Our February...iPhone Style

February was a fun and busy month for us!!

The boys got board games for Valentine's Day, so we have played lots of Chutes and Ladders.

We all went out for Larry's Pizza on Valentine's night. Romantic, huh? Lol.Twister Night!

I worked one day last week. It was the first time I'd worked in months. It was strange to put my scrubs on and leave my babies, but I did enjoy myself! I didn't even realize that I had missed hygiene, but I guess I had a little. It was fun to get back in the routine for a day, knowing that didn't have to go back the next day! Ha!

But I was sure glad to get back home to this face!

These two have been such big buddies lately!

We took Brody to Monroe the night before his birthday to eat, and he picked Longhorn Steakhouse...and the boy can put away some steak!
His last night as a 4 year old!#5 pancake for breakfast on the morning of his birthday!Cowboys cupcakes
Balloons for the birthday boy!!!The first time Levi pulled up!
Occasionally we have nice calm moments like this when all three of them are playing quietly together. Occasionally.
Cowboy Beckett

Brody ended up in the ER a few nights after his birthday. He suddenly came down with bronchitis, and was having a really rough night breathing. So I had to take him in to get breathing treatments and chest xrays. We were there from 11pm-5am...long night. He seems to be recovering great!
We ate dinner with Dad and Karen one night, and Brody decorated brownies for everyone. Yum!This little cutie turned 8 months old!
And these two cuties dressed up in their overalls a lot!


We have had such BEAUTIFUL days outside, we have been trying to take full advantage of them!! I've been lounging on quilts with Levi while the older boys play baseball and climb trees. Last weekend, Amie and I took Luke, Levi, and Beckett to Monroe for a little shopping. They were all squeezed in! Love these boys!!We rode the carousel...and played at the fountain!We've been building spaceshipsand basking in the sunshine some more!
And my favorite thing we've been doing lately is taking walks in the evenings with Mom and Brooke. The kids always have to stop and visit with our neighbor's horses.

And we are celebrating Dr. Suess week!!!!!Tomorrow is a big day for us...we register our boy for Kindergarten!!!!

Levi {Eight Months}

Wow, Levi - you are EIGHT months old!!! How did this happen? These last few months have just flown by. I can't believe how fast you are growing! What have you been up to lately?

You weight between 18 and 19 pounds. You are still smaller than your brothers were at this age, but you are steadily growing on your own little growth curve. You are just a tiny little guy for now. I will take you for your 9 month well child check next month, so I can't wait to see what you weigh then. You still wear 6-9 month clothes and size 3 diapers.

You are no longer nursing, but I am so proud of how long we made it! You take 7 ounces of formula every three to four hours. And you are doing so much better with solids, even baby food! You eat baby cereal with fruit for breakfast, and you have some type of veggie/meat and fruit for dinner. Some days you even eat a few ounces of baby food at lunch. You love pretty much anything! I wish that I wouldn't have stressed myself out so much about you not eating solids well in the beginnig...you just weren't ready. Everyone was telling me "you just have to keep trying!" and the more I would try, the more frustrated you got. So, I listened to myself, put it on hold for a while, and would just try every now and then. And one day you were just ready! I have to learn not to question my own judgement. All babies do things at different times. It's amazing to me how three brothers, so close in age, can be so different!

Sleep is great. You sleep all night most nights, from about 8:30-7, and take 2 good naps a day. Usually a couple hours each. And you put yourself to sleep like a pro. And you are the sweetest, smiliest, snuggliest little thing when you wake up.

You are still a little bit snotty and rattly, but we've just come to the conclusion that you have allergies like your brothers. It doesn't seem to bother you, so we try not to let it bother us either.

You are trying so hard to crawl! You can go from the sitting position to your belly to the crawling position and back to sitting with ease. You love to get up on your hands and feet, rather than your knees, and I sometimes wonder if that's how you will crawl...just like your Aunt Brooke! You still mostly prefer to roll when you need to get somewhere.

You pulled yourself up for the first time this month also! You were in Beckett's crib playing while we were all doing something in Brody and Beckett's room, and you just pulled yourself right up! You were so very pleased with yourself!

