Good Days

The kids have been so good the last two days!!! It's been wonderful! It'll sound silly, but I'm almost thankful for being sick b/c it seems so much easier to take care of the kids now that I'm feeling better!


All dressed up in an outfit sent from Aunt Kelly.......


Baby booties! :)


He looked like such the cute little man in his overalls today! I was disappointed that he spit up on the outfit before I got a picture of him unswaddled b/c it said "Little Engineer" on the knee.




The kids being so good has made it so we can have a lot more fun during the day. Playing cars, singing songs, reading books, etc!

Always working that dimple!

My crazy girl!

She was making me smile so much today........I was going through papers/mail in the kitchen and she came running in to see me and kept saying (in the sweetest voice) "Hi! Hi (pause) Momma!" I can no way get across how sweetly she was saying this! It tickled my heart so much! I stopped sorting and was being silly with her. She was so pleased that I stopped what I was doing that she came up to me and gave me the most precious "thank you hug"!

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I was cooing at Collin and said, "Are you happy because your belly is full?!" Benjamin was sitting next to me and followed in my footsteps and coo-ed at Collin, "Do you have a belly button because your cord fell off?"
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Just to see what he'd say, I asked Benjamin if he wanted us to have any more babies or if three was enough. His response was, "I don't want too many babies."

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Going to and from preschool is a lot of work with three kids and working around Collin's nursing schedule, but it has been so rewarding lately:

• The whole way to and from school (both ways) Anna (and Benjamin when he's in the car) point out everything they see and recognize: signs, digger trucks, buses, houses, pumpkins, flowers, lights, trees, and on, and on, and on!
• When I was putting Anna into the car to go pick Benjamin up from preschool, she all of a sudden started saying, "Momma otay...Collin otay...Anna otay...Ben-gen otay."
• She's so funny when we get out of the car to go into Benjamin's school b/c she all of a sudden declares, "Runnin!" and pulls my arm and wants to run into school as fast as she can!

Pony Tails

my one and only girl


she's happy and adorable


loving and sweet


and FULL of SPUNK!

*close-up of her ponytails......

Siblings

Benjamin and Anna had matching Big Brother/Sister shirts that they wore to the hospital when Collin was born. Anna's is really special b/c we wrapped it up and she opened it at her birthday party and that's how we told everyone we were pregnant with Collin. I couldn't buy Collin a Baby Brother shirt b/c I didn't know that he was a boy. Well I finally ordered one and it was delivered right when everyone was sick. So I've had to wait and wait until everyone was better so that they could get pictures together. Yesterday was finally the day!!! :) I am so pleased with how well they did (as you will be able to tell by the number of pictures I have posted)!

They love to look, touch, and love their new brother!!! Anna was so sweet and even though Collin wasn't crying, she kept softly telling him, "It otay Baby Collin." She is talking in so many sentences now and tickles me to no end with how she adds pauses in between and within certain words!

They were pointing out the letters on their shirts. Anna would point and declare, "Letters!" and Benjamin would tell us what each shirt said.

Dave told them to kiss Collin's head at the same time and I thought it was too cute that they were looking at each other too!

They tickle each other so much! I'm really excited for when Collin is big enough to sit and watch them.....I can't wait to see his expression when they are being silly and wild and he's wondering what's going on!

Benjamin loves that he's learned how to get Collin to hold onto his finger. It was cute that Anna did it too!

My three loves!!!!

Benjamin and Anna are so funny with how tickled they get when they are allowed to get on our bed!

I tried this pose, but it didn't work! Miss Spice in the middle thought it was a good time to kick, no matter that her little "Baby Brother" was right next to her!

My two boys were pretty cute laying on the bed together though!

Holding hands again!

This "Big Sister" is starting to show LOTS of interest in the potty. I just don't know that I have the energy for her interest!

My littlest star!

He's got such a cute little cheesy grin that he does! You can see his dimple too!

So, I've mentioned over and over again how sweet this little guy is (as if you couldn't tell just by looking at him!). But what you might not believe is how noisy he is! He grunts and moans and makes the loudest noises while he sleeps and nurses and has since day one! It's too funny! (Although, sometimes it's not funny when I'm trying to sleep too!)

Repeats

I shared this picture a few posts back..........

and couldn't help but remember back to the days of two year-old Benjamin gazing at a baby Anna......

While Benjamin was at preschool yesterday, Anna was spending time with Collin in his bouncy seat.......

Which made me think back to other times when it was just Benjamin and his new baby sister.......

The shirt Collin is wearing, all three of them have now worn as babies! Collin is so long though that he's in it way before the other two were.

Anna was being so cute playing with this toy and afterwards clapping her hands and declaring, "Yea! Anna!"


When I grabbed the camera, the smiles and self-praise disappeared and this was the result of my trying to elicit them back.......

Guess she wasn't feeling photogenic that day!

Later, she was tickling me so much. She had pooped and I changed her diaper and then for the next hour kept saying, "poops" and touching her bottom like this. She never went again, but she sure thought she was going to!

Benjamin was whining and not being his best self last night. So I told Dave he should wrap him up like a baby and rock him, thinking he wouldn't like being treated like a baby and possibly change his ways. He surprised me and actually wanted to be wrapped up! So Daddy obliged....

Even wrapped up with his arms pinned down, he still managed to get in Anna's face!

Collin was having a hard time staying asleep last night, so he and I did some slow dancing/cuddling......

Benjamin and Anna were dancing too. Dave captured this picture and I couldn't resist sharing. I promise he really does love his sister!

They get so much use out of their kitchen set and always seem to be playing with it these days!

Collin seems to be getting bigger to me!

and he's just as sweet as ever!

My favorite Collin things right now are:

1) His sweet little voice. He makes soft little ah-ah-ah sounds when he's awake.

2) How much he likes to be next to me. When I lay in bed with him, he soothes immediately having his body next to mine and if we aren't all the way against each other, he wiggles his head over until he is!

3) His new thing that he's been doing is insisting his face is burrowed into me when I'm rocking him to sleep. I'll move his face to the side when he does this and he gets really restless until he burrows it right back!