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!

Diving Board Update

Yesterday, Madeline decided it was high time she passed her swim test so she too could go off the diving board. Of course, she accomplished the task with flying colors. In fact, I was swimming in front of her and she kept running into me because she's so fast. Eventually I just got out of the way so she could finish her lap. She said, "Now I can keep up with Eli!" Indeed, Missy!

Diving Board

In order to gain the privilege of jumping off the diving board at our pool, children have to pass a swim test. They have to swim 25 yards unassisted. A couple of weeks ago, Eli decided he was ready to give it a go and he passed!

I'm sure Madeline is not far behind her brother so I anticipate capturing a video of her jumping soon, too. M&E have really impressed me this summer with their swimming - they're really good!