Fall Fun and Birthdays Begun

Apparently no one told our family that just because you start back to school that summer fun is over.  The kids were happy to keep going out on the boat and were enjoying the nice weather.  We bought a knee board on clearance so the kids wanted to try it out before the water got too cold to use it and they had to wait all the way until spring.  Davis and Dylan tried but couldn’t get up onto their knees but Layla got right up like a pro.  She was so proud of herself…. And of course took the opportunity to gloat that she could do it and they could not. 

 

Soccer season began for Dylan and Layla. Layla loves soccer so much and it’s a great outlet to run around and get her energy out.  She’s getting to the point where the boys being more aggressive and bigger than her doesn’t scare her which is great to see.  For the longest time she would back up if a big kid was coming towards her but not this season.  She scored 2 goals in the opening game of the season and that made her want to be more aggressive and score again.  I love seeing my shy girl get out there and push the boys around.  Dylan also is having a good season.  Last year he ran in circles to get away from the group of kids and the ball but this year he is right up in there kicking and running down the field. He has already matured so much since starting school and is turning into a big kid right before our eyes.

  Davis decided that she didn’t want to do soccer which was fine with us.  She’s continuing ballet which she really loves and is working hard to be able to full a full split.  She spends most of her time at soccer games yelling “mommy, daddy look at this!!!!” while showing off her splits.  Layla had decided that she also wanted to do ballet but a month into it she already wanted to quit.  I told her that she really needed to think about the reasons why she didn’t like it and be able to express why she wanted to quit so she produced this letter.  She can be such a hoot.  I don’t know if I should be more concerned that she came up with such a comprehensive list or that her spelling is so horrible.  She has such a creative mind and is so artistic.  I hope that she continues to be this way as she grows up. 

 Reasons Layla wants to quit ballet....1. Davis falows me every were 2. It is so boring 3. It makes your feet heart 4. The offets are very hot 5. We have to do splits and reach for your toes and its really hard 6. Its really hard to do everything 7. None of my best friends are there 8. I like to run and you can't run there like in soccer 9. The tites fell like socks 10. The offets are very boring colers.

 

They kids also celebrated Grandparent's Day at school with Grits for Grands.

 

 

Easton turned 6 months old and is just turning into such a big boy.  He now sits independently and is starting to roll across the living room to get to what he wants.   I’m afraid we are not far away from having a mobile baby in the house.  He weighed 15 pounds, 2 ounces at his 6 month visit and was in the 8^th percentile for weight (whew hew!!!!!!) so we were so excited.  He just continues to be such a blessing to our family.  I thought the kids would lose interest in him after he was born but they just adore him.  Every morning they get up and ask where he is and make sure they talk to him and give him a hug before they leave for school.  They are such good sisters and a great brother.  He is one spoiled little baby.  He continues to not want to sleep and if anything this has gotten worse over the last few weeks.  He’s up most nights 3 or 4 times but every once in a while will only get up 1 time.  It’s amazing that on those nights where he is only up once I feel like I have had the best night sleep ever!

 

We started Layla’s week long birthday celebration with a trip the the American Girl Doll Store in Atlanta. Davis wanted to go to the store for her birthday too so we combined it into one trip. Since the girls are getting bigger and we are thinking that this may be their last big trip to the store, we decided to do the whole American Girl hotel package.  Basically when we got there the room had American Girl Doll beds that the girls got to keep, shirts for their dolls, a goodie bag and milk and cookies for the girls.  I’m still not sure if it was worth all the money but to see the look on the girls' faces when we walked into the room was priceless.  They were so excited!

 

We went the next day to the store and they had the best time.  They got to pick out a new doll then got to buy lots of things to go with it.  We were lucky because both grandmas and papas had given them money to spend so they got to get pretty much everything they wanted. 

 

The day after we got back was Layla’s real birthday and she wanted to go to Miyobi’s so her grandma and papa took all of us to eat.  I think Layla felt really special that everyone would go where she wanted to go to each. 

 

The following weekend we celebrated Layla’s birthday with a sleep over with 4 of her little friends from school.  She decided that she wanted a peace sign tie dyed cake so that’s what she had.  She gets so excited to show off her cake because (according to her) no one else ever has as cool of cakes as she does.  The kids decorated shirts with paint pens, mainly because I chickened out on tie dying shirts with 8 kids.  They spent most of their time outside running around and playing and even let Davis and Dylan play with them.  It’s always touchy with Layla if she is going to be ok with them playing with her and her friends but it went great this time.  The crew was all up before 7 the next morning and Layla wanted eggs, bacon and grits for breakfast so we cooked a big breakfast for everyone.  I cannot lie, I was not sad to see the last car pull off on Sunday morning but Layla had such a great time.  After everyone left we spent the next 2 hours with everyone snuggled together watching a movie and hanging out.  It was perfect.  It’s those moments were I am so thankful that we have a big family.  There are times where it’s just crazy but those quiet moments together are what I live for.  We even went out in the boat later that day and the crazy kids were on the tube in October.  At some point summer will have to end but we are going to let it live on at our house as long as possible. 

