Kiddo Update

I know its been awhile since I've posted. Life has been crazy busy with work, playdates, parties, and well....life. I know its been said over and over but time really does fly. I can't believe we are looking at the end of August already and that its been two weeks since my last blog post!

Anyway - I just thought I would take a minute to give you all a quick update on the kids...

Let's start with the youngest. Sweet Ella is my little peanut. :) She and Carli had their 6 month check up on Friday and she weighed in at 14.2 pounds and is now 26 inches long. For those of you not wanting to go back to February's posts to see how much she's grown, I'll translate. She has gained 7.5 pounds and has grown 8 inches! She is eating a variety of solid foods and LOVES it. She is up on all fours rocking like crazy and is beginning to learn that she can lunge forward to get where she wants. You never know where you are going to find Ella after leaving the room for just a few seconds. I have found her by the front door, behind the couch, and between the table and chair in our living room. If you know the layout of our living room, you know those are no small feats for this little lady. Good thing I know how to babyproof! Ella is really coming into her own in looks and in personality. She has a fabulous smile that will melt your heart and the sweetest little "Dadadadad" I've heard in awhile...but you'd better not cross her! She still has a hair trigger temper and can throw some pretty awesome fits. Look out world... :) Here she comes!

Ella! I love these pictures! Have I mentioned my brother is amazing?!? He was very impressed that Ella would look directly at the camera like this. He says she's a future model, I say she liked seeing the shutter open and close....

Sweet girl!

Then there's my precious Carli. She is my little "punkin". On Friday Carli weighed 14.7 pounds and was 26.25 inches long. She has gained 7.8 pounds and has grown 8.75 inches since that cold, February day. Its amazing! She, too, is eating many different solid foods and is up on all fours. Carli tends to lag a few days behind Ella in development in most areas. She has started to babble consonants as well but doesn't do it as much as Ella... yet. Wait a week and she'll have caught up. She does better sitting than Ella which makes me smile. I don't want Ella doing everything first! Carli is still very laid back. She has the biggest smile and its so beautiful. She offers it to almost anyone and is very pleasant to be around. She hates sleep. She does it but only after many minutes of playing, getting out of her swaddle (yes, we still swaddle... they don't sleep well without it), and "yelling" for attention. I think she usually falls asleep from sheer exhaustion. There are some days when she will battle sleep for over an hour (not crying - just not sleeping). Its on those days that God and I have a little chat... It usually goes something like this, "Lord, this mama is tired. This baby is tired. I want to sleep... She NEEDS sleep. Make her sleep!" at least this is at 2 in the afternoon. Thankfully she usually goes to sleep without too much trouble at night. :) LOVE HER!

Carli girl!

Hmmm...What's this?? This photo shoot didn't go very easy for sweet Carli. She was tired and it took many attempts to get a great shot like the first one. Most of the pictures were like this instead... Remember what I said about having both girls be photogenic on the same day???

I filled you all in on Addison in my last post but Jerrad has taken her three year photos so I wanted to share them with you guys! They are WONDERFUL! :) We went downtown to take these near the Gerald R. Ford Museum. She did well for the most part. She didn't get too cranky until the end which was nice. She also went to the Doctor on Friday (I think my family alone paid the staff salaries on Friday at the office...) and now weighs 32 pounds and is 36 inches tall! She'll be able to ride many rides at Michigan's Adventure this weekend!

Once again I must say my brother is amazing! These are just the "rough" shots and they still look great!

Last but certainly not least, there's Micah. I don't have formal pictures of him because those come in January but I took this one last weekend while were at the park near the museum with Jason's family. He is so full of life and curiosity and I learn stuff from him all the time. He is so soft hearted. Cute story... Micah had a particularly hard time obeying one day last week and got into trouble a few different times. Finally at the end of the day, after one particular incident, we sat down and had a heart to heart talk about his actions/attitude. No yelling, no lectures, I just talked to him. Asked him about his behavior and what choices he could have made, etc... Well within minutes, Micah burst into tears and said, "I wish I didn't make wrong choices! Why do I do that?! I want to be so good!" He cried for 5 minutes about this all out of his own heartfelt sadness at making wrong choices. Sweet boy! He is a natural leader here at home and often helps me immensely throughout the day. He is, by far, my favorite boy ever! :)

My boy!

That's all for now! Have a great night! I'm off to exercise or eat ice cream. I posted this thought on my facebook page and so far the ice cream has far more votes... :)