You say Mama, Dada, Byebye, and you have started waving bye bye, also. You make tons of other sounds...you love to hear your little voice!

You LOVE bathtime now. I just sit you up and give you baths in the big bath tub now. You were never a fan of the baby tub, so you enjoy this so much more!

You love to go on walks. The weather has been so nice, we have been walking with Noni and Brooke in the evenings when they get out of school. Noni and Brooke pull your brothers in the wagon and I push you in the jogging stroller. You kick those little legs the whole time!

We love you more than ever, sweet boy! Happy 8 months!!

Love Day {2012}

We had a fun Valentines Day this year! Brody got his goodies before he went to school that morning, and Beckett and Levi got theirs when when they woke up a little later.





Memaw came over a little while later and gave the boys a little something from her and Poppy!
Brody had an ice cream sundae party at school that morning, then we went to church to our playgroup's Valentine party at lunch!! We had a great time celebrating with good friends.

When Brent got home from work that night, we took the boys to eat at Larry's Pizza! And he and the boys surprised me with a new Vera Bradley diaper bag, purse, and wallet! It was just a fun day altogether. And I loved spending it with all four of my guys!

Today...We Made Lemonade

Well. Metaphorically speaking we did, anyway. Nasty weather was in the forecast for last night. Sleet. Freezing rain. Bitter cold. Nothing pretty. Lemons. And of course, when I got up this morning, the ground was pretty much covered with little pellets of sleet. It was still sleeting, a little bit of snow mixed in. I was thinking what a yucky day it was going to be, with Brody having to get out in it to go to school. Lemons.

Brent nonchalantly asked if I was going to go ahead and send Brody to school. I, of course, responded with a , "Well, why wouldn't I?" He told me that he just thought I might have wanted to let him stay home to play. I decided right then. We weren't going to have a nasty, dreary, lemon-filled day after all. I snuck into Brody and Beckett's room, talked to Brody a little until he was awake, lifted him from his bed and carried him to his window. I pulled the curtain back and told him to take a look. He smiled so big, "It SNOWED!!!" I thought for a minute about telling him that no, it wasn't snow, but sleet instead. But I quickly changed my mind. Afterall, what did it really matter? The ground was covered in fun white stuff that he could play in. And the white stuff was still falling from the sky. "Yes it did, Buddy. We are going to have us a little Snow Day!!!!" Lemonade.

So, we let Brody stay home from preschool, and as soon as we got Brent off to work, we suited up and headed out to play!
We were so unprepared for a snow day that I couldn't find a matching pair of gloves for either of them to wear. But I can promise you, they didn't mind the mismatched gloves.
As soon as we stepped off the back porch, Brody noticed his trampoline was covered too, so they headed straight for it! They jumped and slid and had a snowball fight and laughed until they could hardly breathe. At one point, Brody even looked over at me and said, "This is the best snow day, Mommy." Lemonade. We even suited this little guy up for a bit to take him outside to experience his first little bit of wintry weather. He wanted down immediately, so I sat him down. He would reach down and feel of the little sleet pellets and snow and then look and me and grin and squeal. Seeing him experience something new for the first time...Lemonade.



I let Brody and Beckett play outside for a while, then we came in and drank apple cider and ate warm poptarts (their request). It was still sleeting pretty hard when we finished eating, so we sat on the couch by the big window in our living room, snuggled up under a blanket and read a few books.
Later on in the day, when Beckett and Levi were down for their naps, Brody and I finished making his Valentine cards for his classmates. I loved having him home the whole day! I don't know what I am going to do next year when he is actually gone until 3:30 instead of just noon. But I soaked up every minute of him being home all day today. Lemonade.
Everything was melted by early afternoon, but we sure had fun while it lasted. So maybe it was just mostly sleet. Maybe there was no fluffy white snow for us to make snow angels in. Maybe we just had a bowl of lemons in front of us. But you know what? It didn't matter to my boys. And they were sure glad that it didn't matter to their mama either. We made lemonade.