Birthday Celebration at school
 

 

Summer Fun and School's Begun

So it's been way too long since I've taken the time to write a post.  Summer with 4 kids didn't lend itself to sitting inside and writing so I really just don't know where to start.  The last time I wrote Easton just turned 2 months old and boy have things changed since then. He has been such a trooper through all our family adventures it's sometimes hard to believe he hasn't been part of this family forever. 
We started our summer break with a trip to a  Columbia City Blowfish game that the girls got tickets to for completing their reading program. We had planned on going for just a few innings but they were having so much fun and wanted to stay for the whole game.  After watching someone retrieve a fowl ball, the girls decided that they wanted a ball and Jamie jokingly told them to go down by the fence and ask the ball boy (who was really a grown man not a boy) for a ball.  They then devised a plan to tell the ball boy that they wanted a ball to give mommy for her birthday.  Little did Jamie realized that Davis would really do it so she marched down to the fence and asked then came back sans ball.  Thinking he just told her no we were prepared to say that it was ok but then Davis informed us that he said to come back after the game was over and he would give her one.  Sure enough Davis went back down there and he gave her a game ball.  Then Layla of course was mad because Davis had a ball and she did not. 

 

 

 We headed into June with our first beach trip as a family of 6.  We were excited but apprehensive of how Easton was going to do with the beach.  He turned 3 months old the day we arrived at the beach and was still so tiny (not only being 3 months old but with the continued struggle to gain weight).  After we got there and unpacked we took Easton down to the beach for the first time.  He didn't mind the wind or the sand and actually liked his feet in the water.

 

The older kids have always loved the beach.  They love the water, the sand, the sun…. everything about it.  I think they were made to live at the ocean.  I’ve always loved to watch the joy they have while at the beach.  It doesn’t matter whether they are boogie boarding or building a sandcastle, they are always just having a blast.  It’s amazing how well they can play together while at the beach.  If only that continued while we were at home. 

 

We decided when we got to Hilton Head that we weren't going to get training wheels for Dylan on his bike.  He really hadn't tried to ride his bike without training wheels but we really thought he could do it.  The first day he didn't even want to give it a try and kept telling us we needed to take his bike back and get training wheels but after realizing that we weren't going to take it back, he decided to give it a try.  Once he got over the initial resistance to trying, he was off. If anything he was off too fast.  He went flying down then beach but then had a hard time slowing down and stopping so had a few good wipe outs as he put his feet down trying to stop instead of using his breaks.  He had gone so fast then wiped out and was really far in front of me one time and these sweet people thought that he was all alone.  Of course he didn't point out that his mommy was right behind him so they tried to comfort him at which he attempted to hide from them. 

 

 

We just had a great time and enjoyed all the memories we were able to make with our families.  We are so blessed to get to share family vacations with our parents, aunt and uncle, cousin, brothers, sister and nieces. The kids just don't realize how lucky they are to have such an amazing family around them.   

 

 

Shortly after we got home we celebrated July 4^th.  The kids always love making their 4^th of July cake and this year was no different.  They even made sure that Easton got to be part of the fun this year.  As we were trying to get a picture of all of them together in front of the cake, Easton kept sticking his hand and arm into the whipped cream and they all thought it was hilarious.  As they would finally start to calm down, Easton would do it again and they would begin to roar laughing again.  Easton was just living it up and you could tell that he knew he was making them laugh. 

 

 

We did our annual trip to the blueberry patch which was really disappointing.  With all the rain there really weren’t many blueberries and most of them had burst open and didn’t taste very good.  The kids were disappointed and we spent most of the time fighting over who mommy would lift up to reach the few decent berries that were high up on the bushes.  We did end the trip with blueberry Popsicles which of course made everything better.  Layla’s highlight of the trip was that her best little friend was at the blueberry patch and invited her home with her.  It’s so much fun to see Layla forming those friendships and turning into a big girl. 

 

 

In July we were blessed to present Easton to our church family and have him Baptized.  This was such an amazing moment for our family and it was so special to share it with the older kids.  We explained to them their responsibility to share their love of Jesus with Easton and they really felt special to be a part of it. 

