Happy Thanksgiving!

This is the Thanksgiving Tree Emrie created, each leaf had a thing or person she was thankful for.

Henry with berry on his face, enjoying his Thanksgiving pie.

Greta in a Christmas box at Mama and Papas house.

Emrie and Mommy getting ready for the Christmas Parade.

I am going to blog while Greta is in her big girl crib crying....this isn't easy on mommy. I don't know if the 4 month shots messed up our nearly perfect sleeper or if it is those awful painful teeth but we have had a rough few nights and Greg says in a manly voice "She is ready for her bed in her room now." Mommy is not so sure of this. Crying for 10 minutes is heart wrenching when she has never cried 10 minutes worth her whole 4 months!

Fast forward a week and 1/2.

Greta is in her crib once again....part of me is saying it is time she needs to know she can go to sleep on her own and be happy in doing so and then the other part of me is screaming go get her she is 4/12 months old she needs snuggled so what if you end up in the recliner for most of the night, she won't stay this way long.

Potty training is in full swing here. Don't be surprised to see a naked little guy running through our house. Yesterday was more successful than today and I am teetering on his readiness about this, we will give it another day and see where that leads us.

Emrie is excited to be in her first Christmas parade tomorrow twirling with the Dynamic Stars. This should be interesting and exciting if she does decide to go through with it! I just finished reading You Can't Make Me, But I Can Be Persuaded by Cynthia Tobias all about the Strong Willed Child and Oh My! does it fit her to a T! I am looking forward to trying her suggestions and feel relieved and more informed about my sweet SWC Emrie Ann-an answer to prayer!

Well folks it is peaceful here now! A success! So I will now go to bed!

Praise God for night time and rest!

Greta Baby Mine

Part of our nightly routine! I love the squeak it means "keep going mommy!"

Take a deep breathe, smile, laugh and this to shall pass!!

Who is super silly? Henry!

Who is super sweet? Henry!

Who is back to super silly? Henry!

Who painted her face today at AHA? Emrie! Who is good at making slobber bubbles? Greta!

Who has super chubby sweet kissable cheeks? Greta!

This past Saturday morning I took the kids to Wal-mart to to pick up a few things returned home and Henry had developed bright red skin on his face and legs with big white bug bite looking welts all over. So off to urgent care Henry and I went, we waited to see the doctor for about 1 1/2 hours and when he finally made it to us the red and welts were gone. I explained what brought us in and he decided to examine him anyway and behold he had a bright red ear infection in his right ear and a mild one in his left. Discussing the possible reason for the rash red skin we determined that he could have a peanut allergy since I had fed him whole peanuts the day before for the first time. Dr advised us to wait 2 weeks and try peanuts again with benadryl handy. He is now on Amoxicillin and seems to be feeling/acting better.

Saturday evening Greg and I went to a Halloween party & we dressed up as Maverick and Charlie from Top Gun. It was a fun evening, Emrie had her first sleepover at Ea and Aarons house(which was lots & lots of fun for her!). Henry and Greta stayed home with Aunt Beth watching them. Mommy came home early to feed Greta and went to bed shortly after...no late night parties for us these days! (I don't know that there ever were!) I have yet to give or attempt to feed a bottle to Greta, so I am always within a short distance to her beck and call...don't want her to go hungry and if you look at those cheeks pictured above @ 16 weeks she is undoubtably getting enough to eat! I love those crazy sweet smoochable cheeks!

Terrible 2's have been trying this week. I just remind myself to take a deep breathe, smile, laugh and this to shall pass! Oh but Lord I do need your help! Emrie has grumpy defiant days and Henry has his perpetual motion and constant whiny, fit throwing tantrum days and I do believe they plan them to coincide to make one plain awful day...silver lining is that not everyday is disastrous. We do make it through and each night I think I can do this or accomplish that when they are all tucked quietly into bed but I find myself hitting the hay momentarily after the peace of 3 sleeping children sets in. I consider myself lucky though I am blessed to be staying at home with them. I know in retrospect I will one day miss this.

Praise God for today!

Happy Halloween!

Greta watching the pumpkin carving!

Butterfly Princess Emrie and Mail Man Henry.

Proud Papa looking at Mail Man Henry!

Greta sleeping during the Halloween fun.

Emrie watching for the trick or treating to begin and Billy the exterminator!

Praise God for a fun day for the kids and all those yummy treats!

Henry turns 2!

Yes, Mommy made this yummy cake for me!

My John Deere wheel barrow.

Henrys new pick-up truck!

