire hour and a half and we can't ask for more than that!

The team did some different drills during practice and I had to laugh because Eli told me afterwards, "I wasn't very good at running backwards. I fell down and bumped my head, so I think next time I'll just walk backwards so I don't fall." At another point, he ran over to the sideline and asked, "Where's Madeline?," and then said, "Oh! I see her! Hi, Madeline!".

Madeline had a blast at soccer too because she got to run around and play with a friend on the bleachers and playground. Soccer and ballet are the first activities that these twins have done separately and as I expected, they're both doing great with having their own extracurriculars. I'm really proud of how patient they have both been while the other practices and it's been fun for me to watch them interact with other children without their best buddy at their side.

We Call Him "Wardy-Woo"

This sweet boy is growing like a weed. He had a check-up at the doctor's office today and he has gained 5 pounds and grown 3 inches since birth.

In the past couple of weeks, we've seen his hard outer shell start to crack. His constant serious expression has given way to the sweetest open mouth smiles that we can't help but reward with tons of kisses. He's also cooing a bunch (love that sound!) and I'm sure we'll hear a giggle soon because he seems to be right on the verge of it sometimes.

Apparently Ward is afraid to miss any of the action around here because this little newborn baby fights sleep like no baby I've ever seen. It's bizarre to me that he will have the most tired eyes that he can barely hold open and will just be miserably sleepy, but he just will not let go and sleep. He's even gone entire days without a real nap. Thankfully, he's very cooperative when we're out running errands and will sleep then, he falls asleep with no protest at bedtime (of course, he's exhausted by that point!), and when he does fall asleep, he sleeps great for hours.

Every one of our precious children has ended up with a nickname and so we fondly refer to our sweet baby as "Wardy-Woo," pronounced "Wordy-Boo" by M&E. Speaking of M&E, they adore their little brother. They have had a cold for the past week and it's killing them to keep their hands off of him. When I told them they couldn't be in Ward's face, Eli came up with the compromise of kissing his little feet instead. Hopefully the big kids will start feeling better soon, so they can get back in this sweet little face.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

We love you!

Somebody thinks his big brother is really funny...

Ballerina Girl

Madeline started ballet two weeks ago. She goes one morning a week and she LOVES it. I peeked in the classroom window last week...

This is my little girl who cannot stand still to save her life and look, not only is she still but she is hanging on every word the teacher has to say! The girls often get to dress up in tutus and tiaras and magic wands AND they get to dance around the room. Madeline is in heaven!

(As an added bonus, the church gym where ballet is held also has a well-stocked game room complete with arcade games and an air hockey table so Eli also likes to go to ballet!)

School Starts and Baby Update

Madeline and Eli started 4K on Friday. Of course, they were so excited to get to school and start another year and they reported that they had a great first day. I can't believe this is their last year of preschool!!! I also enrolled them in extracurricular activities this year - Madeline in ballet and Eli in soccer. I laughed as I recorded all of the practice times and watched my calendar fill up. As Brandon put it, the Mommy van is really about to start rolling.

Ward is just precious. We can't get enough of him. We laugh because we named him Isaac, which means "he laughs," and this child rarely cracks a smile - he is so serious all the time. He's getting so big so quickly! At his 2-week check-up he had already grown an inch and gained a pound. Now he has the sweetest little irresistible chipmunk cheeks. He continues to have quite the healthy appetite and he is sleeping GREAT. The night before last we put him down at 9:00 and he didn't wake up until 5:30 the next morning! Brandon and I are really amazed at how well-rested we are. This single baby thing is a breeze!

We may be biased, but Brandon and I constantly tell each other what great children we have. They are so sweet and cute and smart and funny and fill our home with so much joy. And so we roll right along with our child-rearing and pray that we do a good job of it!

M&E Turn 4!

Madeline and Eli turned 4 years old on Saturday. We had planned to celebrate their birthday on Thursday before I headed to the hospital on Friday, but Ward proved to be a very considerate brother and allowed us all to be home on Saturday for their birthday.

There were balloons galore, a delicious cake and plenty of fun gifts, which included ballet clothes for Madeline, soccer and other sports-themed clothing for Eli and several fun arts and crafts. Mama Kaye and Julia were in town and helped us celebrate with hamburgers and hot dogs and cake and ice cream.

These two sweet children have been so much fun over the past four years. We love them so much and look forward to what they will learn and grow to do in the next year. Happy Birthday, Madeline and Eli!

Isaac Ward Rooks

Our sweet baby Ward came into the world at 12:36 pm on Wednesday, July 6.

I was scheduled for a c-section on Friday, but Ward had other plans. I woke up around 5:30 Wednesday morning with contractions... and they hurt. I sat in bed for a while trying to figure out whether or not I should call the doctor (not wanting to go to the hospital if it wasn't really necessary) and then I decided to get up and do some laundry since I was in pain and couldn't sleep. I called Mama Kaye and told her to get on the road. Then I took a shower and got dressed. Then around 7:30 I decided it was time to call the doctor, who told me to go on and head to the hospital. Finally at 8:30 we left the house.

As a side note, no one seemed to be taking this very seriously. Brandon left me and went to work for a while, Mama Kaye stopped for coffee and M&E complained that they were too tired to go to the hospital. Madeline also told me that I said we could go the beach when the baby was born and asked if we could go now since we were having the baby. I suggested that they could drop me off and go about their business and I would call them to come pick me up in a few days when I could go home...

We decided from the beginning of this pregnancy that we did not want to know the sex of the baby before delivery. However, Brandon was convinced that he saw the ultrasound tech plug into the computer that it was a girl. I on the other hand, had no feeling whatsoever about what we were having. Brandon got to make the call in the delivery room. It was so fun that he got to be surprised too - it's a boy!

We are so grateful that the Lord has blessed us with another beautiful healthy baby! My recovery has been so much easier this time around also. In fact, we even got to go home a day early, which was so nice as it's impossible to sleep in the hospital with the constant poking and prodding.

M&E have been so sweet with their new baby brother. They call him "my sweet baby brother Ward" and constantly tell him they love him. They have not skipped a beat and have even offered several funny anecdotes in the past week...

Eli when seeing me standing up for the first time post-delivery:

"Mommy, it looks like you still have a baby in there. Is there another baby in there?"

Both M&E took some time to learn their new brother's name. They kept calling him by all of their friends' baby brothers' names. He was baby Michael, baby Anderson and baby Owen within the first 24 hours of his life.

Nursing has been an interesting topic for the kiddos, too. Madeline nurses and burps her baby doll while I nurse and burp Ward, and Eli has had some hilarious comments on the topic...

Eli: "Why are you feeding him out of your bellybutton?"

Eli: "Yuck."

Me: "Yuck what?"

Eli: "He's eating you."

**Here's a PSA for the moms out there: Allowing a 4-year-old comedian into your room after a c-section can have painful consequences.

We're all enjoying loving on this sweet new baby boy.

Ward is so, so sweet and has taken to nursing like a champ. He lets us know when he needs a diaper change and is the squirmiest baby ever, making diaper changes challenging. He's also sleeping for 3-5 hour stretches at night already. Brandon and I are amazed at how much easier this one baby thing is as compared to two babies. Thank you to Mama Kaye and Julia and to all of our sweet friends for their help over the past week!