 

 

As Easton turned 4 months we felt like we were finally on the right track with his feeding.  He still wasn’t gaining enough weight but after going through rounds of supplementing with formula and trying to increase his calorie intake we made a leap of faith and changed to supplementing with donor breast milk.  He was taking around 6 extra ounces a day of milk and we knew he was getting enough milk but then he still wasn’t gaining.  Our only thought was that his little tummy was having a hard time with digesting the formula even as we made our way up to more and more expensive and more and more hypoallergenic formulas.  Dylan and Davis both had a milk protein intolerance so we had been through sensitivities before.  We also had gone through slow weight gain with Layla but looking at her now you would never have known it.  The first week we made the change he went from barely gaining 3-4 ounces a week to gaining 8 ounces.  I knew going into our 4 month visit that Easton was going to drop again on the growth charts and I was about at my limit hearing from random strangers how small he was.  Sure enough when we went to his 4 month appointment, Easton weighed 11 pounds, 7 ounces and had dropped below the first percentile for weight.  We again had to go through the conversation with the pediatrician that if he didn’t gain more weight than we would have to go through metabolic testing to make sure there wasn’t a physiologic issue for his lack of weight gain.  It’s strange because every ounce of my mommy instinct knew that he was perfectly fine.  He is the most content, loving, happy baby but apparently he has a really high metabolism and is very active.  He was drinking the same amount of milk as the other kids then the additional 6 ounces and I really just couldn’t get him to take any more milk.  We discussed at his 4 month appointment starting solids to increase his calorie intake and because of new research on reducing food allergies in children by starting solids earlier than 6 months.  Layla and Davis have nut allergies and with our history of milk protein allergies I was reluctant but willing to start. Easton took his first bite and never looked back. If it was up to him he would prefer to just eat food all day long and give up nursing and milk.  He LOVES food.  One of the first things we gave his was avocados since they are high in good fats and he would make the most horrible face with the first bite but then would open his mouth right back up for the next bite.  He looked like a little baby bird. 

 

 

 

We did lots of local things throughout the summer, trips to the zoo, Edventure, and the park but there were lots of rainy days were we couldn’t spend the whole day outside.  One highlight was the girls going on the 3 story climbing structure at the zoo.  I am not sure where the get their fearlessness.  They were cruising along 3 stories above the ground walking across narrow balance beams.  I was so proud of them for giving it try and even more proud of them for sticking together and helping and encouraging each other.  It’s amazing how they can be the worst of enemies but then they can be the best of friends the next minute.  

 

 

We also did our usual time out on the lake and swimming.  Our little fish love the lake, love tubing, love swimming, and especially love eating while on the boat.  I don’t know what it is but as soon as the boat leaves the dock someone apparently becomes so hungry they may starve to death even if they just ate.  We love our time together as a family on the lake. 

 

We ended our summer with our August trip to the beach to celebrate Jamie’s birthday.  It’s a great way to end the summer but a little sad as we know it means that our summer is coming to an end.  Easton was starting to be able to sit up better with some help so he was able to have more fun playing in the sand.  He also was starting to really be able to hold toys so would hold a shovel and shove it into his mouth.  The kids really wanted him to put sand in his mouth because they have seen picture and have heard stories of when they were small and tried to eat sand.  Davis even took handfuls of sand and put them in Easton’s hands just so he would put it into his mouth.  A highlight of our Folly Beach trip is always being about to walk down to the pier and this year was no different.  The kids loved it. 

 

 

Easton turned 5 months and had gained a little under 2 pounds in the last month which was awesome.  He actually started to get some pudgy cheeks and we could finally after 5 months just sit back and not worry about how much weight he was gaining.  Things were going great and he was such a sweet boy.  He could sit up for a little bit on his own and loved to smile at everyone.  He started doing this shy smile that would just melt your heart.  It’s so funny.  It’s as if he knows that he’s cute.  He also got his 2 bottom teeth right around the time he turned 5 months old so his sleeping habits have went down hill.  He went from getting up 1-2 times a night to getting up 4 or 5 times a night.  Not good for a mama who was about to go back to work and who now is going to have to get up at 5:30 am. We were hoping that after the teeth came in that he would start sleeping better again but so far that has not been happening.  I just again and again have to remind myself that these sleepless nights don’t last forever and he is so darn cute you just can’t help but love him anyway.   

 

 

 

And then too soon as always, it was time to begin school again.  Dylan was so excited to begin Kindergarten.  When he turned 5 last February, he had it in his head that the next day he would be able to start school.  We had always told him he had to be 5 to go to school so of course logically he thought as soon as he was 5 he could go so he had been waiting for a long time to start.  The kids were so excited to pick out their first day of school outfits at the store and to get new shoes.  It’s amazing how such little things make children so excited.  Even Dylan wanted to go into the dressing room and try on his first day of school outfit because the girls were trying theirs on.  That poor boy doesn’t stand a chance with 2 big sisters. 

 

 

 

What an amazing summer if was.  There's no way to write every moment that the kids touched our hearts this summer but these memories will live on with me forever.