Can you believe it? Henry was born on a Monday if I remember correctly. I went in on a Saturday night and had him mid day on Monday. He was a beautiful surprise to us since we didn't know his sex. It was so exciting to bring him home to share with his big sister who instantly loved him and his soft skin for rubbing! He grew so fast and changed so much in his first two years. He is now nearing potty training which is fun, exciting and exhausting! He talks so well and loves I Spy books. "Read it, Read it" he demands throughout the day. He also enjoys his Farm picture book and The Happy Man and His Dump Truck. He likes the normal Deigo, Bob the Builder and Barney, but he and Emrie have recently developed a love for Annie and I got to tell you it does my heart good when they belt out those songs together! Although the other day they both called me Ms. Hannigan and I had to stop and laugh at that!
Henry was such a sensitive baby, he didn't like to be bumped or hear loud noises-he nearly melted down when such things would occur. I never dreamed he would begin his "terrible twos" at 18 months and be full of orneriness and busy exploration of everything dangerous or not. He still has a bit of that sensitive baby in him he is frightened by the wind, rain or a storm. He climbs in and out of his crib like a pro numerous times a day! He is into the refrigerator picking a "snacky" all the time! He does not walk, he trots or runs. He has got his Papa Mikes dance moves when music plays his body rocks. Henry enjoys being dirty, in fact I do believe it is a goal he has set for himself anytime we are out doors he is physically drawn to dirt, mud, or puddles. He loves to ride on the three wheeler at Mama and Papas. He would still rather eat and break crayons than color with them. He can throw a tantrum quite well, have a complete melt down, bang his head onto the ground and hard enough to leave a mark and even a goose egg. He can be so defiant and so sweet. He is our little guy who we love so very dearly!

We celebrated his birthday in the morning by having his buddy Micah over and shame on me I did not get a picture of them. I took Emrie to pick out balloons for him and she picked a Happy Birthday cupcake, present, dump truck and Elmo, Henry loved them all! Emrie also picked a guitar toy for Henry. Mommy and Daddy got him a John Deere wheel barrow. He calls it his wagon.
Mama Linda, Bryan, Aaron and Ea came over for dinner and Birthday cake and we had a very fun evening celebrating together.
I made his dump truck birthday cake pictured above. It was cute and he was eager to taste it!

He had his 2 year check up with Dr. Gibson on Thursday he weighed 28lbs and has moved to the 50th %tile for weight and height. He got 2 shots and big sister got one it took me and two nurses to hold her down, Henry was more upset watching her than when he got poked himself.

We celebrated on Sunday at Mama Jane and Papa Emerys house with Uncle Jim Aunt Beth and Jeremiah! He enjoyed the singing of Happy Birthday once again, more presents and yummy brownies and ice cream!

For the final celebration, we had dinner with Nornie, Poppy and Papa Mike. Henry had a difficult time sitting down to eat his dinner b/c of a severe case of the grumpies. Once we made it thru dinner the fun began when Papa Mike brought in Henrys present-a pickup truck and the icing on the cake was the gift from Nornie and Poppy-a gas pump.

Praise God for a fun 2nd Birthday for our sweet Henry!

Greta Jane Update

Look at my chubby cheeks..I am growing!

Why Mommy did I have to get these yukky shots? Look at my boo boos.

Greta is growing up! She had her 2 month check up with Dr. Gibson on Thursday September 15th and she weighed 11.6 lbs and was 23 inches long! Dr Gibson said she could find nothing wrong with her, I can't either, of course I am just a proud mommy! She also said "She is cute, no make that crazy cute!"and I would have to agree 100% on that as well! She got her first big round of vaccines 1 oral and 2 injections into each leg...OUCHY! Mommy felt bad, how awful to see the look of pain and confusion on such a tiny face, it hurts mommy too.

Praise God for the vaccines that help to protect my children!

Fair Week

The count down began about a week ago for Emrie. She remembered the fun rides from last year and was very eager to do it all again. We visited all the animals first. While the pigs are still my very favorite the jury is still out on whether she will follow in my footsteps and enjoy the unusual mammal. I have to admit I am rooting for her to love them like I did along with a Grandpa and even Great Grandpa. We'll see maybe Emrie will never get past the smell and Henry and Greta will adore their course hair and snout nose! I would almost place a wager that Grandma Jane would bake cookies more frequently just to share with the curly tailed animal. Greg might take some convincing in all of this but I feel strongly that he would develop a love for all of it.

Emrie is finally over all of her birthday celebrations. Emrie seemed to enjoy a birthday that kept going! We had a picnic party at Kacklemacker park with Mama Linda, Bryan, Aaron and Ea. It was a fun time, the kids had so much fun running and playing and were happy to have an audience. Boy were they dirty, Henry most of all(of course).
Sunday afternoon Papa Emery and Emrie had birthday cake and delicious homemade ice cream to celebrate.
Her last one was a joint party for her and Papa Mike. She got birthday money and was happy to spend all of it and then some buying clothes not toys. It is highly fascinating to watch her bounce from rack to rack choosing items she feels she can't go without.

Henry has begun to use the potty occasionally which is exciting. He gets a chocolate chip for peeing and a popsicle for poo. Emrie benefits from this as well so she is always excited about Henry and his achievements! Still battling the terrible twos even though he is not yet two. Fits for this or that or maybe over nothing at all, usually land him with a spanking or time spent in bed. He is a master of climbing out of bed which has been an exhausting challenge each day at naptime. He nearly falls asleep during lunch and I put Emrie and him direcfly to bed and an onset of energy emerges from both of them(makes me a little batty). I do enjoy hearing the laughter and giggles they produce but I also know that a day without naps results in a very dramatic evening with lots of tears and whiney noises.

Greta Jane is 8 weeks and I am loving seeing her little interactive smile and more and more coos. She is still my easiest baby yet and such a wonderful night time sleeper last night 10-4, woohoo!!

Praise God for a beautiful week and the time spent at the fair!